The modern refrigerator is built on the principle of vapor compression, in which a fluid is repeatedly evaporated and condensed to carry heat away from a cold space. The Scottish-born Australian James Harrison built a working ice-making machine in the 1850s and received patents in 1856, using ether as a refrigerant to supply breweries and meat packers. Earlier, Jacob Perkins had patented a vapor-compression machine in Britain in 1834, and Carl von Linde made large industrial machines in the 1870s. Household refrigerators appeared in the early twentieth century and spread widely after electric models like General Electric's Monitor Top were introduced in the 1920s. The harmful effect of early refrigerant gases on the ozone layer led to their replacement under the Montreal Protocol.
Before and after
- 1856Construction of Central Park
- 1856Construction of Tretyakov Gallery
- 1856Construction of Dolmabahçe Palace
- 1856Pottawatomie Massacre
- 1856Refrigerator
- from 1856 to 1860Second Opium War
- 1856Completion of Balmoral Castle
- 1856Henry Bessemer patents his steel-making process
- 30 March 1856Treaty of Paris
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The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.