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\nThe Refrigerator: Where did it come from? | Stuff of Genius\n

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\nJacob Perkins was always a tinkerer, but in 1834 he patented the refrigerator. Learn how his version worked by vaporizing dangerous chemicals. Stuff of Genius tells the story behind everyday inventions. From the bikini to super wheat and...\nJacob Perkins was always a tinkerer, but in 1834 he patented the refrigerator. Learn how his version worked by vaporizing dangerous chemicals. Stuff of Genius tells the story behind everyday inventions. From the bikini to super wheat and everything in between. Viewers will learn the stories of unsung inventor heroes and their trials, tribulations and successes. -- Behold, the refrigerator! But where did it come from? Meet Jacob Perkins, born on July 6, 1766 in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Perkins always had a knack for invention. By the age of 15, he'd already perfected a method of creating gold plated shoe-buckles. Nine years later he designed a machine that cut nails and added heads to each of them. Perkins next improved the way bank-notes were engraved and moved to England in 1818 to supply local banks with copper plates. It was after meeting Oliver Evans that Perkins next turned his genius to refrigeration. Using refrigeration principles developed by Benjamin Franklin and others, Evans had already designed a refrigerator device in 1805, but never finished it. Perkins modified Evans' design and patented it in 1834. Perkins' closed-cycle vapor-compression refrigerator was a prototype not intended for domestic use, as it used dangerous substances like ether and ammonia in its cooling process. His design worked off the principle that as fluids, these substances absorbed heat and lowered the temperatures of nearby objects. By using a compressor to exert pressure on the substances, Perkins' refrigerator controlled when the ether or ammonia changed from a gas to a liquid. As it moved through the refrigerator's coils, the substance absorbed heat and vaporized once more before returning to the compressor for reuse. Not long after filing his refrigerator patent, Perkins retired. He died in 1849 before his invention really took off and became the household appliance that we all know and love.\n
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Resource Details

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Educator Rating
Not yet Rated
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Grade
6th - 11th
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Subjects
All Subjects
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Media Type
Instructional Videos
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Source:
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Date
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2019
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Audiences
For Teacher Use
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