Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Condensing Units – Household
Refrigerating machinery by this manufacturer, a uniquely and distinctively Canadian company, made a special contribution to Canada’s material culture of refrigerating technology. The Gilson Manufacturing Co. of Guelph Ontario was part of the new industrialism growing up in the Ontario hinterlands, between the Wars, to service the needs of rural Ontario, much less than the provinces urban elites.
Executed in the company’s distinctive aqua , blue/green, tones it would be a well recognised part of the Canadian refrigeration landscape through the middle years of the 20th century – seen by many as its “golden” years. A condensing unit with belt driven, single cylinder, reciprocating compressor, copper tube and finned, single pass air cooled condenser, and 1/6th HP electric motor, it was assembled on a distinctive cast iron, foundry produced frame, a hallmark of much Gilson’s production of the period, Gilson Mfg. Co, Circa 1945.
Technical Significance:
One of an early breed of Canadian made condensing units [along with Kelvinator of Canada, and Universal Cooler} moving from the use of highly noxious SO2 to methyl chloride, heralding the massive swing to the chlorinated hydrocarbon refrigerants by the end of the decade (F12).
Industrial Significance:
The assembly process employed, in the years before more sophisticated hermetically sealed condensing units became popular, allowed small, start-up manufactures to get into a growth market with relatively small capital investment and know-how. This would have a profound effect on the speciality companies such as Kelvinator and Frigidaire , who manufactured a full line of component parts and backed much of the research on which the rest of industry relied.