Category: Did You Know?

A category to inform and educate

The Man Who Invented the Refrigerated Truck

Posted on February 26, 2018 - Did You Know?, Refrigeration

Frederick McKinley Jones is the inventor of the refrigeration unit. He invented the first portable air-cooling unit, also referred to as the refrigeration unit. With his innovations, mobile refrigeration was improved for the long-distance transport of medical supplies, food, and other perishable goods.

Biography: Before The Portable Refrigeration Unit

Frederick McKinley Jones was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in late Spring of 1893. By the time he was 14 years old, he was able to work with automobiles as a naturally skilled mechanic. From there he continued to self-educate, read and study material that contributed to his natural mechanical ability and innovative mind.

Jones continued to seek advancement and moved from Cincinnati to Hallock, Minnesota. He gained employment as a mechanic on a farm and eventually joined the U.S. Army during World War I. After his time in the military, he returned to Hallock as a mechanic. He continued self-educating, and with his natural mechanical ability, he was able to grasp the intricacies of electronics. From what he learned he was able to build a transmitter for the town’s radio station. During this period, Jones also invented a device that would revolutionize Cinema. He built a device that could finally combine sound with a motion picture. This actually caught the eye of Joseph A. Numero in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Jones began working for Numero in 1930, helping to improve the firm’s sound equipment.

The First Portable Air-Cooling Unit

Jones continued to invent and expand his understanding of mechanics and electronics. In 1938, he designed the portable air-cooling units used on trucks that carry perishable goods. By 1940, he received a patent for it and Joseph A. Numero decided to sell his Cinema sound equipment firm in order to go into business with Jones. They formed a new company that specialized in refrigerated/cooling units. It became a multi-million dollar company by 1949 with the introduction of the refrigerated truck.

Frederick McKinley Jones is the Inventor of the Refrigeration Unit and the father of mobile refrigeration for the transportation of perishable goods.

Image is the property of Black History In America

Frederick McKinley Jones is the inventor of the refrigeration unit. He invented the first portable air-cooling unit, also referred to as the refrigeration unit. With his innovations, mobile refrigeration was improved for the long distance transport of medical supplies, food, and other perishable goods

Image is the property of the Minnesota Historical Society

The designs for the portable air-cooling unit were especially important during World War II. They were used to help transport perishable goods throughout the military hospitals and across the open battlefields. It helped preserve food, maintain medicines, and other time-sensitive goods. Medical tents and army hospitals were able to receive blood for their patients. Those on the battlefield didn’t starve to death because they were able to receive supplies due to the portable air-cooling unit.

  • Top Honors and Awards

Jones continued to invent, earning as many as 61 patents in his lifetime. The majority of his inventions were for refrigeration equipment, but his other inventions helped many industries. For instance, he received further patents for portable X-ray machines, improved audio/sound equipment, and more efficient gasoline engines. As an entrepreneur and inventor, it wasn’t long before he got the recognition he deserved. Frederick Mckinley Jones became the first African American to be included in the American Society of Refrigeration-Engineers by 1944. This led to more work in the 1950s, consulting for the U.S. DoD (department of defense) as well as the Bureau of Standards.

Jones passed away in Minneapolis in the early Spring of 1961 after battling cancer. During his lifetime and well after his death, he continued getting the recognition he deserved. By 1977, he was included in Minnesota’s Inventors Hall of Fame. In 1991, his widow was awarded the National Medal of Technology on his behalf. Now known as the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, this medal is considered one of the highest honors awarded to citizens who made significant contributions to technological development. Jones was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2007 for his exceptional patents and work in the field of refrigeration.

Today’s Refrigerated Truck

It’s hard to Imagine Life without Refrigerated trucks. Today, the refrigeration unit helps transport flowers, chocolates, meats, medical supplies and so much more. A refrigerated truck, also known as a reefer, can transport dairy products, frozen foods, even goods that require dual temperature settings during transport. Mobile refrigeration has continued to improve since its inception and delivering temperature and time-sensitive goods are made easier with a refrigerated truck, van, or trailer. 

Why Advanced Temperature Control (ATC)

ATC offers several types of refrigeration units to meet your distribution needs. Whether it’s a fleet or a single delivery van, our direct drive refrigeration systems perform continuously day after day, year after year. Your confidence is assured in knowing your fresh and frozen goods are safe, kept at the perfect temperature by reliable ATC refrigeration units.

  • Looking for an endorsed, Mercedes Benz Master Upfitter delivering quality engineered solutions for over 25 years?
  • Do you have time or temperature sensitive products that need a proven, dependable refrigerated solution for your truck, van, or trailer?
  • Need to ensure your delivery needs and business objectives are achieved?

Advanced Temperature Control is the solution provider you need for all your transport refrigeration solutions. Contact ATC today and we’ll show you how or locate the dealer nearest you.

 

Refrigerated Vehicles Date Back to 1949

Posted on April 1, 2016 - Did You Know?, Refrigeration

Humans have been having refrigerated food for centuries. Ancient civilizations such as the Chinese, Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans placed large amounts of snow into caves and storage pits to preserve food longer. In the 1800s, frozen ice blocks were carried around in the back of wagons and sold to people and businesses to preserve food. The first successful mechanically refrigerated vehicles were introduced by the ice cream industry in about 1925.

It wasn’t until 1949 that Frederick McKinley Jones invented an automatic roof-mounted refrigeration system for long haul trucks and railroad cars, to make sure food stayed fresh. Jones was inspired to invent the system after talking with a truck driver who lost his whole cargo of chicken because he couldn’t reach his destination before the ice melted.

Refrigerated Van and Trucks were originally designed to carry perishable freight and are the reason we enjoy fresh food every day but did you know these vehicles are also used to carry arctic animals safely from their homes to zoo’s, protect paintings and art from significant damage by ensuring low temperature and humidity; nurseries and florists to ensure cut flowers would last longer; bakeries, medical supplies, and a morbid application to preserve human bodies in the morgue. 


Read more on The History and Impact of Refrigeration and for more information on Refrigeration systems, call the Direct Drive Reefer Specialist, Advanced Temperature Control.

What are Refrigerated or Reefer Trucks

Posted on March 7, 2016 - Did You Know?, Refrigeration

Refrigerated delivery solutions by ATC. From compact vans to high roof, extended wheelbase or straight trucks, Advanced Temperature Control has a solution for your delivery needs.What is a Refrigerated or Reefer Truck?

A Reefer as they are known, are vans and trucks that include a refrigeration unit to maintain specific climates for temperature-sensitive loads. They are available in Nose mount or Rooftop system configuration. To find out more about the type of system that’s ideal for your business and vehicle, visit our solutions page.  Continue reading to learn  about the main components and also about How Reefers works.

What’s Refrigeration?

It’s the process of moving heat from one location to another in controlled conditions. The work of heat transport is traditionally driven by mechanical work, but can also be driven by heat, electricity or other means. Refrigeration is a Closed System that requires keeping an item below room temperature by storing the item in a system or substance designed to cool or freeze. The most common form of refrigeration is provided by systems (i.e. refrigerators) that use a refrigerant chemical to remove heat from items stored inside the system.

Main Components of a Refrigeration System?

Compressor – It is mounted to the vehicle engine with a compressor mounting bracket and is driven by the vehicle belt drive system. Refrigerant enters the compressor as a low-temperature, low-pressure gas. The compressor compresses the refrigerant and changes it to a high temperature, high-pressure gas.

Reefer or Refrigerated Trucks - The Compressor compresses the refrigerant and changes it to a high temperature, high pressure gas

Condenser – Rooftop or Nose Mounted it receives the high temperature, high-pressure refrigerant from the compressor and through the process of heat exchange, assisted by the condenser fan motor, changes the state of the refrigerant to a high-temperature liquid. This change of state takes place when the air circulating around the tubing and fins of the condenser coil, cools the refrigerant.

Reefer or Refrigerated Trucks - The Condenser assisted by the condenser fan motor, changes the state of the refrigerant to a high temperature liquid.

Evaporator is located in the cargo area of the vehicle. The liquid refrigerant entering the evaporator via the expansion valve is thermostatically controlled to change state from a liquid to a low pressure, low-temperature gas. The refrigerant now absorbs the heat from the cargo area by passing air over the evaporator coil assisted by the evaporator fan motor. The refrigerant at his point, is referred to as a “saturated mixture” in the evaporator coil. When this process is complete, the gas returns to the compressor as a low temperature, low-pressure gas and this entire process is repeated until the desired temperature is reached.

Reefer or Refrigerated Trucks - The Evaporator change the state of the refrigerant from a liquid to a low pressure, low temperature gas.

 From Wikipedia – Refrigeration has had a large impact on industry, lifestyle, agriculture and settlement patterns. The idea of preserving food dates back to the ancient Roman and Chinese empires. Refrigeration technology has rapidly evolved in the last century, from ice harvesting to temperature-controlled rail cars. The introduction of refrigerated rail cars contributed to the westward expansion of the United States, allowing settlement in areas that were not on main transport channels such as rivers, harbors, or valley trails. In most developed countries, cities are heavily dependent upon refrigeration in supermarkets to maintain fresh food for daily consumption.

Advanced Temperature Control has been proudly manufacturing direct drive truck refrigeration systems in North America for over 25 years. Whether that means a refrigerated food truck or temperature controlled trailer, we offer a solution to fit your needs. Call us today and we’ll show you how.

Learn more on our Blog, ATCNEWS