5.01-19: Frigidaire 1931 Compressor

Description:

A FRIGIDAIRE, MODEL A, TWIN CYLINDER, ‘ HP, COMPRESSOR, DISTINGUISHED, BY ITS FLAT SURFACED FLYWHEEL, DESIGNED FOR ‘V ‘ BELT DRIVE, 1931: With reduced, 12’, flat flywheel, engineered for V belt operation, this compressor stands as an historic marker of two simultaneous trends in refrigeration machine engineering, the shift to modest increases in machine speed and the cautious transition to fully engineered V belt drives, based on the company’s cumulative engineering experience of the day.

Group:

5.01 Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Compressors - Household

Make:

Frigidaire

Manufacturer:

Frigidaire Corporation, Dayton Ohio

Model:

A

Serial No.:

Body casting no’s: 96931; 20;R; S-7; 98494; 6-9

Size:

12x10x13’h

Weight:

32 lbs.

Circa:

1931

Rating:

Exhibit, education, and research quality, illustrating the industry’s movement of the early 1930’s to higher speed refrigeration machines with engineered V belt drives

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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.

Type and Design:

Frigidaire’s movement to progressively higher speed compressors and to full ‘V’ belt drive seems to be have been a cautious one, taking place over several model years. The Frigidaire model H, still to come, was a new generation of smaller higher speed compressors, but still retained the flat surface fly wheel for V belt operation, see item #045

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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 Products Manufactured Prior to 1937, P. 13, the T. H. Oliver collection

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Related Reports: