Alfred Wytheman Mellowes (1879-1960) was an

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the ...

who made the first self-contained electric refrigerator in 1915 in Fort Wayne.

Career

In 1916, he founded the Guardian Frigerator Company in partnership with J. W. Murray whose business would manufacture the "frigerators" in Detroit. The business was unsuccessful initially as the rate of production was low.

William C. Durant William Crapo Durant (December 8, 1861 – March 18, 1947) was a leading pioneer of the United States automobile industry and co-founder of General Motors and Chevrolet. He created a system in which a company held multiple marques – each ...

inspected the production line and advised Murray to buy out the business. In 1918, Durant then bought the business from Murray and renamed the company

Frigidaire Frigidaire Appliance Company is the American consumer and commercial home appliances brand subsidiary of multinational company Electrolux. Frigidaire was founded as the Guardian Frigerator Company in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and developed the fi ...

. Durant then sold the business to his other company, General Motors, in 1919. The company was subsequently moved to

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater ...

where Mellowes was born.

References

20th-century American inventors Cooling technology 1879 births 1960 deaths {{engineer-stub