Editing Refrigerator (section)

===Residential refrigerators===
[[File:DOMELRE refrigerator c. 1914.png|thumb|DOMELRE refrigerator {{circa}}&nbsp;1914]]
In 1913, the first electric refrigerators for home and domestic use were invented and produced by Fred W. Wolf of Fort Wayne, Indiana, with models consisting of a unit that was mounted on top of an ice box.<ref>{{cite patent
| country = US
| number = 1126605
| title = Refrigerating apparatus
| gdate = 1915-01-26
| fdate = 1913-04-07
| inventor = Fred W. Wolf
| url = https://patents.google.com/patent/US1126605
}} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307165253/https://patents.google.com/patent/US1126605 |date=7 March 2022 }}</ref><ref name="Heldman2003">{{cite book|author=Dennis R. Heldman|title=Encyclopedia of Agricultural, Food, and Biological Engineering (Print)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fCRpUZzT2hMC&pg=PA350|date=29 August 2003|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-0-8247-0938-9|page=350|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505214053/https://books.google.com/books?id=fCRpUZzT2hMC&pg=PA350|archive-date=5 May 2016}}</ref> His first device, produced over the next few years in several hundred units, was called [[DOMELRE]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=DOMELRE First Electric Refrigerator {{!}} ashrae.org|url=https://www.ashrae.org/about/mission-and-vision/ashrae-industry-history/domelre-first-electric-refrigerator|access-date=2021-08-02|website=www.ashrae.org|archive-date=2 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210802013321/https://www.ashrae.org/about/mission-and-vision/ashrae-industry-history/domelre-first-electric-refrigerator|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Air Conditioning and Refrigeration History - part 3 - Greatest Engineering Achievements of the Twentieth Century|url=http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=3862|access-date=2021-08-02|website=www.greatachievements.org|archive-date=2 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210802013321/http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=3862|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1914, engineer [[Nathaniel B. Wales]] of Detroit, Michigan, introduced an idea for a practical electric refrigeration unit, which later became the basis for the [[Kelvinator]]. A self-contained refrigerator, with a compressor on the bottom of the cabinet was invented by [[Alfred Mellowes]] in 1916. Mellowes produced this refrigerator commercially but was bought out by [[William C. Durant]] in 1918, who started the [[Frigidaire]] company to [[Mass production|mass-produce]] refrigerators. In 1918, Kelvinator company introduced the first refrigerator with any type of automatic control. The [[absorption refrigerator]] was invented by [[Baltzar von Platen (inventor)|Baltzar von Platen]] and [[Carl Munters]] from Sweden in 1922, while they were still students at the [[Royal Institute of Technology]] in Stockholm. It became a worldwide success and was commercialized by [[Electrolux]]. Other pioneers included [[Charles Tellier]], David Boyle, and [[Raoul Pictet]]. [[Carl von Linde]] was the first to patent and make a practical and compact refrigerator.

These home units usually required the installation of the mechanical parts, motor and compressor, in the basement or an adjacent room while the cold box was located in the kitchen. There was a 1922 model that consisted of a wooden cold box, [[Watercooling|water-cooled]] compressor, an [[ice cube]] tray and a {{convert|9|cuft|m3|order=flip|adj=on}} compartment, and cost $714. (A 1922 [[Model-T]] Ford cost about $476.) By 1923, Kelvinator held 80 percent of the market for electric refrigerators. Also in 1923 Frigidaire introduced the first self-contained unit. About this same time porcelain-covered metal cabinets began to appear. Ice cube trays were introduced more and more during the 1920s; up to this time freezing was not an auxiliary function of the modern refrigerator.

[[File:Monitor refer.jpg|thumb|upright|right|General Electric "Monitor-Top" refrigerator, introduced in 1927, priced at $525, with the first all-steel cabinet, designed by [[Christian Steenstrup]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.industrialdesignhistory.com/book/export/html/148|title=G.E. Monitor Top Refrigerator|website=www.industrialdesignhistory.com|access-date=2020-01-25|archive-date=16 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200416064632/http://www.industrialdesignhistory.com/book/export/html/148|url-status=live}}</ref>]]

The first refrigerator to see widespread use was the General Electric "Monitor-Top" refrigerator introduced in 1927, so-called, by the public, because of its resemblance to the gun turret on the ironclad warship [[USS Monitor|USS ''Monitor'']] of the 1860s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://refresearch.com/the-general-electric-monitor-top-refrigerator/|title=The General Electric Monitor Top Refrigerator|first=Neil|last=Lobocki|date=2017-10-04|access-date=2020-01-25|archive-date=25 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200125203919/https://refresearch.com/the-general-electric-monitor-top-refrigerator/|url-status=live}}</ref> The compressor assembly, which emitted a great deal of heat, was placed above the cabinet, and enclosed by a decorative ring. Over a million units were produced. As the refrigerating medium, these refrigerators used either [[sulfur dioxide]], which is corrosive to the eyes and may cause loss of vision, painful skin burns and lesions, or [[methyl formate]], which is highly flammable, harmful to the eyes, and toxic if inhaled or ingested.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.albanyinstitute.org/ge-monitor-top-refrigerator.html|title=GE Monitor-Top Refrigerator - Albany Institute of History and Art|website=www.albanyinstitute.org|access-date=1 June 2020|archive-date=6 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806165258/https://www.albanyinstitute.org/ge-monitor-top-refrigerator.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The introduction of [[Freon]] in the 1920s expanded the refrigerator market during the 1930s and provided a safer, low-toxicity alternative to previously used refrigerants.  Separate freezers became common during the 1940s; the term for the unit, popular at the time, was '''''deep freeze'''''. These devices, or ''[[Home appliance|appliances]]'', did not go into mass production for use in the home until after World War II.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.history.com/exhibits/modern/fridge.html| url-status = dead | title = The History of Household Wonders: History of the Refrigerator | year = 2006 | work = [[History (U.S. TV network)|History.com]] | publisher = A&E Television Networks | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080326092256/http://www.history.com/exhibits/modern/fridge.html | archive-date = 26 March 2008}}</ref> The 1950s and 1960s saw technical advances like [[Auto-defrost|automatic defrosting]] and automatic ice making. More efficient refrigerators were developed in the 1970s and 1980s, even though [[Ozone depletion|environmental issues]] led to the banning of very effective (Freon) refrigerants. Early refrigerator models (from 1916) had a cold compartment for ice cube trays. From the late 1920s fresh vegetables were successfully processed through freezing by the [[Post Foods|Postum Company]] (the forerunner of [[General Foods]]), which had acquired the technology when it bought the rights to [[Clarence Birdseye]]'s successful fresh freezing methods.