Karl von Linde: inventor of the electric refrigerator and founder of the Linde brand

Linde plc is a leading industrial gas and engineering company with 2018 pro forma sales of US$28 billion (€24 billion). Linde plc employs approximately 80,000 people worldwide and serves customers in more than 100 countries around the world.

Also part of this group, Linde MH has for over 50 years developed high-performance stacking and storage solutions tailored to the needs of every business. Linde MH is one of the world's largest manufacturers of stacking and storage equipment and sets world standards with its industrial forklift trucks, warehouse equipment and stacking solutions.

The process to the refrigerator

The first ice maker used for packing meat and practical food and beverages such as beer was invented by James Harrison in 1857. This system was further developed by Ferdinand Carre in 1859. This newly developed system used compressed ammonia to cool it. Later, in 1876, Carl von Linden, a German engineer, installed the gasification system, an important element of refrigeration technology. The first widely used cooling system was introduced in 1927 by General Electric.

Karl Linde succeeded in making the first electric refrigerator artificially in 1877. This refrigerator was actually a proof of the necessity of a cold environment in order not to spoil the food. Because it was quite far from a usable structure in this state. Instead of freon gas, Linde's device pumped a highly explosive gas, such as methyl ether, into the back of the food cabinet. It was not used much due to safety concerns. In the following years, Balzer Von Platen and Carl Munters designed the first refrigerator using freon gas.

Freon: Freon gas is an odorless, colorless, non-flammable gas that does not corrode the metals it comes into contact with. It is a registered trademark of DuPont. It is known by the formulas of chlorofluorocarbon or hydro-chlorofluorocarbon. Freon gas boils at about -30 degrees Celsius and freezes at -180/-200 degrees depending on the type.

The evolution of the refrigerator

American Dr. John Gorrie invents the first commercially produced refrigerator in 1844. John Gorrie, a medical doctor by profession, took his place in history as the father of "Air Conditioning Systems - Refrigeration - Commercial ice production" in 1844. John Gorrie (1803 - 1855), a medical doctor, was the inventor of the refrigerator as well as artificial ice production and air conditioning. Dr. Gorrie's basic principle of cooling by rapid expansion of gas is still the basic building block of refrigerators today.

The First Electricity-Powered Refrigerator:

German inventor Karl Von Linde introduced the first refrigerator to the world, powered by electricity, in 1876. Linde received a patent in 1877 for a device that uses an electrically powered compressor for recirculating the gas and methyl ether for the cooling system. The operation of the device with electrical energy was revolutionary. However, the methyl ether used for the cooling system was still highly explosive and could not be used as much as previous models due to safety concerns. Despite this, it managed to sell 747 refrigerators until 1890.

Revolution in the Fridge! Using Freon Gas…

Swede Baltzar von Platen and Carl Munters produced the first refrigerator using Freon gas. They used a new gas, freon, because the ether gas used in previous chillers provided insufficient cooling and was potentially explosive. The device, which provides more effective cooling and does not have the risk of explosion, is a turning point in the history of refrigerators.

Who founded Linde?

Karl Linde was born on 11 June 1842 in Berndorf, Germany, the son of a German-born father and a Swedish mother. He was expected to follow in his father's footsteps, but progressed in another field entirely. He was interested in both literary, cultural and technical subjects. This interest led him to work on machine building.

Von Linde's family moved to Munich, Bavaria in 1854. Eight years after moving to Munich, Linde started an engineering course at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. However, he was expelled from school in 1864 for participating in student protests.

After this event, he received practical training in the workshop and drawing studios of Borsig's locomotive and machinery factory near Berlin from 1864 to 1866.

In 1866, he became head of the technical department of the locomotive manufacturers at the newly founded Krauss and Company in Munich.

Here he was able to implement a number of his own ideas, including brake arrangements.

Von Linde married Helene Grimm in September 1866 and they had 6 children from this marriage.

He learned of the opening of a new technical school in Munich in 1868 and immediately applied to this school as a teacher.

Linde was accepted for this position at the age of 26.

He had worked as an engineer for several years before working as a lecturer at the Technical University of Berlin.

An old friend who worked at the brewery asked Linde to develop a reliable cooling system.

In 1870, Linde began researching refrigeration.

He became professor of mechanical engineering in 1872, and in 1875 he established an engineering laboratory in Germany, the first of its kind.

His research on the theory of heat, from 1873 to 1877, led to the invention of the first successful compressed ammonia refrigerator.

Plans to build the refrigerator were completed in January 1873 and a patent application was filed.

The Bavarian patent, however, required the machine to be operational within a year.

In January 1874, they managed to start operating the machine until the patent expired. But the first refrigerator had its difficulties.

The main problem was that von Linde's mercury seal did not work properly so that the methyl ether used as a refrigerant leaked out of the compressor.

Linde stated: “This design was not a viable solution for practical use requirements. So it seemed imperative to build a second machine."

To finance this, von Linde transferred some of the patent rights to Sedlmayr, the locomotive manufacturer Georg Krauss, and Heinrich von Buz, manager of Maschinenfabrik Augsburg. In return, they provided the funds needed for the development, construction and testing of a new refrigeration machine.

With his student and assistant Friedrich Schipper, von Linde designed a new compressor with more effective sealing.

The newly designed sealant was glycerin and a more efficient ammonia was used as the coolant.

Thus, the invention of the refrigerator was completed and he received a patent in 1877.

The weight of the new machine was half the weight of the previous one.

"Initial trials with this second compressor have yielded completely satisfactory results," said von Linde.

He emphasized that refrigerators should not only be useful in making ice, but also in direct cooling of liquids.

For these reasons, breweries were particularly interested in his device.

Linde left his teaching job in 1879 and started his own company to develop his own project.

His company's first customers and partners were brewers.

He was knighted in 1897, and from that moment on, the honorary word "von" was added to his surname.

He died a famous industrialist at the age of 92 in Munich in 1934, and today the Linde company continues as a leading gas and engineering company operating in more than 100 countries around the world.