Page 47 - Discover WINTER 2022
P. 47
Charlie's Chatter
Keeping it Cool...
By Charles Alexander
My wife wanted a new refrigerator Finally, in 1834, American inventor
for our kitchen. The old one still Jacob Perkins applied this principle to
worked fine, but she wanted to the first working closed refrigeration
modernize. system, using vapor compression.
Although he was not able to turn
The need for refrigeration dates
it into a commercial success, this
back to ancient times. One of the
ultimately led to the modern day
earliest forms was the ice house, which
refrigerator.
was often dug into the ground for
purposes of insulation. People would My grandfather used to call it
cut huge blocks of ice from nearby an “icebox”. Watch a rerun of “The
lakes and rivers and Honeymooners”,
store them in ice and you’ll see
houses to keep food that the Kramden
from spoiling. apartment had
C My grandfather
In the 1740s, HARLIE’S an actual icebox.
Scottish scientist HATTER
William Cullen lived in the 20th
century, and “The
demonstrated that
Honeymooners”
rapid heating of a
took place in the
liquid into a gas can result in a cooling
1950s. So what’s all this then about
effect. It is this very principle that
“iceboxes” in more modern times?
is used in our modern refrigerators
today. Although Cullen himself never Well, scientific advances were
put his theory into practical use, he needed in order to make the process
nonetheless inspired others. efficient, practical, and affordable to
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