Editing Refrigerator (section)

===Technology development===
{{See also|Refrigeration|Low-temperature technology timeline}}

'''Ancient origins'''

{{main|Yakhchāl}}

[[Ancient Iranians]] were among the first to invent a form of cooler utilizing the principles of evaporative cooling and radiative cooling called [[yakhchāl]]s.  These complexes used subterranean storage spaces, a large thickly insulated above-ground domed structure, and outfitted with [[badgir]]s (wind-catchers) and series of [[qanat]]s (aqueducts).{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}<ref>{{Cite journal|title= Thermal Performance of Sustainable Element in Moayedi Icehouse in Iran|url= https://doi.org/10.1080/15583058.2019.1645243|access-date=2021-02-02|journal=International Journal of Architectural Heritage|year= 2021|doi= 10.1080/15583058.2019.1645243|language=en-US|last1= Ebrahimi|first1= Ali|last2= Shayegani|first2= Aida|last3= Zarandi|first3= Mahnaz Mahmoudi|volume= 15|issue= 5|pages= 740–756|s2cid= 202094054|url-access= subscription}}</ref>

'''Pre-electric refrigeration'''

In modern times, before the invention of the modern electric refrigerator, [[Icehouse (building)|icehouses]] and [[iceboxes]] were used to provide cool storage for most of the year. Placed near freshwater lakes or packed with snow and ice during the winter, they were once very common. Natural means are still used to cool foods today. On mountainsides, runoff from melting snow is a convenient way to cool drinks, and during the winter one can keep milk fresh much longer just by keeping it outdoors. The word "refrigeratory" was used at least as early as the 17th century.<ref>Venetum Britannicum, 1676, London, p. 176 in the 1678 edition.</ref>

'''Artificial refrigeration'''{{multiple image
   | width     = 140
   | direction = vertical
   | image_style = border:0
   | image1    = Gorrie Ice Machine.png
   | alt1      = Mechanical drawing
   | caption1  = Schematic of Dr. John Gorrie's 1841 mechanical ice machine
   | image2    = AppareilCarré.jpg
   | alt2      = Mechanical drawing
   | caption2  = [[Ferdinand Carré]]'s ice-making device
}}
The history of artificial refrigeration began when Scottish professor [[William Cullen]] designed a small refrigerating machine in 1755. Cullen used a pump to create a partial [[vacuum]] over a container of [[diethyl ether]], which then [[boiling point|boiled]], absorbing [[heat of vaporization|heat]] from the surrounding air.<ref>{{cite book|last=Arora|first=Ramesh Chandra|title=Refrigeration and Air Conditioning|publisher=PHI Learning|location=New Delhi, India|isbn=978-81-203-3915-6|page=3|chapter=Mechanical vapour compression refrigeration|date=30 March 2012}}</ref> The experiment even created a small amount of ice, but had no practical application at that time.

[[Image:Linde cycle 1895 -1903 patent cryo.jpg|thumb|left|200px|[[Carl von Linde|Linde]]'s 1895 patent for the [[Hampson–Linde cycle|refrigeration cycle]]]]
In 1805, American inventor [[Oliver Evans]] described a closed [[vapor-compression refrigeration]] cycle for the production of ice by ether under vacuum. In 1820, the British scientist [[Michael Faraday]] liquefied [[ammonia]] and other gases by using high pressures and low temperatures, and in 1834, an American expatriate in Great Britain, [[Jacob Perkins]], built the first working vapor-compression refrigeration system. It was a closed-cycle device that could operate continuously.<ref name=burstall>{{cite book |last = Burstall |first = Aubrey F. |year = 1965 |title = A History of Mechanical Engineering |publisher = The MIT Press |isbn = 0-262-52001-X}}</ref> A similar attempt was made in 1842, by American physician, [[John Gorrie]],<ref>{{cite patent
| country = US
| number = 8080A
| title = Improved process for the artificial production of ice
| gdate = 1851-05-06
| inventor = John Gorrie
| url = https://patents.google.com/patent/US8080A
}} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220311122720/https://patents.google.com/patent/US8080A |date=11 March 2022 }}</ref> who built a working prototype, but it was a commercial failure. American engineer [[Alexander Twining]] took out a British patent in 1850 for a vapor compression system that used ether.

The first practical vapor compression refrigeration system was built by [[James Harrison (engineer)|James Harrison]], a Scottish Australian. His 1856 patent was for a vapor compression system using ether, alcohol or ammonia. He built a mechanical ice-making machine in 1851 on the banks of the Barwon River at Rocky Point in [[Geelong]], [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]], and his first commercial ice-making machine followed in 1854. Harrison also introduced commercial vapor-compression refrigeration to breweries and meat packing houses, and by 1861, a dozen of his systems were in operation.

The first [[absorption refrigeration|gas absorption]] refrigeration system (compressor-less and powered by a heat-source) was developed by Edward  Toussaint of France in 1859 and patented in 1860.  It used gaseous ammonia dissolved in water ("aqua ammonia").

[[Carl von Linde]], an engineering professor at the Technological University Munich in Germany, patented an improved method of liquefying gases in 1876, creating the first reliable and efficient compressed-ammonia refrigerator.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.goethe.de/ins/us/saf/prj/stg/ger/inv/enindex.htm|title=Step into German - German(y) - The TOP 40 German Inventions - Goethe-Institut|website=www.goethe.de|language=en|access-date=19 October 2017}}</ref> His new process made possible the use of gases such as [[ammonia]] (NH<sub>3</sub>), [[sulfur dioxide]] (SO<sub>2</sub>) and [[methyl chloride]] (CH<sub>3</sub>Cl) as refrigerants, which were widely used for that purpose until the late 1920s despite safety concerns.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=February 1978|title=Refrigerator vacuum dehydration unit|journal=Vacuum|volume=28|issue=2|pages=81|doi=10.1016/s0042-207x(78)80528-4|issn=0042-207X}}</ref> In 1895 he discovered the [[Hampson–Linde cycle|refrigeration cycle]].