Kelvinator is an appliance brand. It takes its name from William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, who developed the concept of absolute zero and for whom the Kelvin temperature scale is named. The name was thought appropriate for a company that manufactured ice-boxes and domestic refrigerators.
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Kelvinator was founded in 1914, in Detroit, Michigan, United States by engineer Nathaniel B. Wales who introduced his idea for a practical electric refrigeration unit for the home to Edmund Copeland and Arnold Goss.[1]
Wales, a young inventor, secured financial backing from Arnold Goss, then secretary of the Buick Automobile company, to develop the first household mechanical refrigerators to be marketed under the name "Electro-Automatic Refrigerating Company."[2] After producing a number of experimental models, Wales selected one for manufacturing.
In February 1916, the name of the company was changed to "Kelvinator Company" in honor of British physicist, Lord Kelvin, the discoverer of absolute zero. Kelvinator was among some two dozen home refrigerators introduced to the US market in 1916. In 1918 Kelvinator introduced the first refrigerator with any type of automatic control.[3]
By 1923, the Kelvinator Company held 80 percent of the market for electric refrigerators.[2][4] In 1926, the company acquired Leonard, which had been founded in 1881. In 1928, George W. Mason assumed control of Kelvinator. Under his leadership the company lowered its costs while increasing market share through 1936.
In 1926, Kelvinator Limited, England, was started in London. From simple merchandising of the products of the American factories it grew until it was producing much of its own equipment for the British Market. In 1946 it was considered that the time was ripe for this Unit to expand and be self-contained in its manufacture of Kelvinator Equipment, and the London manufacturing activities were moved to Crewe and greatly expanded with a further 200,00 sq. ft. of floor space.
Between 1939 and 1945, the complete manufacturing facilities of the factories' group was turned over to the manufacturing of war-like stores.
In England, Kelvinator of London contributed to the field of testing aeroplane components at ultra-low temperatures, and instruments under high altitude conditions, research which was credited as saving the lives of many allied aircrews.
On January 4, 1937, the company merged with Nash Motors to form Nash-Kelvinator Corporation as part of a deal that placed Mason at the helm of the combined company. In 1952, it acquired the Altorfer Bros. Company, which made home laundry equipment under the ABC brand name.
Nash-Kelvinator became a division of American Motors (AMC) when Nash merged with Hudson in 1954. Kelvinator introduced the first auto-defrost model side-by-side refrigerator in the early 1950s. In the 1960s, Kelvinator refrigerators introduced "picture frame" doors on some models allowing owners to decorate their appliance to match décor of their kitchens.
Under the leadership of Roy D. Chapin Jr. AMC sold off its Kelvinator operations in 1968.[5] (AMC then purchased Jeep Corporation from Kaiser in 1970) Kelvinator joined White Consolidated Industries, a company that had also acquired the rights to Frigidaire (formerly owned by General Motors), Gibson, Tappan, and White-Westinghouse product lines. White Consolidated Industries was acquired by Electrolux of Sweden in the early 80's.
In the early 1990s, the name of the Dublin, Ohio based holding company changed to Frigidaire Company.
In 2005, Carrier sold the Kelvinator division to National Refrigeration of Honea Path, South Carolina. National Refrigeration continues to manufacture Kelvinator bunkers, dipping cabinets, blast chillers, reach-ins and low- and medium- temp merchandisers.
The Kelvinator brand still exists in Argentina, with the support of Radio Victoria Fueguina S.A. (in Tierra del Fuego, in the south)[6]. The factory is in this province. [7]
Likewise, the Kelvinator brand of refrigerators has continuously been marketed in the Philippines since 1960s until present by Concepcion Industries, a local maker of air conditioning equipment and refrigerators, including other notable brands: Carrier and Condura.