Carl von Linde

Refrigerator

Linde’s 1876 compressed-ammonia refrigerator was the first practical, compact, and reliable vapor-compression system. It solved industrial spoilage by enabling stable low-temperature control — starting with the Spaten Brewery in 1873. Its mechanism relied on compression, condensation, expansion, and evaporation, later formalised as the refrigeration cycle in 1895. But it used toxic refrigerants without safeguards — a trade-off baked into its design. Its legacy is real: ammonia remains in industrial use today. Its failure is structural: safety was deferred, not designed.