An icemaker, ice generator, or ice machine may refer to either a
consumer device for making ice, found inside a home freezer; a stand-alone appliance for making ice, or an industrial machine for
making ice on a large scale. The term "ice machine" usually refers to
the stand-alone appliance.
The ice generator is the part of the ice
machine that actually produces the ice. This would include the evaporator and
any associated drives/controls/subframe that are directly involved with making
and ejecting the ice into storage. When most people refer to an ice generator,
they mean this ice-making subsystem alone, minus refrigeration.
An ice machine, however, particularly if
described as 'packaged', would typically be a complete machine including
refrigeration, controls, and dispenser, requiring only connection to power and
water supplies.
The term icemaker is more ambiguous,
with some manufacturers describing their packaged ice machine as an icemaker,
while others describe their generators in this way.
In 1748, the first known artificial refrigeration was
demonstrated by William Cullen at the University of Glasgow. Mr. Cullen
never used his discovery for any practical purposes. This may be the reason why
the history of the icemakers begins with Oliver
Evans, an American inventor who designed the first
refrigeration machine in 1805. In 1834, Jacob
Perkins built the first practical
refrigerating machine using ether in a vapor compression cycle. The American
inventor, mechanical engineer and physicist received 21 American and 19 English
patents (for innovations in steam engines, the printing industry and gun
manufacturing among others) and is considered today the father of the
refrigerator.
In 1844, an American physician, John
Gorrie, built a refrigerator based on Oliver
Evans' design to make ice to cool the air for his yellow fever patients. His
plans date back to 1842, making him one of the founding fathers of the
refrigerator. Unfortunately for John Gorrie, his plans of manufacturing and
selling his invention were met with fierce opposition by Frederic
Tudor, the Boston “Ice King”. By then, Tudor was shipping ice
from the United States to Cuba and was planning to expand his business to
India. Fearing that Gorrie’s invention would ruin his business, he began a
smearing campaign against the inventor. In 1851, John Gorrie was awarded U.S. Patent 8080 for an ice machine. After struggling with Tudor's campaign and the
death of his partner, John Gorrie also passed away, bankrupt and humiliated. His
original icemaker plans and the prototype machine are held today at the
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution in Washington,
D.C.
In 1853, Alexander
Twining was awarded U.S.
Patent 10221 for an icemaker. Twining’s
experiments led to the development of the first commercial refrigeration
system, built in 1856. He also established the first artificial method of
producing ice. Just like Perkins before him, James Harrison started experimenting
with ether vapor compression.
In 1854, James Harrison successfully
built a refrigeration machine capable of producing 3,000 kilograms of ice per
day and in 1855 he received an icemaker patent in Australia, similar to that of
Alexander Twining. Harrison continued his experiments with refrigeration. Today
he is credited for his major contributions to the development of modern cooling
system designs and functionality strategies. These systems were later used to
ship refrigerated meat across the globe.
In 1867, Andrew Muhl built an ice-making machine in San
Antonio, Texas, to help service the expanding beef industry before moving it to
Waco in 1871. In 1873, the patent for this machine was contracted by the
Columbus Iron Works, which produced the world's first commercial
icemakers. William Riley Brown served as its president and George Jasper Golden
served as its superintendent.
In 1876, German engineer Carl
von Linde patented the process of liquefying
gas that would later become an important part of basic refrigeration technology
(U.S.
Patent 1027862). In 1879 and 1891, two African American
inventors patented improved refrigerator designs in the United States (Thomas
Elkins – U.S.
patent #221222 and respectively John Standard
– U.S.
patent #455891).
In 1902, the Teague family of Montgomery purchased
control of the firm. Their last advertisement in Ice and Refrigeration appeared
in March 1904. In 1925, controlling interest in the Columbus Iron Works
passed from the Teague family to W.C. Bradely of W.C. Bradley, Co.
Professor Jurgen Hans is credited with the invention of
the first ice machine to produce edible ice in 1929. In 1932 he founded a
company called Kulinda and started manufacturing edible ice, but by 1949 the
business switched its central product from ice to central air conditioning.
The ice machines from the late 1800s to the 1930s used
toxic gases such as ammonia (NH3), methyl
chloride (CH3Cl), and sulfur
dioxide (SO2) as refrigerants. During the
1920s, several fatal accidents were registered. They were caused by the
refrigerators leaking methyl chloride. In the quest of replacing dangerous
refrigerants – especially methyl chloride – collaborative research ensued in
American corporations. The result of this research was the discovery of Freon. In 1930, General Motors and DuPont formed Kinetic
Chemicals to produce Freon, which would later
become the standard for almost all consumer and industrial refrigerators. The
Freon produced back then was chlorofluorocarbon, a
moderately toxic gas causing ozone depletion.
All refrigeration equipments are made of four key components; the evaporator, the condenser,
the compressor and
the throttle valve. Ice
machines all work the same way. The function of compressor is to compress
low-pressure refrigerant vapor to high-pressure vapor, and deliver it to the
condenser. Here, the high-pressure vapor is condensed into high-pressure liquid
and drained out through the throttle valve to become low-pressure liquid. At
this point the liquid is conducted to the evaporator, where heat exchanging
occurs and ice is created. This is one complete refrigeration cycle.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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