Week 10 Storm

 Diffusion Theory of Refrigeration

Pioneers/Innovators

When we first think of refrigeration, we picture the antique blue ice boxes that our grandparents used to store their food. However, refrigeration extends farther back than the simple rectangle we see today. In the 18th-century, ice harvesting was the only form of refrigeration available, in which servants in England would go and collect ice in the winter and store it in ice houses. Ice houses, "were places where the sheets of ice were packed in salt, wrapped in flannel, and stored underground to keep them frozen until summer," (historyofrefrigeration). While not the most conventional form of refrigeration, it aided in slowing the decomposition process of fruit, butter, and vegetables during the summer. This early innovation pioneered the development of the box that we use to this day by creating the idea for a personalized food storage system. The man William Cullen is credited to creating the first refrigerating machine in 1755. Over time, Cullen's invention would be expanded upon by Thomas Moore, who designed an insulated metal box that retains the cold from the ice for long periods of time in 1802. These models were then used with little developments until 1910 (Moore).  

Early Adopters to Early Majority

In 1929, after finding out the health hazard presented by current refrigerators (they used ammonia, methyl chloride, and sulfur dioxide to refrigerate), Freon was founded and became the staple for home refrigerators (compressor refrigerators). In addition, with the introduction of Freon, refrigeration became more affordable to the general public, rapidly making their way into homes all across the globe (thoughtco). To this day, compressor refrigerators are used, as they are among the safest ways to store food. Yet, it still poses a threat to the environment, as it has been proven that Freon causes damage to the ozone layer, thus hurting our environment. Despite this, numerous amounts of people flock to purchase their new and improved refrigerator. 

Late Adopters to Laggards

*numbers are millions, March 2011

Late adopters for refrigeration are quite hard to pinpoint. Recently, there have been strides to have completely solar, magnetic, and acoustic refrigeration to cause as little harm to the environment as possible. Similarly, new refrigerants have been found that have shown to not be as harmful (thoughtco). It makes sense as to why some people would wait for refrigeration to develop to a much more advanced point that it is today due to its environmental impacts, but it seems crazy for that to be the only reason to justify not getting a refrigerator today. How else will one store food they get from the grocery store? Not to mention leftovers from a meal. To refer back to my early adopters section, refrigeration used harmful gases which caused fatal injuries. Here, it is understandable as to why someone would avoid purchasing a refrigerator, but I am drawing a blank as to why someone would not buy one today. Correspondingly, I tried to search, "Why should you not buy a refrigerator", to which I was only shown mistakes people make when purchasing one. New houses even sometimes come with one! In 2011, only 0.2 million people did not have a refrigerator in their home (government). All in all, refrigerators have always served a need for the survival of the human population. From servants breaking ice to a machine breaking tiny cubes for us, refrigeration has come a long way due to a couple of pioneers in the refrigeration industry.