5.01-4: Kelvinator 1929 Compressor

Description:

Moving with the market, and with a new sense of what it would take to put a refrigerator in every Canadian household, the industry quickly moved beyond its crude beginnings. If the mechanical refrigeration machine, with clanking reciprocating compressor, was to be acceptabled into the homes of the nation, it must be much smoother, quieter and appear more friendly to the householder. The later ‘J’ style Kelvinator, engineered for higher speed and greatly reduced mass [50 to 30 lbs.], would be a significant step along the way, Kelvinator of Canada, 1929.

Group:

5.01 Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Compressors - Household

Make:

Kelvinator

Manufacturer:

Kelvinator of Canada, London Ontario

Model:

Later ‘J’ style, (The literature available is unclear as to the exact model designation)

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Size:

10x10x12’h

Weight:

30 lbs.

Circa:

1929

Rating:

Exhibit, education, and research quality, dramatising the commitment of the refrigeration industry to to move beyond its crude beginnings to produce smoother, quieter more friendly refrigeration machinery for the Canadian home of the late 1920,s

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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:

10’ fly wheel in Kelvinator distinctive fly wheel red, a node in the direction of safety in a period in which wheel and pulley belt guards were not yet mandatory corrosion resistant, Cast iron body, with showing the effects of pitting of earlier production , see #087, #088

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Donor:

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

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Bibliographic References:

Kelvinator Composite Manual, T. H. Oliver Collection, Form 4003-2, Dec. 1, 1929

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Related Reports: