Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Evaporators – Household
The Canadian refrigeration industry was moving beyond the concept of a refrigerant evaporator as “ice maker” (see item 011), to a cooling unit designed for frozen foods. Using advanced materials engineering for the period, this specimen is fabricated in stainless steel, with high conductivity, rolled and formed refrigerant passages and equipped with an automatic expansion valve, 1940.
Built in mechanical lifters to release ice cube trays and frozen food packages
Technical Significance:
The industry was moving rapidly to more thermodynamically and mechanically efficient refrigerating systems, with the development of non-noxious, refrigerants, and hermetically sealed refrigeration systems and a new generation of smaller less trouble prone flow controls – represented here by the automatic expansion valve (See artifact Group 3.00) .
Industrial Significance:
The Canadian refrigeration industry was continuing to invest heavily in new materials and manufacturing technology to meet the market potential of the period. Much of the design and engineering development of the time was both facilitated and accelerated by the research of wartime years, as well as being constrained by the shortages of materials and skilled labour.