4.01-3: Kelvinator 1932 Medium Speed, Condensing Unit

HHCC Accession No. 2003.031	HHCC Classification Code: 4.01-3

Description:

A medium duty, second generation, coil spring mounted medium speed, condensing unit with belt driven, single cylinder, reciprocating compressor, copper tube and finned, two pass air cooled condenser, with 1/4th HP electric motor. A refrigerating machine for the large Canadian estate home, or family food store application. Like #030, it came with a new sense of quiet that would be characteristic of the best of the industry’s offerings in the early growth years of the household refrigerator in Canada. Designed and manufactured by an acknowledged market leader of the times with facilities in London Ontario, Kelvinator, 1932.

Group:

4.01 Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Condensing Units - Household

Make:

Kelvinator

Manufacturer:

Kelvinator of Canada, London Ontario

Model:

Serial No.:

Size:

16x 14x 12’h

Weight:

80 lbs

Circa:

1932

Rating:

Exhibit, education, and research quality demonstrating the early growth years of refrigeration machines [condensing units] for large estate homes, produced by an acknowledged leader in Canadian design and production.

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Provenance:

From York County (York Region) Ontario, once a rich agricultural hinterlands, attracting early settlement in the last years of the 18th century. Located on the north slopes of the Oak Ridges Moraine, within 20 miles of Toronto, the County would also attract early ex-urban development, to be come a wealthy market place for the emerging household and consumer technologies of the early and mid 20th century.

This artifact was discovered in the 1950’s in the used stock of T. H. Oliver, Refrigeration and Electric Sales and Service, Aurora, Ontario, an early worker in the field of agricultural, industrial and consumer technology.

This machine, with its liquid receiver removed, was used by T.H. Oliver Refrigeration as a vacuum pump in his shop throughout the 1950’s and 60’s - attesting to the remarkable long operating life built into the equipment.

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Technological Significance:

A significant marker of a new level of quiet and smooth operation for refrigerating machines of the time, to be tolerated in the kitchens of the nation