William Cullen the Inventor of Refrigerator
The refrigerator is one of the household appliances that is widely used to cool food and drink. It is very helpful in the process of food preservation. However many people do not know the inventor of it. William Cullen is the inventor of the refrigerator. Nowadays, you can found refrigerator everywhere such as in homes, supermarkets, small and large industries, pharmacies as well as hospitals for preservation activities.
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| William Cullen |
Before the discovery of the refrigerator, many people took their food to the edge of the snowy lake and then kept it there to preserve it. This became something that people used to do in the past. The various ways also used by the people at that time to preserve the food such as fumigation, marinating, and drying. Then in the 11th century, an Iranian Muslim scientist named Ibn Sina invented a cooling coil which condensed the scented vapor into a liquid. This refining technology to produce essential oil was written by Ibnu Sina in his book.
First Inventor of Refrigerator
After a long time, then a scientist named William Cullen from Glasgow University developed a simple cooling machine in 1784. William Cullen was a chemist, physicist, and also an expert in medicine. He realized that the food in the cold would reduce the growth of bacteria. He knew that because of his research, he then found that bacteria could not develop properly in cold media.
William Cullen used a pump to make a partial vacuum over a diethyl ether container which was then heated and absorbed heat from the environment. The existence of the vapor pressure of the process then succeeded in creating a small amount of ice. But it had not been commercialized or patented by William Cullen. The tool then became the forerunner of the discovery of the refrigerator. Read more another discovery of the cooling machine, Inventor of Air Conditioner John Gorrie.
Refrigerator Developed by Jacob Perkins
The cooling technology then developed further by Jacob Perkins who came from America and worked as a gold craftsman. Refrigerator made by Jacob Perkins was inspired by William Cullen's note. Perkins used ether and water vapor pressure in freezing water. As the result, he succeeded in freezing the water. Jacob Perkins's refrigerator was later developed by a German scientist named Karl Von Linden. But for his method, he used chemicals such as ammonia, sulfur dioxide, and methyl chloride as a medium in freezing water. Refrigerators from time to time are continuously developed to date.
The Refrigerator currently uses a lot of Freon material as a cooling medium which is known to be environmentally unfriendly and can damage the ozone layer on earth. Furthermore, refrigerator technology then uses Hydro Fluoro Carbon (HFC) which is claimed to be more environmentally friendly.