Marcel Audiffren was a French priest, physicist, and inventor who promoted the residential refrigerator. He served as abbot of his Cistercian monastery, and originally designed a hand-cranked device for cooling liquid, such as wine, for his monks.[1]
European-manufactured refrigerators based on his designs were first sold in the U.S. in 1903. He received U.S. Patents #551,107 (in 1895) and #898,400 (in 1908, with Albert Sigrun). These patents were purchased by C. A. Griscom for his American Audiffren Refrigerating Machine Company.[2] Machines based on Audiffren's sulfur dioxide process were manufactured by General Electric in Fort Wayne, Indiana and marketed by the Johns-Manville company. The first unit was sold in 1911. Audiffren machines were expensive, selling for about $1,000—about twice as much as an automobile cost at the time.
References
Refrigeration Research Website Archived 2007-02-22 at the Wayback Machine
History and Background of the Appliances Industry Archived 2007-11-10 at the Wayback Machine
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