The Cold Industry
Ice Houses, wind energy, rabbit fur coolers and other ways people used to live without refrigerators
On a frosty day in March 1626, Sir Francis Bacon, a prominent English scholar, carried out his last experiment: he stuffed a gutted chicken with snow, and packed more snow around it in order to understand whether low temperatures could help preserve meat. During these experiments Bacon caught a severe chill that eventually killed him. However, before he died he did tell his associate that the experiment was a success.
Why did a famous scholar risk his life? He believed that science should be more than just idle curiosity, that it should serve practical purposes. And the practical usefulness of food storage technology was more than obvious. The philosopher who believed that chicken meat kept better when stored in the cold was not alone. In fact, refrigerating food was long viewed as one of the most effective ways of keeping it fresh. Ice served this purpose as a natural cooling agent. While there were no problems with getting ice in the North, in warmer areas people had to come up with sophisticated solutions.
Ancient times saw a variety of monumental projects to produce cold
In countries with a warm climate only the nobility could afford ice, since it was very difficult and expensive to produce or buy. This did not keep the powerful people of the time from the temptation to chill a couple of wine jars for a joyful feast.
Fruit ice cream was Nero’s favorite desert. The Emperor was ready to pay any price for ice delivered from the Alpine glaciers and stored in his palace’s cellars.
Ice Houses
In sunny Persia, Yakhchāls were built as far back as in 400 BCE. They were structures with thick walls and a dome that could be used to make and store ice. Later this technology was adopted by other countries. As of 2010, there were as many as 129 ice houses in Iran dating back to various periods in history.
Ice stored in the Yakhchāls was brought from the mountains or produced on the spot using a pool-like reservoir shielded by a high wall from direct sunlight. Water channeled into the reservoir would freeze during cold winter nights, and the ice had to be transferred to the Yakhchāls before sunrise. This process was repeated every night throughout the winter. The ice was then covered with straw and sawdust, and stored in the lowest part of the Yakhchāls throughout the summer.
Wind towers
Judging by wall paintings in Egyptian burial sites, back in 2,500 BCE pharaohs used to force their slaves to ventilate jars in order to chill their drinks, or put the jars on the roof, covered with wet rugs. It took the Egyptians and their neighbors several centuries to build special wind towers with cold storage.
These high towers, called malqafs or badgirs, had vertical shafts to catch airflow. The airflow inside the building provided ventilation. It was not uncommon to find water and food storage facilities in the basement of these towers.
In the 19th century, ice production became a profitable business
Unlike their predecessors who used ice for personal consumption, in the modern era people started to produce ice for sale on an industrial scale. While in Ancient Egypt only pharaohs and a few noble families could afford this luxury, a housewife in the 19th century US would receive ice daily, just like the morning paper.
It was in America that the ice trade was born. Frederic Tudor and Nathaniel Wyeth were the first to recognize the huge potential of the ice trade on an industrial scale. In 1799, the first shipment of Tudor’s ice arrived from New York to Charleston, South Carolina. Tudor, who had earned the name the Ice King, focused on heat insulating materials, which helped him reduce losses during transportation from 66 percent down to just 8 percent. His competitor, Nathaniel Wyeth, developed a new ice cutting method to produce standard ice blocks that could be easily loaded onto ships so less ice melted.
How ice was extracted?
In the winter months, ice was “harvested” from the surface of a body of water, packed and covered with sawdust for insulation.
Ice harvesting at Spy Pond, Arlington, Massachusetts, 1852.

© Gleason's Drawing Room Companion
Tools used to harvest ice, 1894
Ice was transported on ships, barges and trains. What mattered most was the speed. Icemen used ice wagons to deliver the product to end users.
During the First World War, women started to deliver ice

© U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
At home, ice was stored in wooden boxes, called ice boxes, while special ice warehouses were created at industrial sites.
Left: harvested ice in a warehouse (1871). Right: An Eddy Darrius ice box with compartments to hold natural ice (1881)

© Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper; Darrius Eddy advertisement
From iceboxes to refrigerators
Inside, iceboxes were usually coated with lead and tin. Two compartments were separated by a layer of cork or sawdust. One compartment was used to store ice, and the other was for food products. Melted water would accumulate in a container that had to be emptied daily. The American engineer Thomas Moore came up with a solution of his own, by building a box of steel and rabbit fur. In 1800 he obtained a patent for his invention, calling it a refrigerator.
Between 1880 and 1907, natural ice consumption grew from 5 million to 15 million metric tons, about ten times the weight of the iceberg that sank the Titanic.
Over the next century, the US successfully exported the precious commodity to Australia, Brazil, India and other countries were ice was a luxury. Ice was even delivered from the New World to the British royal family under Queen Victoria. For Americans, ice had become commonplace. People would order ice blocks of 25, 50 and even 100 pounds.
Artificially produced ice destroyed the ice trade
By the mid-19th century, Australians got tired of buying the overly expensive frozen water from the US. In 1855 James Harrison set up the first vapor-compression refrigeration system. In the US, the Ice King lobby was able to rein in technological progress for several decades. The cause behind the demise of the ice trade was deteriorating quality, since there were very few sources of clean ice left by that time.
After that, it was only a matter of time before new refrigeration methods were developed. In 1879, Carl von Linde from Germany made the first ammonia-based vapor-compression refrigeration machine. Linde's inventions and developments spurred the development and use of liquefied gases in refrigerators on an industrial scale. Mass production of full-fledged household refrigerators started in the 1920s when General Motors bought Frigidaire. From then on, refrigerators swept into the US market, and by the 1970s, they could be found across the world.
How does the refrigerator work?
The basic principle used in compressor-based refrigerators has not changed in almost a century.
An electric current launches the compressor, which compresses the vapors of the cooling agent and transfers the vapor under pressure to the condenser, where the vapor is cooled and liquefied. The refrigerant leaves the condenser through a throttling device to the evaporator. There, the cooling agent evaporates, absorbing heat and thereby cooling the air in the refrigerator. This is a continuous cycle.
The evolution of refrigerator technology
The first refrigerator models were bulky and expensive, while the agents they used, like ammonia and anhydrate, were poisonous and inflammable. However, as technology developed over time, refrigerators became safe and indispensable household appliances.
Dangerous cooling agents with chlorofuorocarbons that came to be knows as Freon Freons were shown to be responsible for ozone depletion. Since then, researchers have been searching for an environmentally-friendly coolant (nitrogen and carbon dioxide as possible alternatives) Manufacturers were bound to show energy effciency ratings on every unit (from G to A) General Electric introduced the Monitor Top refrigerator with a steel case (before that, refrigerators were made of wood, to make them look like furniture) Latches on refrigerators were replaced by magnets that are still used even in the latest models. No Frost technology was invented, making defrosting unnecessary Miele introduced the K 20.000 series freezer- refrigerator combo with a graphite surface that can be written on with chalk markers. 1928 – Freon was invented 1926 – steel casing 1950s – magnets on doors 1980s – Freons under attack 1987 – No Frost technology 1992 – energy effciency under control 2016 – a refrigerator as a communication tool 1951 – mass production of the legendary ZIL Freon-based refrigerator was launched, although it only became widely available to Soviet households in the 1960s. i
V cent. BCE XIX cent. XX cent. XXI cent.
The pinnacle
of refrigerator evolution
With the creation of the Miele K 20.000 new generation refrigerator, you no longer have to choose between luxury and convenience. The series boasts state-of-the-art cooling technology and unconventional design. Not only will it be a perfect assistant in your everyday chores, but also an additional communication tool for keeping in touch with your loved ones.
Original design
The Blackboard edition fridge-freezer combination offers a graphite surface. The door can be written on with chalk markers, and is easy to clean. This model won the prestigious iF Design Award.
Apart from the classic white and steel colors the new series also has the classy brilliant white and obsidian black designs with glossy glass surfaces.
Ideal
microclimate

The Miele K 20.000 series models offer a variety of solutions for extending the storage life of food and keeping produce fresher longer.

With the new DailyFresh function, moisture in the vegetable drawer can be regulated separately, improving the storage of fruit and vegetables.

PerfectFresh and PerfectFresh Pro both lower the temperature even more, resulting in fruit, vegetables, meat, fish and milk products staying fresh for considerably longer.

Innovative
lighting
Energy-saving LED lighting illuminates slowly when the door is opened to prevent any visual discomfort. Every corner inside the fridge is well lit, making food look even more appetizing.
Energy-saving LEDs installed in the fridge compartment provide softer lighting that covers the whole space, and have a longer life span.
FlexiLight provides light sources along the front edge of glass shelves. Thanks to side electrical contacts at each shelf level, glass shelves can easily be relocated, taking their light source with them as they are rearranged, for example, to free up more space.
Innovative lighting. LEDs in the top freezer shelf illuminate the whole compartment. No more long searches for the container you need – it can be seen even when the compartment is closed.
User-friendly

Visible handles were eliminated on some of the K 20.000 fridge-freezer combinations. Instead, a Click2open recessed handle with assisted opening action guarantees ease of operation with a single click.

User-friendly. FreshTouch is a touch display for selecting settings with the press of a button in about a second.

There is also the Silence mode so that you can enjoy your meal in peace and quiet.

And the ComfortFrost function means having to defrost the fridge less often.

Capacity
Some models have an XL fridge compartment that can even fit baking sheets with freshly baked pastries.
Energy efficiency

Building on innovative cooling technology and using state-of-the-art materials, K 20.000 series models achieve the highest energy efficiency ratings (A++ or A+++ rating for energy efficiency under the current EU standards).

RESTART
Rossiya Segodnya Interactive Design Studio

The Cold Industry project was prepared
in cooperation with Miele
The Cold Industry
Ice Houses, wind energy, rabbit fur coolers and other ways people used to live without refrigerators/div>
The pinnacle of refrigerator evolution
С появлением холодильников нового поколения Miele K 20.000 вам больше не придётся выбирать между роскошью и удобством. Современные технологии охлаждения и необычный дизайн делают эти модели не только отличным помощником в быту, но и дополнительным средством общения с близкими.
What’s special about the K 20.000 series:
RESTART
Rossiya Segodnya Interactive Design Studio

The Cold Industry project was prepared
in cooperation with Miele