The Modern Ice Age

It was Dr. Gorrie of Florida in 1851 who patented the first American ice-making machine as part of a vision to relieve the sufferings of patients ill with malaria, and yellow fever, but it wasn’t until after the 1860s that other ice-making machines were developed. The ammonia absorption type machine invented by a Frenchman. Ferdinand P.E. Carre, is considered to be the forerunner of the type used today. But until shortly before the turn of the century, when an exceptionally mild winter resulted in an ice shortage the following summer, most of the ice used in American homes was natural. Machine-made ice is comparatively recent, while kitchen-sized ice machines have been common for about two decades. Growth of great cities made the development of artificial refrigeration a necessity. Or, to view the picture from another angle, the development of the modern metropolis would not have been possible without the attendant development of refrigeration.

It is hard to realize just how recent the use of ice is in the shipment of food products. It was only in the latter part of the nineteenth century that ice was used on fishing boats to preserve the catch. It was not until about 1875 that ice was first used on a large scale to preserve fresh meat shipped from America to European markets, while the first fresh meat shipment from Australia to London was made in 1880.

Today there are tens of thousands of refrigerated railroad cars, trucks and ships carrying fruit, vegetables, meat, dairy products and all other kinds of perishables from the producer to market. Refrigeration is used in a surprising number of modern industries. It plays a part in the air conditioning of public buildings, places of business and private homes. It tickles the palate as ice cream and many kinds of frozen foods. It is used in bakeries and in the powder magazines of battleships. It is employed in the manufacture of chewing gum, chocolate and cigars, in distilleries, in the making of drugs, explosives, film and glue. It is used by florists, by gold miners, by hat makers and by laundries; in printing plants, sausage factories, textile mills and varnish works.

An icebox or a refrigerator has become an essential part of every home. Public cold storage warehouses have a place for everything from valuable fur coats to nurserymen's bulbs and plants. There is scarcely a phase of modern life, be it pleasure or be it business, that is not connected in some way with refrigeration—the modern ice age.

By: davidbunch

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