Chillventa Expert Insights: Looking back on the beginnings of refrigeration

Historical beginnings: Using natural refrigeration

There is evidence that natural refrigeration has been used to cool food and drink since ancient times. In Egypt, where ice never occurs naturally, the first records of deliberate cooling may be found on ancient frescoes (2,500 BC) that show slaves waving large fans over clay jars to cool drinking water through evaporation. A similar procedure was applied in India, where flat clay vessels were arranged on straw mats overnight to keep water cool. 
 

Snow and ice in ancient Mesopotamia (2,000 BC)

In ancient times, snow and ice were gathered in the winter months and stored in caves and artificially insulated cellars until summer. This practice was used mainly for keeping drinks cool, wine in particular. Alexander the Great thus had 30 trenches dug and filled with snow, to keep wine cool for his legions during the lengthy siege of Petra. 
 

Cooling mixtures

It is unclear when it was first discovered that water could be cooled by dissolving salt. Based on the Indian book “Pancatantram” (4th century AD), which states, “Water is cool when it contains salt,” we may conclude that this phenomenon had long been known by that time. Ice cream was first commercially manufactured using cooling mixtures in Paris in 1660 by a Florentine, Procopio Coltello. His Café Procope is still in existence.

The birth of mechanical refrigeration: Jacob Perkins and the year 1834

The birth of the modern vapour compression chiller can be dated to 14 August 1834, when Jacob Perkins, an American who had emigrated to the UK, registered his famous British patent no. 6662, “Apparatus and means for producing ice, and in cooling fluids”, which was granted on 14 February 1835. 
 

The evolution of refrigeration systems: From Gorrie to Linde

The three most important refrigeration procedures were developed in the space of just three decades (1840-1870): Cold gas refrigeration machines, cold vapour machines with thermal compressors (absorption machines) and cold vapour machines with mechanical compressors. Pioneers such as Gorrie, Carré and Linde took these technologies forward and brought them to technical maturity. 

Carl von Linde: Visionary of industrial refrigeration

Carl von Linde revolutionized refrigeration in the 1870s with the development of the first ammonia-based systems that were both economical and safe to operate. His innovations made it possible to produce refrigeration on a large scale, which transformed the food industry forever, breweries in particular. 
 

Refrigeration and breweries: A key to beer quality

A closer look at the history of artificially generated refrigeration shows that breweries in particular played a crucial role in influencing and promoting the development of compression refrigeration systems. It had been recognised that fermentation requires particular temperatures in order to produce a good-tasting, even beer: Around 15 to 20°C for top-fermented beer and 4 to 10°C for bottom-fermented. Such temperatures could only be maintained in deep cellars, preferably of course in rock caves, into which vast quantities of (blocks of) ice had to be brought. And that would only work in winter. In those days, the brewing season ran from October to March, which was even fixed by law in Bavaria. Breweries were quick to recognise the value of the new refrigeration technology. Linde’s chillers set new standards in efficiency and reliability, which had repercussions far beyond the brewing industry. 
 

A technical monument: The first Linde chiller 

In the late 1870s, the first ammonia chillers that were economical and safe to use, designed by Linde and manufactured by Maschinenfabrik Augsburg Nürnberg AG (MAN), came into use. The display example is the first chiller sold in September 1876 to major brewer Anton Dreher of Vienna for his branch operation in Trieste. It was in use from 1877 to 1909. It was then installed in the Vienna Museum of Science and Technology, and is currently on display in Regensburg as a permanent loan. 
 

Origin and further development

Although the key refrigeration generation processes were developed in just three decades, the real breakthrough in daily use came with industrial utilization in breweries. This realization cannot be valued highly enough. Not only did Linde have the knowledge about refrigeration processes, but he also had the power of persuasion and the persistence to implement this technology in the breweries and refine it.

It is to his credit that industrial utilization of refrigeration provided the impetus for the next steps toward industrial and domestic use in the 20th century. 
In 2015, ASHRAE^* honoured Linde as ASHRAE Pioneer of the Industry.  

^{*ASHRAE American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers}