Marcel Audiffren

Marcel Audiffren, was a French priest, physicist, and inventor who promoted the residential refrigerator. He served as abbot of his Cistercian monastery, and originally designed a hand-cranked device for cooling liquid, such as wine, for his monks.^[1]

European-manufactured refrigerators based on his designs were first sold in the U.S. in 1903. He received U.S. Patents #551,107 (in 1895) and #898,400 (in 1908, with Albert Sigrun). These patents were purchased by C. A. Griscom for his American Audiffren Refrigerating Machine Company^[2]. Machines based on Audiffren's sulfur dioxide process were manufactured by General Electric in Fort Wayne, Indiana and marketed by the Johns-Manville company. The first unit was sold in 1911. Audiffren machines were expensive, selling for about $1,000—about twice as much as an automobile cost at the time.

References

1. ^ Refrigeration Research Website
2. ^ History and Background of the Appliances Industry

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Name	Audiffren, Marcel
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