5.01-17: Frigidaire 1929 Compressor

Description:

AN EARLY, FRIGIDAIRE, TWIN CYLINDER COMPRESSOR, FOR HOUSEHOLD CABINET REFRIGERATOR, 1929: equipped with a unique,massive, 14’, fan hub, ‘grooved’, flat belt flywheel, re-cast for ‘V’ belt drive. The machine stands as an historic marker of the fundamental shift from flat to V belts in the first quarter of the 20th century, and the evolution in the engineering and manufacture of the V belt that made it possible.

Group:

5.01 Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Compressors - Household

Make:

Frigidaire Corp. Dayton Ohio

Manufacturer:

Frigidaire

Model:

Frigidaire 1-1 [See note]

Serial No.:

Size:

14x12x12’h

Weight:

38 lbs.

Circa:

1929

Rating:

Exhibit, education, and research quality, illustrating early Frigidaire compressor design and manufacture methods at the transition in time between flat and V belt drive

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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.

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Donor:

G. Leslie Oliver, The T. H. Oliver HVACR Collection

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Bibliographic References:

Frigidaire Installation and service Manual#405, for poducts manufactured prior to 1937

Notes:

The compressor remains unmarked except for the embossed body no, ‘1-1’. The data available suggest it is a variant to the model used on the company’s Model E or EAE condensing unit, see manual reference, Ch. 1-A P. 12

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