CHAPTER 33
DOMESTIC REFRIGERATORS-- ON THE 15TH OF DECEMBER 1926 THE FIRST AUSTRALIAN MADE DOMESTIC/COMMERCIAL REFRIGERATOR STARTED RUNNING. THE REFRIGERATOR IS NOW LOCATED AT THE UNLEY MUSEUM,IN A SUBURB OF ADELAIDE,THE COMPRESSOR, EVAPORATOR AND CONDENSER WERE BUILT IN THE DAVID GARVIE ENGINEERING FACTORY IN TYNE PLACE UNLEY. THE CABINET WAS BUILT NEXT DOOR AT THE VAUGHAN PATE CABINET/ FURNITURE FACTORY. THE FULL HISTORY IS RECORDED AT THE MUSEUM AND ON THIS WEBSITE. BETWEEN 1927 AND 1939 MANY REFRIGERATORS AND COLDROOMS WERE MADE UNTIL THE OUTBREAK OF WORLD WAR 2 IN 1939. THE FIRST REFRIGERATORS WERE CALLED ICE-O-LECTRIC.LATER NAMES WERE REFRIGERATORS LIMITED THEN COLDSTREAM REFRIGERATORS .------ DURING WORLD WAR TWO. COLDSTREAM MANUFACTURED MORE THAN THREE QUARTERS OF ALL THE REFRIGERATION FOR THE ARMED FORCES. AT THE END OF THE WAR THE BUSINESS WERE ALREADY TOOLED UP TO MAKE DOMESTIC REFRIGERATORS SO BETWEEN 1945 AND 1947 MADE MORE REFRIGERATORS THAN THE NEXT TWO LARGEST MANUFACTURERS COMBINED. COLDSTREAM THEN JOINED WITH BUSINESSES IN ADELAIDE,SYDNEY, MELBOURNE,HOBART AND PERTH MAKING COLDROOMS, REFRIGERATOR CABINETS AND DRINK DISPENSERS. IN 1954 THERE WERE 22 DOMESTIC REFRIGERATOR MANUFACTURERS, BY THE END OF 1955 FIFTEEN HAD CLOSED UP BUT AGAIN IN 1957 THERE WERE FOURTEEN DOMESTIC REFRIGERATOR MANUFACTURERS,ALL BUT THREE WERE OUT OF BUSINESS ............ IN 1958.THOSE THREE SURVIVED ON OTHER PARTS OF THEIR BUSINESSES. .. FORTUNEATELY COLDSTREAM ANTICIPATING THE OVERSUPPLY HAD SWITCHED ENTIRELY TO COMMERCIAL REFRIGERATION IN 1954.
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