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Today marks the birthday of the father of refrigeration and
air conditioning, John Gorrie. In fact, much of today's freezer and ice
production machinery is based on the basic principles designed by Gorrie way
back in the mid-nineteenth century.
Becoming a Man of
Medicine
Many of Gorrie's records and personal papers of were
destroyed in 1860 during the turmoil of the United States' Civil War, but what we do
know is this: Gorrie's inventive flare and humanitarian efforts helped stop a
deadly disease, as well as provide a better way of living for those suffering
in hot climates. Gorrie, a South Carolina
native, enrolled in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Western District of
the State of New York
in 1825. It was there that he excelled as a physician and launched his career
into medicine.
After moving his family to the bustling Gulf
Coast city of Apalachicola,
Florida,
which at the time was the third largest port in the eastern seaboard, Gorrie
took on a number of civic duties in addition to the relatively low-paying job
of practicing medicine. This changed,
however, as quickly as a coastal breeze.
Desperate Measures
In addition to becoming the inventor of the original ice
machine, Gorrie is best known for his study of tropical diseases. In fact,
Gorrie's early efforts aimed to thwart a disease that still takes the lives of
more than one million people each year. As the old adage goes, necessity is the
mother of invention; this saying rang true for John Gorrie when the muggy heat
and humidity of Florida spurred an outbreak of
malaria and yellow fever that hit the Gulf of Mexico
by 1841.
The word malaria literary translates as "bad air" in Italian,
and while scientists at the time originally thought the cause of the disease
was spoiled vegetation, it was later determined that mosquitoes were the source
of its transmission. Fortunately, Gorrie's proactive efforts paid-off from doing
two things: first by informing his community of the importance of eliminating
low-lying waters where mosquitoes bred; and, more importantly, he developed ways
to control his patients' body temperatures by decreasing temperature and
humidity levels in his hospital rooms.
Ice, Ice Baby
The often stifling heat in the southeastern corner of the United States
wasn't any cooler during Gorrie's time in history than it is now, and the
presence of ice was a rare treat. In fact, ice delivery service at the time
meant that it was basically harvested from frozen waters in the north, stored
in underground icehouses, packed in sawdust, and eventually shipped south to
hot areas like Florida.
Between 1838 and 1845 Gorrie began researching methods by
which he was able to compress air in a chamber in order to produce an
artificial chill. The air, when compressed and released to expand rapidly,
caused it to absorb the surrounding heat and form water within the
chamber. This compressed air, in turn,
drew so much heat away from the water that the water temperature dropped below
freezing and produced ice. Violà! The
world's first ice maker!
A Penniless Patent
 After leaving the field of medicine to pursue and further
study his cold air creations, Gorrie was granted U.S. Patent No. 8080 for his
ice machine on May 6th, 1851. Despite the obvious advantages that
such a machine offered society at the time, many powerful figures from the northern
ice making industry considered this new invention a serious financial threat. Fearing
a profit loss, these powerful players effectively lobbied against Gorrie, who
could not find sufficient financial backing in order to advance his prototype.
Sadly, before his death on June 16th, 1855, Gorrie never actually
earned a profit from his invention, nor did he even gain recognition for
providing history with a means of refrigeration that would become widely
utilized in the coming century.
References:
"John Gorrie." Encyclopedia of World Biography Supplement, Vol. 21.
Gale Group, 2001. Reproduced in Biography
Resource Center.
Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2009. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC
UNICEF's World Malaria Report: http://www.rollbackmalaria.org/wmr2005/
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