icyball

Icyball was a small refrigeration system marketed to homes and businesses without electricity. It was manufactured in the 1920s and 1930s. The unit used a single pressure ammonia gas/solution cycle, with no moving parts and allowing any small heater to "charge" the unit. Toronto inventor David Forbes Keith patented the unit in 1921 and in 1928 licensed the manufacturing rights to Powel Crosley, Jr. Working with engineers at the Crosley Radio Corporation in Cincinnati, Powel and his brother, Lewis, improved the device and took out additional patents on it. (Note: There is a bit of confusion over who first came up with this idea. David Forbes Keith originally applied for his patent in Canada in 1920; he was granted a patent on January 11, 1921. Carl G. Munters and Baltzen Van Platen patented their own version of this absorption cycle refrigeration system in 1923. They licensed their invention to Electrolux, who did nothing with it.) The absorption principle of refrigeration (the basis of the Icyball's operation) had been known for decades before Keith built his device (Ferdinand Carre first demonstrated the principle in 1858). But the Crosley Icyball was the only non-mechanical single pressure unit to become a commercial success. Units made in the US factory were labeled Crosley Icyball, while the Canadian produced units were labeled Deforest Crosley Icyball. The Crosley Radio Corporation sold more than 100,000 Icyball units before discontinuing manufacture in the late 1930s. (Most retailed at $59.95.) Crosley manufactured double-size Icyball units for dairy farmers and for commercial applications. Icyballs were sold not only in North America, but also in Europe, South America, and Africa. Here and there, a few Icyballs survive in working condition. One is on display at the Smithsonian Institution, and another can be found at the Refrigeration Museum in Brighton, Michigan. The World Health Organization (among other entities) has in recent years expressed interest in reviving the device for use in third-world countries. --Michael A. Banks

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