4.01-7A: Sunbeam 1936 Condensing Unit

HHCC Accession No. 2003.037	HHCC Classification Code: 4.01-7A

Description:

By the mid 1930’s the North American refrigeration industry was moving rapidly to the adoption of much more sophisticated engineering conceptions of what the refrigeration machine might now become, based on a decade or more of manufacturing, engineering and research experience. Moving beyond the notion of stand-alone condensing unit, a significant step was the development of condensing units with integral evaporators, close coupled, to produce a single unified refrigeration mechanism for a cabinet refrigerator. The Sunbeam Electric Mfd. Co., Evansville Ind. made a significant contribution to this important evolutionary stage of development, 1936

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Group:

4.01 Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Condensing Units - Household

Make:

Sunbeam

Manufacturer:

The Sunbeam Electric Mfd. Co., Evansville Ind.

Model:

SA623

Serial No.:

534892B7125

Size:

22x 18x 23’h

Weight:

110 lbs.

Circa:

1936

Rating:

Exhibit, education, and research quality demonstrating the advances made by the mid 1930, working towards a fully integrated design for a refrigeration machines with closely coupled evaporators.

Patent Date/Number:

1812748 (1931); 1852829(1933)

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.

Type and Design:

Direct drive, rotary compressor with copper tube and fin single pass air-cooled condenser mounted on insulated bulkhead forming the top of the refrigerated cabinet. Stainless steel, two tray evaporator with tray lifts, and refrigerated shelf. Constructed with 3/8’ copper tubing soldered to evaporator shell. Equipped with closed back, hinged door, for low temperature operation, and Detroit Lubricator, automatic expansion valve

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Technological Significance:

Stands as a significant marker in the evolution of cabinet refrigeration systems working towards highly integrated specialised systems which would increasigly be the norm in the latter part of the century