Icebox

An icebox (also called a cold closet) is a compact non-mechanical refrigerator which was a common early-twentieth-century kitchen appliance before the development of safely powered refrigeration devices. Before the development of electric refrigerators, iceboxes were referred to by the public as "refrigerators". Only after the invention of the modern electric refrigerator did early non-electric refrigerators become known as iceboxes. The terms ice box and refrigerator were used interchangeably in advertising as long ago as 1848. The first recorded use of refrigeration technology dates back to 1775 BC in the Sumerian city of Terqa. It was there that the region's King, Zimri-lim, began the construction of an elaborate ice house fitted with a sophisticated drainage system and shallow pools to freeze water in the night. Using ice for cooling and preservation was nothing new by then, but these ice houses paved the way for their smaller counterpart, the icebox, to come into existence. The traditional kitchen icebox dates back to the days of ice harvesting, whose heyday ran from the mid-19th century until the 1930s, when the electric refrigerator was introduced for home use. Most municipally consumed ice was harvested in winter from snow-packed areas or frozen lakes, stored in ice houses, and delivered domestically. In 1827 the commercial ice cutter was invented, increasing the ease and efficiency of harvesting natural ice. This invention made ice cheaper and in turn helped the icebox become more common. Up until then, iceboxes for domestic use were not mass manufactured. By the 1840s, however, various companies including the Baldwin Refrigerator Company and the Ranney Refrigerator Company, and later Sears, started making home iceboxes commercially. D. Eddy & Son of Boston is considered to be the first company to produce iceboxes in mass numbers. As many Americans desired big iceboxes, some companies, such as the Boston Scientific Refrigerator Company, introduced ones which could hold up to 50 lbs. of ice.