 An engine, a compressor, a condenser. What if you hooked them up to cool the inside of a trailer instead of the inside of a refrigerator? During the hot Minneapolis summer of 1938, FREDERICK M. JONES created that first Thermo King unit to get freshly-killed chickens to market without spoilage. His invention worked so well that it spawned entire industries: frozen food, fast food, container shipping. Millions, who had never eaten anything grown beyond a 50-mile radius, now enjoyed the food of the world. Millions more, who had known only marginal, now ate healthy and fresh. |
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Frederick M. Jones is the inventor of the first reliable system for refrigerating trucks that became the springboard for launching Thermo King Corporation.
A prolific inventor throughout his life, Fred Jones' inventions included a snow sled driven by a car engine and airplane propeller, a portable x-ray machine, a condenser microphone, a sound system for early "talking" motion picture theaters, a theater ticket-dispensing machine (patented), the first reliable refrigeration system for trucks (patented), the first reliable front mounted truck refrigeration unit, a portable refrigeration unit for the US Army in World War II, atmosphere controlled boxcar for rail transport, refrigerated containers for ship-board transport, and an improved two-cycle gas engine (patented), among others.  |
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