There are always a lot of objects around us that greatly simplify our daily life. We cannot imagine ourselves without microwave ovens, ovens, electric kettles and, of course, refrigerators. The history of the creation of each of these household items dates back to ancient times. However, it took more than one century for such a number of “helpers” to appear in our homes. But still, the most important place among them in the house is the refrigerator. Without it, it is simply impossible to imagine the kitchen of a modern family, but few people know that for a little less than a century, housewives did not even realize that it would be so easy and simple to keep food fresh. The history of the creation of the refrigerator is divided into several stages, and in order to study it, you need to look at the times when humanity was still at the dawn of its development.
Refrigerator: definition and meaning
Before describing the history of the invention of the refrigerator, it is necessary to clarify what we mean by this word. If you look in the explanatory dictionary, you will find out that a refrigerator is a technical device thathas the property of maintaining a stable low temperature in a chamber insulated from heat. This device is used primarily for storing perishable and any other products. You can also place various items that require coolness in it.
In the modern world, almost every family has a refrigerator and freezer for the home. All developed countries are distinguished by this, and refrigeration units are used not only at home, but also for industrial purposes. It is hard to imagine a meat processing plant, dairy or other food processing plant without a food cooling unit.
All refrigerators have the same principle of operation, they transfer heat from inside the chamber to the external environment, dissipating it. This is facilitated by a special installation located inside the device.
Modern household refrigerator has two types. The first is the medium temperature chamber. It is well suited for storing almost all products. The second is a low-temperature chamber, in which products are frozen. The first household cooling devices could only hold one temperature. Now each refrigerator consists of two chambers, so we can store some products at the same time, while freezing others and store them in this form for an indefinite period of time.
From antiquity to the present day: how did our ancestors store food?
The history of the refrigerator dates back to ancient times. However, scientists still do not know exactly how it occurred to people to use cold forfood preservation. Perhaps someone has noticed that in the shade, food retains its freshness longer than in the sun. Other people began to use this experience, improving this method with each subsequent generation.
Of course, then people did not understand that the miraculous effect of cold is that at low temperatures, bacteria and microorganisms that actively multiply in food slow down their growth. If it is possible to bring the temperature regime to very low limits, then the bacteria die. It is this rule that underlies the principle of food storage by modern people.
The people who lived in cold areas were the most fortunate. They had the opportunity with the onset of winter to store their supplies right on the street. The only danger was wild animals, which could find and destroy such pantries. Therefore, they tried to place them on trees or underground. We can say that the history of the refrigerator originates precisely in these times, when a person realized that natural cold can easily be put to his service. However, there was still a long way to go before the emergence of convenient devices to keep food fresh.
Ancient refrigerator: Persian installations
What replaced the refrigerator before it was invented? Scientists have a very specific answer to this question. They claim that the ancient Persians came up with a kind of prototype of the first refrigeration plant, which they used quite successfully.
Since they lived in a very dry area, keeping food fresh wasfor them a serious problem. And they were able to solve it with the help of ice and snow from the tops of the mountains. At the same time, the Persians managed to keep the ice even in the heart of the desert. For this, a special device was used, which is a multilayer chamber.
Modern historians consider these warehouses a real miracle, the best engineers of their time definitely worked on their creation and it is worth saying that they succeeded as inventors. The Persians built small buildings with walls two meters thick. They were multi-layered and consisted of sand, clay, lime and even animal hair. Such rooms were completely covered with ice and snow, and then food was stored inside. Historians claim that they could be successfully stored in such "refrigerators" for a very long time.
The history of the creation of such installations was known in Rome. For example, the emperor Nero himself ordered the construction of food storage facilities everywhere, into which ice was brought from reservoirs and mountains. The emperor was very fond of trying all kinds of delicacies, and in order to keep them fresh for a long time, special warehouses were used.
India and Egypt: food storage rules
As you can imagine, it's hardest to keep food in hot climates. Therefore, the inhabitants of the countries of the equatorial belt came up with all sorts of ways to somehow cool their products.
The Egyptians were completely unable to store ice or snow, but they quickly noticed that it was quite cold at night in the desert. Oftenthe temperature drops to a critical level of zero degrees. Therefore, the inhabitants of Egypt put containers with water on the street, in which the liquid cooled noticeably overnight. In the morning, the vessels were brought into the house and placed in the room where the food was. Due to the low temperature of the water, they cooled noticeably.
Indians actively used a different method. They once noticed that with intensive evaporation of a liquid, it can cool by several degrees. Therefore, the inhabitants of India often exposed containers to the wind, which were wrapped in wet rags. As a result, the temperature of the contents slightly, but decreased. For a hot climate, this was quite enough.
Asian countries
It is noteworthy that when we talk about the history of the refrigerator, it must be taken into account that almost every country in the world has contributed to this invention. After all, taking into account the peculiarities of the climate, the people came up with certain ways to preserve food that was obtained with difficulty.
Asians were extremely inventive in this area. For example, the Koreans built seogbinggo. This word they called huge warehouses built from massive stone blocks. The walls of the vaults were so thick that they did not let heat in and did not release cold from the inside. Seogbinggo could not belong to one person, they were the property of the entire community. Everyone could store food here, while there was absolutely no such thing as theft among Koreans.
Russian glaciers
In ancient Russia, cold was used tofood storage since time immemorial. In winter, ice was collected from water bodies and placed in a deep cellar. In such premises for storing food at any time of the year there was a sub-zero temperature. This allowed the family to eat fresh fish, meat and other products for a long time.
Glaciers were very popular and widespread in Russia. These premises were built carefully and according to a special technology. An ordinary glacier looked like a traditional wooden frame dug deep into the ground. For its construction, only the thickest logs were taken, this was done to increase the thickness of the walls. A similar house was filled to the very top with a mixture of ice and snow, and only then food was placed in it. A thick layer of turf was used as a roof. Sometimes the ancient masters also added a layer of earth. This reliably protected the warehouse from overheating, and the food was kept fresh for a long time.
Besides this, our ancestors invented other ways to protect food from spoilage. For example, a frog was sometimes placed in a vessel with milk. The secretions of her secretion did not harm people, but prevented the milk from souring. Of course, it is difficult to call it a full-fledged refrigerator. But this method performed its functions of preserving freshness completely.
European food storage
Medieval Europe did not need refrigeration for a long time. It is known that poisoning was the most serious European problem. It affected not only the poor, but also the aristocrats. After all, they also often ate stale and already fairly spoiled foods. However, sinceunsurpassed tenacity continued to store them without the use of cold.
Practically a revolution in the minds of Europeans was made by Marco Polo. This famous traveler was amazed by everything he saw in China and wrote a book about it. The list of Chinese miracles also included a method of cooling with s altpeter. Mixed with ice, it is able to lower the temperature to zero. This option came to the court of the royals, who began to drink chilled wine and other drinks with pleasure. However, the common people could not afford such an expensive method, and it did not become widespread.
But already in the sixteenth century, the Italians came up with a new method of lowering the temperature. They started mixing ice with s alt and other chemicals. As a result, the products could not only be cooled, but also frozen. On this basis, real culinary masterpieces were created, the recipes of which Catherine de Medici once brought to Paris.
The popularity of outlandish sherbets and ice cream was so great that the owner of a small cafe "Prokop", where these delicacies were sold, managed to make a fortune. By the end of the seventeenth century, Europe was delighted with the possibility of eating chilled dishes. The era of all kinds of refrigeration units was approaching.
Thomas Moore: a talented inventor and entrepreneur
So who invented the refrigerator? The Americans claim that this man was their compatriot Thomas Moore. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, he had a small business of his own selling and delivering the freshest butter. The product wasexcellent quality, but the oil often melted during delivery, and customers were unwilling to pay for it. The entrepreneur began to lose money and thought about creating a special installation that would cool and preserve his product.
The first refrigerator had, in the opinion of modern people, a rather strange look. It was a container made of steel sheets wrapped in rabbit skins. Oil was placed inside it, and the container itself was placed in a huge cedar barrel filled with ice.
The invention was a huge success and inspired engineers to experiment with refrigeration. A real sensation was the refrigerator, which functioned on ammonia and produced ice in the process. We can say that this was the beginning of the widespread use of these household appliances.
Home Glacier
In the second half of the nineteenth century, most of the we althy families from Europe and America began to install in the kitchens a kind of refrigerator, reminiscent of ordinary cabinets. They had a layer of natural cork and sawdust and were made of precious wood. Ice was poured inside the cabinet, and melt water was drained through a specially provided hole. Many considered this device innovative. However, he had two significant drawbacks: insufficient temperature to preserve many products and an incredibly large consumption of ice. Stocks of the latter in such a freezer for the home had to be replenished several times a week, which required serious financial expenses.
Real refrigerator
The invention of electricity and its widespread introduction gave the inventors some interesting ideas. The result of the work of engineers was the first real refrigerator released in America. It looked like a huge closet upholstered in wood, but it ran on electricity.
The Odifren refrigeration unit very quickly became in demand. However, it cost about nine hundred dollars, and the liquids used in the work were highly toxic.
Home cold factory
The issue of toxicity had to be addressed. This was done by the Dane Steenstrup, who developed a refrigerator that did not make noise, did not poison the air with harmful fumes and was very durable. The patent for this invention was bought by General Electric, its specialists slightly modified the installation and put it on sale. Literally from the first days, the Monitor-Top model has become a sales leader, despite its high cost.
The first Soviet refrigerator
The refrigeration unit came to the USSR quite late and it was not used for food storage at all. Ferdinand Carré invented a refrigerator at the beginning of the 20th century that produced ice. The device worked in cycles, each was designed for twelve kilograms of ice. It is noteworthy that this installation worked on wood. Some models had a compartment for pouring kerosene.
And only four years before the start of the Great Patriotic War in the USSR, a refrigerator powered by electricity went on saleand designed specifically for food storage.
Instead of a conclusion
It is difficult to say who can be called the first inventor of the refrigeration unit. After all, in every era there were craftsmen who came up with certain devices for storing food in the cold. Over the long millennia, the refrigerator has changed significantly, however, it is possible that our descendants will use completely different installations. And modern refrigerators will seem to them a ridiculous relic of the past.
