Greetings,
This paper examines the claims that in 1851, Dr. John Gorrie of Apalachicola Florida was the first person to invent artificial refrigeration to make ice and cool rooms. Gorrie quested for climate control during the hot and humid Florida summers in order to cool the rooms of his home / hospital, believing the current theory of that time, that cold air abated fevers, as well as aided in the recovery of malaria and yellow fever patients. Moreover, this paper briefly looks at early medical theories on using ice to treat malaria and yellow fever patients, along with a glance at the other men who had an interest in developing ice making and refrigeration 1800-1870.
Paper
In the early 1800’s yellow fever and malaria epidemics swept through the Deep South. In the early 1820’s yellow fever deaths in New Orleans accounted for 36 per 1,000, and the summer of 1853, one out of fifteen succumbed to the disease. Between 1817 and 1905, it is estimated that 41,000 died from the disease. In any given year, an epidemic of yellow fever could kill 60 percent of those infected.[1] In 1841, the small town of St. Joseph, Florida, was decimated by yellow fever. In the late 1830’s it had a population around 4,000 and by the end of 1841, it had a population of 400. Many died and numerous inhabitants fled the town.[2] One of the many theories in the causation of yellow fever was the South’s climate with its wide temperature swings. In 1815, Dr. Thomas Sutton proposed that some diseases were directly affected by temperature.[3][4]
During the 19th Century, many men throughout the world sought to create artificial cold, as well as manufacture ice. Dr. John Gorrie (October 3, 1803 – June 29, 1855) (Figure 1), was one of the pioneering entrepreneurs who sought to make artificial cold. His goal as a physician was to cool the rooms of his home hospital to ease the suffering of his yellow fever and malaria patients. He lived in Apalachicola Florida, a small town along the Northern Gulf of Mexico. The city of Apalachicola lies forty miles east of St. Joseph.[5]
Figure 1. Painting of Dr. John Gorrie. Apalachicola Florida, John Gorrie Museum. Photo Credit: Kevin Bair
In 1845 he was successful in creating artificial ice by mechanical means. He used this invention to cool the rooms of his patients. His invention was patent no. 8,080, issued on May 6, 1851, for the Improved Process For The Artificial Production Of Ice.[6]
Because of his invention and patent, generations of local lore were created, such as the moniker Father of Ice Making and Refrigeration. This label, or some version of it, has been printed in many books, as well as in local, state, and national press.
On April 23, 1911, in the Pensacola New Journal of Pensacola Florida, there was an article declaring, Dr. John Gorrie The Floridian Who Invented The Ice Machine (Figure 2).[7]
Figure 2. Pensacola News Journal (Pensacola, Florida), 1911.
Moreover, on March 27, 1897, the Montgomery Advertiser, in Montgomery Alabama printed Dr. John Gorrie, as the Inventor of Ice (Figure. 3).[8] In 2015, The Miami Herald, labeled him Father of Air-conditioning. Raymond Becker, in his 1972, Historical Biography on Gorrie, titled his book, the Father of Air Conditioning and Mechanical Refrigeration (Figure 4).[9]
Figure 3.Inventor Of Ice. the Montgomery Advertiser, Montgomery Alabama, Mar. 03, 28,1897,2.
Dr. John Gorrie (1803-1855)
Figure 4.Raymond B. Becker, Father Of Air Conditioning and Mechanical Refrigeration John Gorrie, M.D. (Gainesville: Carlton Press, Inc.1972).
In the unpublished paper titled, The Ice Man by Winifred Kimball [10] of Apalachicola, Kimball stated, a friend of her mothers, a Dr. Alvan Chapman (September 28, 1809 – April 6, 1899) [11], a close friend of Gorrie’s, recalled how Gorrie told him he was Spanish and born on the island of St. Nevis.[12] There are several versions of his birth origin. Tradition has it, one year old Gorrie, his mother, and an escort named Captain Gorrie, arrived in Charleston October 3, 1803, from St. Nevis, thus, for this reason, Dr. Gorrie used that date as his birthdate. The name Gorrie was for some unknown reason adopted as the last name for him and his mother. There is no indication that Captain Gorrie was his father, while it is suggested his father was of Spanish Royalty and that he and his mother received money every month, which in turn allowed for a proper education, and later medical school. Additionally, Chapman remarked, Gorrie was fluent in Spanish.[13][14] In summary, up to this date, the information on Gorrie’s birth is unsubstantiated.
Education
Gorrie attended the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York. On the 31st of January 1827, he graduated with his medical degree. [15] His thesis, An Essay on Neuralgia, was published a year later in the New-York Medical And Physical Journal. The thesis cover indicated he was from Abbeville, South Carolina (Figure 5).[16]
Figure 5. . 1827, New-York Medical And Physical Journal. V. 6. New York, E. Bliss and E. White, 1822-1830. 158. Dr. Gorrie, Abbeville, S.C.
Apalachicola Florida
Records indicate in1833, Dr. Gorrie arrived in Apalachicola, then a busy cotton exporting town, and became a prominent citizen, as well as the postmaster, mayor, member of the city council, city treasurer, and for a time the only doctor in the area.[17] Because of the devastating seasonal cycles and epidemics of yellow fever and malaria, Dr. Gorrie, as many doctors were at that time, was interested in treating the diseases with the most current medical theories of the period.
The pressing medical question was, what was the best way to successfully treat yellow fever and malaria patients in warm climates? As an example, in 1802, the lack of proper medical treatment for yellow fever devastated Napoleon’s undefeated army during their mission in Saint Dominque, (Haiti), to quell the slave revolt. Napoleon lost nine-tenths of his troops to the disease.[18]
Medical – Yellow Fever and Malaria – Climate Control
In 1815, Dr. Sutton wrote an article for The London Medical and Physical Journal titled, On the Effects of Temperature in Pulmonary Consumption. In the article, he stated that cooler climates would cure many diseases and that men should attempt to imitate the atmosphere of the colder climates. He made the case, and supported it with information from other doctors, that many diseases, such as yellow fever, are directly related to warming environments, and by manipulating the air temperature and cooling it around a patient, their symptoms should greatly subside. He stated,
a hotter latitude, the symptoms in general become greatly more accelerated…the heat of the climate increases the fever and colliquative sweats…[19]
In the 1834 The American Journal Of The Medical Sciences, Edward Barton, M D.[20], wrote an article titled, Account of the Epidemic Yellow Fever which prevailed in New Orleans during the Autumn of 1833. In his article, Barton reports on his medical observation of the four seasons, the seasonal air temperatures, and the rise and fall of diseases and fevers in each season. He reported, The disease (yellow fever) finally lost its intensity and prevalence with the changes in the condition of the atmosphere.[21]
In 1837, Barton wrote an Introductory Lecture On Acclimation, in it he stated he had eighteen years of disease and atmospheric observations and The influence of climate (on disease),…. is almost unbounded.[22]
Additionally, he remarked, climatural [sic] modifications…The principal agent that is appretiable[sic] and controllable by us… is difference of temperature.[23]
In his lecture he expressed, to help ease diseases, city roads must be paved, swamps drained, and to have perpetuation of health, there needs to be free and sufficient ventilation. Furthermore, he added, every natural evil has a remedy… within the reach of the industry and intelligence of man.[24]
In the 1842 The Southern Quarterly Review, Barton’s continued these lectures on climate of under the heading Refrigeration and Ventilation of Cities. In this article he maintained,
“Malarious diseases, under the· pestilential form of yellow fever, are never seen in temperate climates, but when the heat ascends to the tropical height. In countries subject to the healthful influence of frost, their progress is always checked by its appearance. If by any means…. the temperature of cities within, and in the vicinity of the tropics, could be artificially lowered in the summer to the standard of those in more favored regions (disease would lessen).”[25]
Additionally, Barton expounded on the varied methods of known artificial refrigeration at that time, stating,
The means of producing artificial cold are numerous, and well known; and, as they are independent of each other, and each is capable of being brought into action in any given space, they might all be applied at the same time, and made to concur in producing one effect.[26]
He then discusses various refrigeration processes, such as, evaporation, freezing mixtures, the process of liquefaction, and mechanical condensation. He states,
mechanical condensation… a means which will enable human skill to command the refrigerating powers of nature, and, by the help of an adequate machinery to create cold on a large scale, at all seasons, and in the hottest climates of the globe.[27]
Furthermore, he explained how the process of mechanical condensation worked and how the compression of moist air in a cylinder, via physics, would absorb hot air and in turn would release cold air. This transformed air could be then transmitted through piping and distributed freely throughout a house, a hospital, or used to cool streets or city squares.[28]
Jenner, a.k.a. Gorrie
In the Apalachicola newspaper, Commercial Advertiser, a series of eleven medical and scientific articles appeared, starting on April 6,1844 and ending June 15th, titled, On the Prevention Of Malarial Diseases, authored by Jenner, a pseudonym used by Gorrie[30]. These eleven articles discuss the merits of building a refrigeration machine to cool the air around malaria patients. These articles are very similar to the 1842, report, Refrigeration and Ventilation of Cities in The Southern Quarterly Review.
In number VII, of his XI articles, he suggested,
The efficacy of cold air in preventing the effects of malaria, has not, practically, been sufficiently attended to,…. but…an artificially cool atmosphere processes the power, and may be employed with success, to prevent the whole class of malarious [sic] diseases.[31]
In these articles, Gorrie also discusses the dangers of disease from decaying animal and vegetables,[32] nearby swamps, general filth in the streets, and the need to clean air via proper ventilation in a home or building. In No. VIII, he discusses the various types of refrigeration equipment, and indicates, through a mechanical process of evaporation, artificially cold air can be created.[33] In No. I of the series, he not only speaks of disease, but also emphasizes if Southern merchants had cool air to work in during the summer months, they would not incur the expense of having to leave their businesses and move up North.[34]
Journals
These are not the only articles published by Gorrie. In 1855, his article titled, On Malaria, and Prevention of its Morbid Agency, was published in The Journal of the Louisiana State Medical Society in two parts. In part one, he outlines various causations of malaria, states there is a connection between atmospheric heat and Malarial diseases[35], and elaborates on how he believes it is an airborne disease. His concept of airborne diseases is twenty-five years before Louis Pasteur (1822–96), defended his germ theory of infection, on February 19, 1878, before the French Academy of Medicine.[36]
Figure 6. Dr. Gorrie’s design to cool room. John Gorrie Museum. Photo credit: Kevin Bair.
Furthermore, Gorrie outlines the importance of ice and its benefits to diseased bodies, as well as discusses the great benefits to what he calls, refrigerative ventilation in a house or room. In this application, ice in a bucket is suspended in a room (figure 6) above a patient. A down draft of air would be piped over the ice, which would provide cool air to comfort the patient and slow the transmission of malaria.[37]
Addionally, Dr. Gorrie was published in several technical journals where he provided detailed information on his refrigeration / ice making machine. In1853, he published an article in The Practical Mechanic’s Journal, titled, On The Generation of Cold By The Expansion Of Atmospheric Air Artificially Compressed. In this article, he defends his refrigeration findings when the editor of his original article, in an earlier edition of The Practical Mechanic’s Journal downplayed his invention as nothing of significance. Gorrie in his reply goes to great length to explain how his machine worked and the results of its labors, and why it was consequential to science. He stated,
I must contend, as a deduction from numerous experiments—conducted upon a plan, not simply less liable to error than any of the methods by the foregoing experimenters, but from the transfer of cold to water, or the actual production of ice, incapable of an exaggerated error…[38]
The work Gorrie did on creating refrigeration and ice is impressive, especially in a remote non-manufacturing town like Apalachicola.
Ice – Frozen Gold
Up To the 1950’s, ice, in any form, was a luxury. Before that, it did not magically appear in the freezer ice tray like it does today. Until manufactured ice was invented, Gorrie, like everyone in the south, had to wait for ice shipments from the north, from men like Fredric Tudor (September 4, 1783 – February 6, 1864).[39] By the mid 1800’s, Tudor was dubbed The Ice King.[40]
Figure 7. Table of Tudors foreign ports where he shipped his ice to and the tonnage. The Semi-Weekly Eagle Brattleboro VT.Apr.12, 1852.1. Holbrook F, The Ice Trade.
Figure 8. 1847, Domestic ice shipments. Wyeth, The American Almanac and Repository, 1849.p.176.
Figure 8, illustrates, the amount of natural ice sold domestically for the year of 18
47; 51,887 tons.
In1805, Tudor built the first ice trade shipping business, Tudor Ice. By 1852, Tudor was shipping ice around the world. (Figure 7). In Tudor’s world, artificial – manufactured ice was not wanted or believed in.
For the south, ice shipments in the summers were not consistent in their delivery, and many southern ports, cities, and towns, would typically run out of ice mid-summer. In 1822, Tudor started shipping to New Orleans, which became their biggest ice consumer in the south.[41]
Over the years, Mr. Tudor built a pathway for a population to develop an ice dependency, especially in the south. When supply was low, a fear of an Ice Monopoly and the price being dramatically increased would grip the community (Figure 9).
Figure 9. Ice Monopoly, The New Orleans Republican September 12,1872.
Doctors, like Gorrie, depended on ice, as did brewers, and meat, fish, and vegetable businesses. By 1833, when Gorrie arrived in Apalachicola, southern society was accustomed to and dependent on ice. When a yellow fever or Malaria epidemic swept through a town, the ice consumption vastly increased, and as the ice houses were emptied the price of ice would increase.
This ice insecurity prompted many entrepreneurs in the 1800s, and especially after the Civil War’s Union Naval Blockade (1861-1865)[42] was enacted, to seek out inventive ways to get the frozen gold. This hardship created by the Union Blockade was recorded by Jabez Larmar Monroe Curry,
…medicines, luxuries, and even necessaries were shut out by the blockade,…. For coffee a substitute was found in toasted corn and wheat and potatoes ; for tea , in sassafras ; sorghum supplied sugar and molasses, and earthen floors of smokehouses , saturated by the drip ping of bacon , were dug up and boiled for necessary salt[43] and “Foreign students of Confederate history are strongly of the opinion that the blockade was the most fatal of all the causes… which conspired for our defeat.”[44] “Sick soldiers in Augusta [Ga] were perishing for the want of ice. In Columbia [Ga.] it [ice] was sold only for the sick and on a physician’s certificate.”[45]
Dr. John Gorrie’s Invention
Figure 10. A copy of Dr. Gorrie’s refrigeration-ice machine. Gorrie Museum Apalachicola Fl. Photo Credit: Kevin Bair
On May 6, 1851, Dr. Gorrie was awarded patent No. 8,080, from the U.S. Patent Office of New Orleans, Louisiana. The patent stated, John Gorrie…invented a new and useful Machine for the Artificial Production of Ice and General Refrigeratory Purpose. [46]
Figure 10 is a replica of Dr. Gorrie’s machine located in the John Gorrie Museum in Apalachicola Florida. Figure 11, 12, are from his patent drawings.
Figure 11.Drawing 3, of Dr. Gorrie’s patent application. Improved Process For The Artificial Production Of Ice. The United States Patent and Trademark Office, 1851.
Since his patent was issued, and more so after the Civil War, the State of Florida, City of Apalachicola, newspapers, and many trade journals have all touted Gorrie has the Father of Ice Making and Refrigeration. Yet, the title of the patent states: Improved Process For The Artificial Production Of Ice. The title indicates Gorrie only improved upon existing artificial ice – refrigeration theories. Simply put, he did not create an entirely unique concept for refrigeration.
What he claimed in his patent:
Figure 12. Drawing 2, of Dr. Gorrie’s patent application.
What I do claim as my invention, and desire
to secure by Letters Patent, is
1. The employment of a liquid uncongeal
able at the low temperature at which it is required to keep the engine, to receive the heat of the water to be congealed and give it out to the expanding air.
2. The employment of an engine for the
purpose of rendering the expansion of the condensed air gradual, in order to obtain its full refrigeratory effects, and at the same time render available the mechanical force with which it tends to dilate, to aid in working the condensing-pump irrespective of the manner in which the several parts are made, arranged, and operated.
3. Supplying the water gradually and slowly to the freezing – vessels and congealing it by abstracting the heat from its under surface, substantially as herein set forth.
4. The process of cooling or freezing liquids by compressing air into a reservoir, abstracting the heat evolved in the compression by means of a jet of water, allowing the compressed air to expand in an engine surrounded by a cistern of an unfreezable liquid, which is continually injected into the engine and returned to the cistern, and which serves as a medium to absorb the heat from the liquid to be cooled or frozen and give it out to the expanding air.
JOHN GORRIE[47]
Before he was awarded a patent for his invention, there was an extensive article on his machine and the principles in which it worked titled, Ice Made By Mechanical Power. This report was written by J.C.C. of New Orleans, in September 1849, Scientific American.
J.C.C. stated,
…Numerous brief, but, unauthorized notices of a machine, devised in this city and constructed at Cincinnati, for manufacturing ice by mechanical agency, have been already given to the public… it consists of two simple agents—a force pump in which air is divested of latent heat by mechanical compression, and an engine in which the same air is made to operate expansively, and. in the process, absorb from water to be frozen, the heat due to its increase of volume… the heat evolved by the compression of the air is extinguished by a jet of water thrown into the body of the force pump by means of a smaller pump… The originator of the proposed method of accomplishing these great objects is an old friend (Dr. John Gorrie of Florida).[48]
Figure 13. Drawing of Gorrie’s Refrigeration machine in. Artificial Production Of Ice In Tropical Climate, 1851.
In 1851, Gorrie, published a booklet, titled Artificial Production Of Ice In Tropical Climate, and enlisted an engineer named Henry E. Roeder as an Agent in New York to help with sales and installation. The book includes a drawing of the machine (Figure 13).
On August 22, 1850, in London, he was granted patent No. 13,235.
Copyright Infringement
Additionally, in the February 1, 1851, Mechanics Magazine, published in London, there was an article titled, MANUFACTURE OF ICE. DR. GORRIE’ S PROCESS. This article describes a Gorrie style machine being assembled in Havana and its capabilities being showcased. The author, a J.P. stated,
The machine is claimed to be Cuban origin: but it is well understood here that it is the invention of dr. Gorrie, …of New Orleans…is undoubtedly, a precise counterpart.[49]
Furthermore, an ad (Figure 14) in the 1866, The Times-Democrat (New Orleans, Louisiana) stated,
The Credito Comercial of Madrid has established a large ice factory in Havana, which will create a material competition with the importation of the real article from Boston.[50]
Figure 14. The Times-Democrat (New Orleans, Louisiana), Oct. 12, 1866.5.
On February 2, 1854, in the Journal Of The Society Of Arts, has an article written anonymously, titled, ICE MAKING MACHINE. It states,
An American invention, for which a patent has been taken out in this country, is now at work in the Commercial-road…the principle on which the machine acts has long been known…air compressed… In the machine air is compressed by a powerful pump, and the heat it gives of during compression is taken up by jets of water…[51]
It is obvious Gorrie’s machine was easy to copy and was already in use in Havana and London.
Death
On June 29, 1855, before he could secure funding for a full-scale machine, Dr. Gorrie died at home. It was unexpected and there are many speculations as to why. Some believe he was depressed from having a major monetary supporter die, which left him in financial straits.
In the last half of the 1850’s, as the slavery debate and the march to a civil war increased, it seems Gorrie and his ice machine were forgotten and instead the Civil War took center stage forever changing the landscape of the South.
There are varied stories of what happened to Gorrie’s home and workshop after his death. One states that during the war and after evacuation of Apalachicola, Gorrie’s house, workshop, notes, and machine were destroyed by fire, thus much of his personal belonging and any machine improvements, notes, etc., were lost. Others claim time and Florida’s storms and climate claimed the house.[52] [53]
Gorrie, Not a Lone Inventor: Other Early Refrigeration Inventors.
There have been many other refrigeration inventors that have made similar claims to being The Father of Refrigeration, such as, Oliver Evan’s (September 13, 1755 – April 15, 1819) refrigeration theory (1805)[54], Michael Faraday’s (22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) experiment and subsequent papers on the liquefaction of gases, 1823, On Fluid Chlorine, where he observed Chlorine gas converted into a solid then back to a gas.[55] He commented on his experiment, stating, the chlorine volatilised, and cooled the tube so much as to condense the atmospheric vapour on it as ice, [56] and in his 1845 paper, On the Liquefaction and Solidification of Bodies Generally Existing as Gases, he discusses his earlier demonstration of the cooling properties of sulfurous acid and then ammonia, as they morphed from liquid to gas back to liquid again[57].
On, 14 August,1834, Mr. Jacob Perkins (9 July 1766 – 30 July 1849), [58] was awarded Patent No. 6,662, on the Improvement in the Apparatus and Means for Producing Ice, and in Cooling Fluids, which used compressed ammonia. [59] Professor Piazzi Smyth (3 January 1819 – 21 February 1900),[60] in 1850, with his published theory, On The Method Of Cooling Air Of rooms in The Tropical Climates.[61] Alexander Twining (July 5, 1801 – November 22, 1884),[62] US Patent No. 10,221, 8 November 1853, for the improved refrigeration process and apparatus for making ice.[63] Twining had a prototype machine build in Ohio and produced a book titled, Manufacture of Ice on a Commercial Scale.[64]
Australian refrigeration inventor James Harrison (17 April 1816 – 3 September 1893),[65] was awarded the Australian Victoria Patent 25, in 1855, then in 1856 the British Patent number 747, and in 1857, BP number 2362.[66] Harrison teamed up with the Siebe Brothers of the UK, for help in making machine improvements to his existing invention. Their improved ice making machine was demonstrated at the 1862, International Exhibition.[67]
Additionally, the French brothers, Edmond (22 January 1833 – 7 May 1894),[68] and Ferdinand Carré (11 March 1824 – 11 January 1900),[69] each had a different method of refrigeration to produced ice. [70] Ferdinand was awarded a U.S. patent, 30,201, on October 2, 1860, for Improvement In Apparatus For Freezing Liquids.[71] The Carré brothers also had working ice making machines being demonstrated at the 1862 exhibit.[72]
There were many more refrigeration and ice making inventors during that era, but the examples given will suffice for this paper.
The Civil War
As the United States was embroiled in its own war, the rest of the world was conducting life as usual. In 1862, London held its International Exhibition Of The Industrial Arts And Manufacturing, And The Fine Art. It was here that the world could view new and advanced technologies, which included ice making and refrigeration machines. Those attending the exhibition could see varied ways of ice making, such as, Carré’s, continuous circulation of ammonia machine. The official book from the exhibit, states, Ice-making has, of late years, become an important business, and various exceedingly ingenious contrivances were exhibited for this purpose.[73]
In The Illustrated London News, 1862, it discussed the ice making machine of Siebes. It stated, The Indian Government has ordered one of Siebes’ largest icemaking machines for the use of her Majesty’s troops in India ; and there is every likelihood of these machines being generally adopted for a like purpose in all tropical climates.[74]
Yet, the ongoing Civil War and its Naval Blockade made people in the south ice dependent, which caused ice desperate men to seek ways to improve their dire situation. One story reported after the war, in The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana), 1866, that in 1862, General Butler seized the city, and confiscated all the ice for military and hospital purposes. The article also reported, that during the war, despite the Union Blockade and General Butler’s attempts to hoard the ice, someone within the city managed to produce artificial ice.[75]
In 1863, The Times-Picayune reprinted a story originally published in August 1863, in The American Exchange and Review, titled, Manufactured Ice. The Times described to its ice wanting readers the current excitement in Paris, with their article titled, Every Man to Make his own Ice. The story relates a simple machine, which only uses four ingredients to manufacture ice, Chloride of Ammonium, 5, parts by weight. Nitrate of Potassa, 5, parts by weight, Glauber’s Salts, 5, parts by weight, and Cold Water, 16 parts by weight. It then remarks:
The simplifying of the process has been going on since, and of a machine styled La glaciere a bascale, the Parisians have great expectations. It is placed on a pair of rockers, so that a see – saw motion may be obtained. To convert 500 French grammes of water into ice (each gramme being nearly 17 grains avoirdupois ), it is necessary only to place in this cylinder or well 1,200 grammes of hydrochloride or muriatic acid . Into this preparation or bath, says the inventor, place a form or vessel containing the water to be frozen, a bottle of champagne to be frapped, or any other material required to be frozen. Close the cover, screw it fast, and then for 7 or 8 minutes give the cylinder or well a see -saw motion on its cradle, and you obtain the desired result. A solid block of ice of 500 grammes may be produced by this operation. All Paris has been running to see the machines at the rue de l’ Arbe, sec. No. 60, where its effects are publicly exhibited. These machines are rapidly sold at from 50 to 100 francs, according to the size.[76]
During the Union naval blockade, one can understand the appeal this type of ice making machine had to the ice starved people of the south, along with their desire to own one, or more.
In 1867, France held The Paris Universal Exposition, and the United States sent officials to the event to observe and record their findings. In 1870, the U.S. Government published the Reports Of The United States Commissioners To The Paris Universal Exposition, 1867. The report discussed in detail on Ferdinand Carré’s Continuous Freezing Apparatus, and how it was using liquid ammonia as its principal refrigeration agent. The report stated,
…the continuously acting apparatus of Mr. Ferdinand Carré,…in fact, one of the most valuable contributions which science has yet made to the promotion of human comfort, and to the progress, in certain forms at least, of industrial art.
Additionally, it reports, that the Carré design as impressive as it was, was in reality an improvement on American Professor Twining’s machine, who, they claim, was the inventor of the mechanical refrigeration process. Also, within the report, is a section on Twining’s ice machine, and a comparison is made between Carré’s and Twining’s methods of refrigeration.[77] Incidentally, there was no mention of a Gorrie ice machine, or any reference to him within the publication.
Soon after the war, varied stories circulated indicating ice making machines designed by Carré were smuggled past the Union Blockade via, blockade runners, into New Orleans in 1862. The Times-Picayune,1869, reported,
Even when during the war we were miserably deprived of Northern ice, and the astonishing invention of Carré was introduced here from France.[78]
Within, The Times-Picayune, 1868, there is a story submitted by the newly formed Louisiana Manufactured Ice Company. The article explains how in 1864, the company demonstrated their ammonia gas ice making machine, and that it was a Mr. Bujac, who spearheaded the adventure in acquiring the machine. It stated,
The water comes out in cakes about four inches thick, a foot wide and two feet long, and is frozen as solid as any which comes from up North, and can be offered at a far lower price than the cost of importation. Dr. Richardson,[remarked] the medical profession…to be the chief beneficiary.[79]
The June 4 edition of The Times-Picayune, remarks,
Artificial ice is a French invention, and has been introduced into this city solely by Southern enterprise and capital… The first works, upon a small scale, were established In Augusta, Georgia, during the war, by Col. C. E. Girardey of our city, who, during a visit to France, obtained the machinery, and succeeded in running the blockade therewith. The machinery for the works in this city was introduced by Mr. Bujac and perfected by Mr. Labarre.
After the war, the knowledge to build bigger, better, and more efficient ice machines skyrocketed across the south. Figure 15 displays the number of ice machines made by 1890, from one company, The Blymyer Ice Machine Company, of Cincinnati Ohio. These machines, as were most, were based on Carré ammonia absorption machines.[80]
Figure 15.Number of Ice machines in the U.S.by 1890. The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana) 05 Sep 1890, Fri, Page 7.
Figure 12 is of The Blymyer Ice Machine Company.
Figure 16. The Blymyer Ice Machine Company.
The Dr. Gorrie Legend
Reported in The Montgomery Advertiser, in March of 1897, a Captain George Whiteside (October 30, 1844-October 10, 1919), [81] an Apalachicola businessman, along with other businessmen from Columbus Georgia, including his brother, Captain Samuel J. Whiteside (March 10, 1831- April 17, 1902),[82] and Mr. H.D. Stratton,[83] in 1883 opened The Apalachicola Ice Company, as well as the Central Ice Co. and the Gorrie Ice Manufacturing Co. in Savannah Georgia.
In 1885, Whiteside gave an address to The Southern Ice Exchange[84] where he told a story about Dr. Gorrie, which, over time has become legend, and morphed in and around Apalachicola.
Whiteside relayed how Dr. Gorrie displayed his ice making capability in 1850, at Apalachicola’s Mansion House. Whiteside continued, during the summer month the ice shipment from the North was overdue, so there was no natural ice in the city. He then explained, a guest of the Mansion House was complaining about the lack of ice for his drink, who then placed a wager on whether ice would be at the Mansion House the next day. Monsieur Rousard, of Paris France, also a resident of the Mansion House accepted the bet. To help sway the outcome, he asked his friend Gorrie if he would make some ice for the next day, so he could win the bet. Gorrie agreed and that night Rousard assisted the doctor in making the ice. The next day, when the unhappy guest heard the shipment of ice did not arrive, he was astounded when the Mansion House guest had ice for their drinks.
Additionally, Whiteside in his speech, listed the prominent citizens that were in attendance when Gorrie and his ice appeared. Moreover, Whiteside, related that this information came from the seventy-nine-year-old, Dr. Sharron, who was present at the Mansion House ice event.[85]
Another version of this story was found in The Iceman by Winifred Kimball. The story is unpublished and undated. She relates on the introduction of Gorrie’s ice making for Monsieur Rousard, who was the French Consul for the Port of Apalachicola, and a cotton broker. This story was communicated to her by Dr. Chapman. According to Chapman, as told by Kimball, Gorrie told Chapman that he had finally succeed in making ice and demonstrated the method to Chapman. At some point, their mutual friend Rousard, complained that there was not any ice in the city for his upcoming Bastile dinner party. Chapman suggested to the men that Gorrie should make ice for the party. Rousard, knowing he would have ice at this party, when no one else in town would, started a string of bets, boasting this fact. Everyone knew the town was out of ice and that the ice shipment was late, so they took the bets. Moreover, Kimball relates, via Chapman, the whole town was betting on Rousard’s inability to produce the frozen gold. The party was held at the The Mansion House, where on the day of the party in front of the seated guests Rousard said, My friends we will now toast, our own country, and an American has produced the ice which will cool the champagne. Furthermore, Kimball relates, after the dinner party, they all went to Gorrie’s workshop, where Gorrie and Rousard demonstrated to everyone how they made ice for the party.
Moreover, after Chapman’s reminiscing, Kimball added her own thoughts to the story. She suggested that at some point, within two years, Rousard went back to France and shared his intimate knowledge of Gorrie’s machine with Ferdinand Carré. Furthermore, being undated and unpublished, it is difficult to verify the facts Kimball presented within her story.[86]
Additionally, the story indicates that Gorrie openly shared the details of his machine with friends. We also know he freely discussed in detail, in many publications, how it operated and we know there were unauthorized copies of his machine made. An article in The North Carolinian, 1850, titled, ICE BY ART, discusses how Gorrie makes no claims on his invention.
Dr. Gorrie, says the Scientific American, considers his discovery a benefit to the human race, and with great-liberality, claims no exclusive privileges, but gives it freely to the public.[87]
Throughout the local folklore in Apalachicola, there are varied stories on how Carré stole Gorrie’s plans. At this time, those assertion cannot be established.
Immortality
On April 30th,1900, 45 years after Gorrie’s death, and 49 years after his ice machine patent was granted, more homage was paid to Dr. Gorrie.
Figure 18. Dr. Gorrie Monument, presented by the Southern Ice Exchange on April 30, 1900 Ice and Refrigeration Illustrated. V. 18, Chicago; New York, H.S. Rich & Co., 491-496
On this date, in Apalachicola, the newly formed Southern Ice Exchange (1891) dedicated a monument (Figure 18) to Dr. Gorrie.
An inscription (Figure 19), on the monument proclaimed,
Figure . Inscription on the Dr. Gorrie Monument.
Inventor Of The Ice Machine And Refrigeration as Described In His Pat. No. 8080, Aug. 22nd, 1850. [88]
The Southern Ice Exchange monument was not the only memorial to Gorrie. Apalachicola and the State of Florida have perpetuated Dr. Gorrie and his ice making invention over the years. Their effects paved the way for the Gorrie statue to be placed in the U.S. Capitals Hall of Statues (Figure 20).
Figure 20. Statue of Dr, Gorrie in the United States Capital. Pensacola News Journal (Pensacola, Florida), Feb. 02,1914 .11.
On, February 1st, 1914, the Pensacola News Journal, stated,
Florida To Honor Gorrie, Inventor Of Ice Machine With Hall Of Fame Statue. Marble Effigy To Memory Of Man Who First Froze Water By Artificial Means Will Be erected In The National Capital- Discovery Was Made Sixty-Two Years Ago[89] (Figure 21).
Figure . Pensacola News Journal (Pensacola, Florida) 1914.
Florida and Apalachicola were not yet done with Dr. Gorrie. Ten years later, in 1924, Apalachicola dedicated its new bridge to D. Gorrie, as stated in the Pensacola News Journal,
Figure 22.Pensacola News Journal (Pensacola, Florida, Jun. 6, 1924.
New Bridge Will Be Memorial To Dr. John Gorrie…Inventor of Artificial Ice.[90]
Figure 23.Pensacola News Journal (Pensacola, Florida), Jul. 30, 1935.3.
Then, in 1935, the city of Apalachicola declared a John Gorrie Ice Memorial Week of August 11-17th (Figure 23), to commemorate its famous citizen. According to Apalachicola’s mayor, J.H. Cook, Dr. John Gorrie, discovered artificial refrigeration and invented the ice machine. [91]
Additionally, according to the October 24, 1915, The Tampa Tribune, Tampa is also home to the Gorrie Elementary school.[92] Furthermore, The Tampa Morning Tribune, on June 30, 1923, stated, under a headline of The South’s Record, John Gorrie a Floridian, was the first man to successfully make artificial ice.[93]
Conclusion
Since the 1840’s, newspapers (local and national), authors, and cities, like Apalachicola, Tampa, as well as the State of Florida, have invested time and money to promote Dr. John Gorrie as the Father of artificial ice making and refrigeration, and that he was the first person to believe cooling the air would help lessen the effects of yellow fever and malaria. Yet, the data presented indicates he was one of many men who embarked on the journey to invent refrigeration and artificial ice making. Moreover, the data presented demonstrates, Dr. Gorrie was not the first person who thought of using refrigeration to improve the comfort and lives of the sick, as well as all persons living in the south.
Additionally, this paper exhibited, in 1815, Thomas Sutton, M.D., wrote an article for The London Medical and Physical Journal titled, On the Effects of Temperature in Pulmonary Consumption. In 1834, Dr. Edward Barton, M D., wrote an article titled, Account of the Epidemic Yellow Fever which prevailed in New Orleans during the Autumn of 1833. Here he reported, The disease (Yellow Fever) finally lost its intensity and prevalence with the changes in the condition of the atmosphere. In his 1837 report, Introductory Lecture On Acclimation, he stated The influence of climate (on disease),…. is almost unbounded.
Furthermore,it was shown,before Dr. Gorrie began to work on refrigeration, other men had already been actively seeking how to create artificial ice, such as Oliver Evans’ refrigeration theory (1805), Michael Faraday’s, 1823, On Fluid Chlorine, his experiment, and subsequent papers on the liquefaction of gases. Sir John Frederick William Herschel’s philosophy of removing heat from air. Mr. Jacob Perkins,1834, was awarded patent No. 6,662, on the Improvement in the Apparatus and Means for Producing Ice, and in Cooling Fluids. There was the 1850 work of Professor Piazzi Smyth, On The Method Of Cooling Air Of rooms in The Tropical Climates.[94]
Then there were his contemporaries who had their own refrigeration patents issued in the same decade as his. Each having its own distinct claim, Alexander Twining, Austrian James Harrison, the Siebe Brothers of the UK. And in 1860, Ferdinand Carré, with his U.S. patent, 30,201, for Improvement In Apparatus For Freezing Liquids.
All these men, doctors, and inventors strove to better the living conditions of humankind. The data presented proved Dr. John Gorrie was not the Father of refrigeration, ice making or air conditioning, as many have claimed. Dr. Gorrie was a dedicated physician and a refrigeration pioneer, who built his invention upon the shoulders of others, solely, and for unselfish reasons, to ease the suffering of his yellow fever and malaria patients, and at times, to cool a few drinks along the way.
Bibliography
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- Faraday, Michael. On the Liquefaction and Solidification of Bodies Generally Existing as Gases. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Vol. 135., 1845: 155-177
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18. Ice And Refrigeration Illustrated, Capt. Samuel J. Whitside, Deceased. Ice And Refrigeration Illustrated, Vol. 22, No. 1-6. (H.S. Rich and Company), 1902: 175.
19. J.C.C. Ice Made by Mechanical Power.In Scientific American. Vol. 5. No. 1, by Scientific American, New York: Munn & Co. 1849. 3.
20. J.P. Manufacture Of Ice. – Dr. Gorrie’s Process. In Mechanics’ Magazine Museum, Register, Journal, And Gazette. No. 1434. Vol. LIV., by J.C., ed. Robertson, London: Robertson And Co., 1851, 87-89.
21. Jenner. Commercial Advertiser . Prevention Of Malarial Diseases. (VII). Commercial Advertiser (Apalachiola Fla.) Vol. II. No. 21., 05 18, 1844: 2.
22. —. Prevention Of Malarial Dieases (VIII). Commerical Advertiser (Apalachicola Fla.) Vol. II. No. 22, 05 25, 1844: 2.
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25. Louisiana Office of Public Health. Yellow Fever. Annual Report, New Orleans: Louisiana Office of Public Health, 1934.
26. New-York Medical and Physical Journal. University Of The State Of New York. College of Physicians and Surgeons of N.Y. Graduates. New-York Medical and Physical Journal. v. 6. New York,: E. Bliss and E. White, 1822-1830. 158.
27. Pensacola News Journal, Florida To Honor Gorrie Inventor Of The Ice Machine, With Hall Of Fame Statue. Pensacola News Journal (Pensacola, Florida), 02 01, 1914: 11,
28. —. New Bridge Will Be Momorial To Dr. John Gorrie. Pensacola News Journal (Pensacola, Florida), 06 04, 1924: 2.
29. Pensacola News Journal (Pensacola, Florida).Florida Will Honor Memory Of Dr. Gorrie. 07 11, 1911: 1.
30. Pensacola News Journal. Dr. John Gorrie, The Floridian Who Invented The Ice Machine. Pensacola News Journal (Pensacola, Florida), 04 5, 1911: 5.
31. —. John Gorrie Ice Memorial Week Planned. Pensacola News Journal, 07 30, 1935: 3.
32. Prepared for Ice and Refrigeration. Gorrie Monument Unveiled. In Ice and Refrigeration Illustrated . v. 18 (Jan.-June 1900)., by Ice and Refrigeration Illustrated, Chicago ; New York: H.S. Rich & Co. , 1900. 491-496.
33. Rhodes, James Ford, History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850, Vol. 1. 1850-1854. New York: The Macmillan company, 1910.
34. Shaffer, Tal. P. Colonel, Rev. W. Owen. The illustrated record of the international exhibition of the industrial arts and manufactures… London: London Printing and Publishing Company, 1862.
35. Smyth, Piazzi, Professor,. On A Method Of Cooling The Air Of Rooms In Tropical Climate. The Practical Mechanic’s Journal vol. 3, Apr, 1850, Mar, 1851, Apr-Mar 1851: 155,194.
36. Sutton, Thomas, M.D. On the Effects of Temperature in Plumonary Consumption. The London Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 34, (2). No. 198, 08 1815: 89-97.
37. The Illustrared London News. Siebes’ Patant Ice-Making Machine In The International Exhibition. The Illustrared London News v. 41, 08 16, 1862: 194.
39. The Iron Age. The Iron Age A review of Hardware, Iron, Machinery, and Metal Trades, Vol. 69, (19). New York: David Williams Company, 1902.
40. The Montgomery Advertiser. “Inventor Of Ice.” The Montgomery Advertiser, 03 28, 1897: 2
41. The North_Carolinian. Ice By Art. The North Carolinian (Fayetteville North Carolinia), 10 5, 1850: 3.
42. The Tampa Tribune,Tampa Schools Given Permanent Building . The Tampa Tribune (Tampa, Florida), 10 24, 1915: 7.
43. —. The South’s Record, John Gorrie. The Tampa Tribune (Tampa, Florida), 06 20, 1923: 8.
44. The Times-Democrat. Our Cuba Correspondence; The Credtito Comercial of Madrid . The Times-Democrat (New Orleans, Louisiana) 10 12, 1866: 5.
45. —. Every Man to Make his own Ice. The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana), 09 04, 1863: 2.
46. —. Ice Abundant, Cheap And Good. The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana), 04 11, 1869: 11.
47. —. Obituary-Dr. John Gorrie. The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana), 07 12, 1855: 2.
48. —. The Judiciary. The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana), 12 07, 1866: 8.
49. The Times-Picayune, Louisiana Manufactured Ice . The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana), 05 19, 1868: 4.
50. Twining, Alex C. Manufacturing Ice. Patent , Alexandria, Virginia.: United States Patent And Trademark Office, 1853.
51. Twining, Alexander C. The Manufacture of Ice On A Commercial Scale And With commercial Economy,: By Steam Or Water Power: The Invention Of Alexander C. Twining. New Haven: T.J. Stafford Printer, 1857.
52. New Orleans Republican. The Ice Monopoly. (New Orleans Republican, New Orleans,
Louisiana, 09 12, 1872: 8.
53. Whiteside, George. Dr. John Gorrie. Ice And Refrigeration Illustrated Vol. 7, (5), 1897: 351-357.
54. Woodcroft, Bennet ed. Titles Of Patents Of Inventions Chronologically Arranged From March 2, 1617 (14 James I.) To October 1, 1852 (16 Victorae). London: Queen’s Printing Office, 1854.
55. Wyeth, N.J. Esq. XIV. The Ice-Trade Of The United States. In The American Almanac And Repository of Useful Knowledge for the Year …: Comprising a Calendar for the Year; Astronomical Information; Miscellaneous Directions, Hints, And Remarks; And Statistical And Other Particulars Respecting Foreign Countries, by Jared Sparks, Francis Bowen Sparks, Boston: Gray and Bowen, 1849. 175-180.
Secondary
Becker, Raymond B. Father Of Air Conditioning and Mechanical Refrigeration John Gorrie, M.D. Gainsville: Carlton Press, Inc. , 1972.
Kistler, Linda H., Clairmont P. Carter, and Brackston Hinchey. Planning And Control In The 19th Century Ice Trade. The Accounting Historians Journal 11, no. 1 , 1984: 19-30.
Noll, Steve, Dr. Yellow Fever and Florida’s Founding. 04 21, 2020.
Owens, Harry P. Apalachicola Before 1861. Tallahassee : Sentry Press, 2014.
Pike, Douglas, ed. Harrison, James (1816–1893), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, Melbourne; London ; New York : Melbourne University Press , 1966.
Porter, Roy. The Greatest Benefit To Mankind A Medical History of Humanity. New York; London: W.W. Norton & Company, 1997.
Figures
Figure 2. Pensacola News Journal (Pensacola, Florida), 1911.Feb, 01, 1914: 11 2
Figure 3.Inventor Of Ice. the Montgomery Advertiser, Montgomery Alabama, Mar. 03, 28,1897,2 2
Figure 6. Dr. Gorrie’s design to cool room. John Gorrie Museum. Photo credit: Kevin Bair. 8
Figure 9. Ice Monopoly The New Orleans Republican September 12,1872. 8 11
Figure 12. Drawing 2, of Dr. Gorrie’s patent application. 13
Figure 14. The Times-Democrat (New Orleans, Louisiana) Oct. 12, 1866.5. 15
Figure 16. The Blymyer Ice Machine Company. 22
Figure 19. Inscription on the Dr. Gorrie Monument. 26
Figure 21. Pensacola News Journal (Pensacola, Florida) 1914. 27
Figure 22.Pensacola News Journal (Pensacola, Florida, Jun. 6, 1924.2. 27
Figure 23.Pensacola News Journal (Pensacola, Florida), Jul. 30, 1935.3. 28
Notes:
- Louisiana Office of Public Health. Yellow Fever. (Annual Report, New Orleans: Louisiana Office of Public Health, 1934) ↑
- Steve Noll, Dr., Yellow Fever and Florida’s Founding. 04 21, 2020. ↑
- Thomas Sutton was born around 1767 in Staffordshire, England. He studied medicine at, Edinburgh, Scotland, London, England and in 1787 was granted his M.D. from Leiden University in the Netherlands.. ↑
- Thomas Sutton, M.D. On the Effects of Temperature in Plumonary Consumption. (The London Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 34, (2). No. 198, 08 1815), 89-97. ↑
- Apalachicola is a small Florida town located on the Gulf of Mexico, 80 miles Southwest of Tallahassee, Florida’s State Capital, in the Panhandle. Between 1840-1860, it was the third busiest port for exporting cotton in the United States, next New Orleans Louisiana, and Mobile Alabama. ↑
- John Gorrie, Improved Process For The Artificial Production Of Ice. Patent, (Alexandria, Virginia: The United States Patent and Trademark Office, 1851). ↑
- Pensacola News Journal. Dr. John Gorrie, The Floridian Who Invented The Ice Machine. (Pensacola News Journal, Pensacola, Florida, 1911) 5. ↑
- The Montgomery Advertiser. Inventor Of Ice. (The Montgomery Advertiser, 03 28, 1897: 2). ↑
- Raymond B. Becker, Father Of Air Conditioning and Mechanical Refrigeration John Gorrie, M.D. (Gainesville: Carlton Press, Inc.1972). ↑
- Winifred Kimball, lifelong resident if Apalachicola, and national author of The Newness of Life a story she submitted in 1921 to writing contest with The Chicago Daily News and The Goldwyn Company. She won first place and received $10,000.00, as well as have the story turned in a silent movie titled, Broken Chains. ↑
- Dr. Alvan Wentworth Chapman, graduated from Amherst College, a physician and botanist. Authored Flora of the Southern United States-1860. In 1846, moved to Apalachicola Florida. ↑
- Miss Winifred Kimball, The Iceman. (Unpublished. The State Library and Archives of Florida, n.d),4,5. ↑
- Miss Winifred Kimball, The Iceman. (Unpublished. The State Library and Archives of Florida, n.d.),4,5. ↑
- Raymond B. Becker, Father Of Air Conditioning and Mechanical Refrigeration John Gorrie, M.D. (Gainesville: Carlton Press, Inc.1972),16. ↑
- New-York Medical and Physical Journal. New-York Medical and Physical Journal. v. 6. New York,: E. Bliss and E. White, 1822-1830. 158. ↑
- John Gorrie, M.D. An Essay on Neuralgia. (New York Medical and Physical Journal. v.7 Sept. C.S. Francis and Weare C. Little). 42. ↑
- Harry P Owens, Apalachicola Before 1861. (Tallahassee: Sentry Press, 2014).154. ↑
- Louisiana Office of Public Health. Yellow Fever. (Annual Report, New Orleans: Louisiana Office of Public Health, 1934). ↑
- Thomas Sutton, M.D. On the Effects of Temperature in Plumonary Consumption. (The London Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 34, (2). No. 198, 08 1815), 89-97. ↑
- Dr. Edward Hall Barton received his Medical degree from the Royal University of Havana, Cuba and the University of Pennsylvania and. He was a native of Virginia, and in 1835, Professor of Materia Medica and Therapy at the Medical College of Louisiana – Tulane University. ↑
- Edward H. Barton, M.D. Account of the Epidemic Yellow Fever which prevailed in New Orleans during the Autumn of 1893. (The American Journal Of The Medical Sciences. Vol. XV, by Isaac, M.D. Hays, Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard, 1834), 30-63. ↑
- E. H. Barton, M.D. Introductory Lecture On Acclimation. (New Orleans: Commercial Bulletin Print., 1837), 4. ↑
- Barton,5 ↑
- E. H. Barton, M.D. Introductory Lecture On Acclimation. (New Orleans: Commercial Bulletin Print., 1837),11 ↑
- Barton, Refrigeration and Ventilation of Cities. (The Southern Quarterly. Vol. I. No. 2. , 1842),415,416. ↑
- Barton, 421 ↑
- Ibid, 425. ↑
- 426. ↑
- John Frederick William Herschel was an astronomer, chemist, mathematician, inventor, and though his use of photopaper invented the blueprint. ↑
- It is not known why Gorrie used a pseudonym, but multiple accounts agree Jenner is Gorrie. ↑
- Jenner, Prevention Of Malarial Diseases. (VII). (Commercial Advertiser (Apalachicola Fla.) Vol. II. No. 21., 05 18, 1844) 2. ↑
- Jenner, On The Prevention Of Malarial Diseases (III). (Commercial Advertiser (Apalachicola Fla.) Vol. II. No. 17., 04 20, 1844) 2. ↑
- Jenner, Prevention Of Malarial Dieases (VIII).( Commerical Advertiser (Apalachicola Fla.) Vol. II. No. 22, 05 25, 184), 2. ↑
- Jenner, On The Prevention Of Malarial Diseases. No. I. ( Commercial Advertiser (Apalachicola Fla.). Vol. II. No. 15 , 04 6, 1844) 2. ↑
- Gorrie, John, M.D. On the Nature of Malaria, and Prevention of its Morbid Agency, (The Journal of the Louisiana State Medical Society … v.11 Bennet, M.D. ed. Dowler, New Orleans: 1855), 630. ↑
- Porter, Roy. The Greatest Benefit To Mankind A Medical History of Humanity. (New York; London: W.W. Norton & Company, 1997),433. ↑
- Gorrie, John, M.D. On the Nature of Malaria, and Prevention of its Morbid Agency, (The Journal of the Louisiana State Medical Society … v.11 Bennet, M.D. ed. Dowler, New Orleans: 1855), 756. ↑
- John Gorrie, On The Generation Of Cold By The Expansion Of Atmospheric Air Artificially Compressed. (The Practical Mechanic’s Journal. v.5 Apr 1852-Mar 1853., 12 1, 1853),173. ↑
- Fredric Tudor was born in Boston, an American businessman, started the ice trade business and created the Tudor Ice Company. Had ice harvested from New England ponds, then shipped to the Caribbean, Europe, India Hong Kong, and to many of the United States Southern cities. ↑
- Linda H. Kistler, Clairmont P. Carter, and Brackston Hinchey. Planning And Control In The 19th Century Ice Trade. (The Accounting Historians Journal 11, no. 1, 1984),19. ↑
- F. Holbrook, The Ice Trade. (The Brattleboro Eagle, The Semi-Weelky, 04 12, 1852), 1. ↑
- Union Blockade. During the Civil War the Union established a blockade of Confederate ports. This was created to devastate the souths economy by stopping the export of cotton and to keep the south from resupplying any food, clothing, and ice. The south turned to blockade running to smuggling in war materiel and other essential items. ↑
- Jabez Larmar Monroe Curry, Civil history of the government of the Confederate States. (Richmond: B.F. Johnson Publishing Company, 1901), 170. ↑
- Ibid.110 ↑
- James Ford Rhodes, History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850, Vol. 1. 1850-1854. (New York: The Macmillan company, 1910), 351. ↑
- John Gorrie, Improved Process For The Artificial Production Of Ice. (Patent, Alexandria, Virginia : The United States Patent and Trademark Office, 1851)1. ↑
- John Gorrie. Improved Process For The Artificial Production Of Ice. (Patent, Alexandria, Virginia: The United States Patent and Trademark Office, 1851).4 ↑
- J.C.C. Ice Made by Mechanical Power. (Scientific American. Vol. 5. No. 1, by Scientific American, New York: Munn & Co.),3. ↑
- J.P. Manufacture Of Ice. – Dr. Gorrie’s Process. (Mechanics’ Magazine Museum, Register, Journal, And Gazette. No. 1434. Vol. LIV., by J.C., ed. Robertson, London: Robertson And Co. 1851), 87-89. ↑
- The Times-Democrat, Our Cuba Correspondence; The Credtito Comercial of Madrid, The Times-Democrat (New Orleans, Louisiana),12 Oct 1866, Fri., 1866), 5. ↑
- Anonymous. ICE-MAKING MACHINE. (In Journal of the Society of Arts, Vol. 2, No. 66., by John, W. CUMIN, THOMAS DE LA RUE, William Cookworthy, E. B. DENISON, COSMOS, G. BOCCIUS, C. E., T. TWINING, FERGUSON BRANSON, and W. BRIDGES ADAMS. Stenhouse, 250. London: Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, 1854), 250. ↑
- George Whiteside suggested, the Gorrie home was burned down during the Civil War after Apalachicola was evacuated. ↑
- Raymond Becker in his book, Father of Air Conditioning and Mechanical Refrigeration John Gorrie, M.D., suggests, age, neglect and Florida’s weather ruined the house. (149,150) ↑
- Oliver Evans, businessman, engineer, and inventor. Born in rural Delaware. One of the first Americans to build steam engines. The first to chronicle vapor-compression refrigeration. In 1805, he designed plans for the first refrigerator in 1805. ↑
- Michael Faraday, English scientist, studied electromagnetism, electrochemistry, electromagnetic induction. Research the use of the clathrate hydrate of chlorine. Fashioned idioms, ion, cathode, anode, and electrode. ↑
- M. Faraday, H. Davy. On Fluid Chlorine. Philosophical Transaction pf the Royal Society of London. Vol. 113., 1823: 160-165. ↑
- Michael Faraday, On the Liquefaction and Solidification of Bodies Generally Existing as Gases. (Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Vol. 135., 1845). 155-177. ↑
- Jacob Perkins, Born in Newburyport, Massachusetts. An, physicist, inventor, and mechanical engineer. He earned, twenty-one American and nineteen English patents. In 1834, was attributed with the first patent for the vapor-compression refrigeration cycle. ↑
- Bennet Woodcroft, ed. Titles Of Patents Of Inventions Chronologically Arranged From March 2, 1617 (14 James I.) To October 1, 1852 (16 Victorae). (Queen’s Printing Office, London: 1854), 958. ↑
- Piazzi Smyth, Italian-born British astronomer form 1846-1888, as Astronomer Royal for Scotland ↑
- Professor Piazzi Smyth, Astronomer Royal for Scotland, On A Method Of Cooling The Air Of Rooms In Tropical Climate. The Practical Mechanic’s Journal vol. 3, (Apr, 1850, Mar, 1851, 185), 155,194. ↑
- Alexander Catlin Twining, born in New Haven, Conn. In 1820, graduated from Yale College. Went to West Point for civil engineering. Chair of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in Middlebury College, Vt. 1839 to 1848. development am economical method for large scale production of artificial of ice. ↑
- Alex C. Twining, Manufacturing Ice. Patent , Alexandria, Virginia.: United States Patent And Trademark Office, 1853. ↑
- Alexander C Twining, The Manufacture of Ice On A Commercial Scale And With commercial Economy,: By Steam Or Water Power: The Invention Of Alexander C. Twining. (New Haven: T.J. Stafford Printer, 1857). ↑
- James Harrison, British Australian, pioneer in the field of mechanical refrigeration, was also involved with newspaper printing, journalist, and politician. Founder the Victorian Ice Works. ↑
- Douglas Pike, ed. Harrison, James (1816–1893), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1,. (Melbourne; London ; New York : Melbourne University Press , 1966). ↑
- The Illustrated London News. Siebes’ Patent Ice-Making Machine In The International Exhibition. The Illustrated London News v. 41, 08 16, 1862: 194. ↑
- Edmond Carré, created, the first absorption refrigerator, using water and Sulfuric acid. ↑
- Ferdinand Carré, born at Moislains (Somme). In 1858 developed a refrigeration machine that used water as the absorbent and ammonia as refrigerant. ↑
- William P. Blake, ed. Chapter XII. Artificial Production Of Cold. In Reports Of The United States Commissioners to the Paris Universal Exposition, 1867 Vol. 3, 361-402. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1870. ↑
- Ferdinand Philip Edward Carré, Improvement In Apparatus For Freezing Liquids. Patent, U.S. (Patent Office, Alexandria, Virginia), 1860. ↑
- Colonel, Tal. P. Shaffer, Rev. W. Owen. The illustrated record of the international exhibition of the industrial arts and manufactures… (London: London Printing and Publishing Company, 1862). ↑
- Tal. P. Shaffer, Colonel, Rev. W. Owen. The Illustrated Record Of The International Exhibition Of The Industrial Arts And Manufactures… (London: London Printing and Publishing Company, 1862),197. ↑
- The Illustrated London News. Siebes’ Patent Ice-Making Machine In The International Exhibition. (The Illustrated London News v. 41, 08 16, 1862),194. ↑
- The Times-Picayune, The Judiciary. (The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, Louisiana, 12 07, 1866), 8. ↑
- The Times-Picayune, Every Man to Make his own Ice. (The Times-Picayune,New Orleans, Louisiana, 09 04, 1863), 2 ↑
- Blake, William P. ed. Chapter XII. Artifical Production Of Cold. In Reports Of The United States. Commissioners to the Paris Universal Exposition, 1867 Vol. 3, (Washington: Goverment Printing Office, 1870), 361-402. ↑
- The Times-Picayune, Ice Abundant, Cheap And Good. (The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, Louisiana, 04 11, 1869), 11. ↑
- The Times-Picayune Louisiana Manufactured Ice. (The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, Louisiana, 05 19, 1868), 4. ↑
- Ice And Refrigeration Illustrated. The Blymyer Ice Machine Company, (Ice And Refrigeration Illustrated, Vol. 3 July-Dec, Chicago ; New York: H S Rich & Co.,1892), 492. ↑
- George Whiteside, born in New York City, at fifteen moved to Apalachicola Florida, then Columbus Ga. Was an assistant engineer on cotton presses, and a engineer on river steamers. During the Civil War, was a commander of a steamer owned by Confederate Army Naval Works, Columbus, Ga. Was one of the founder of the Apalachicola ice factory and the key force in getting the John Gorrie square and monument built in Apalachicola. ↑
- Samuel J. Whiteside born in New York City, lived in Apalachicola and Columbus Ga. Was a river boat captain, worked for the Columbus Iron Works. Commanded the Confederate Iron Works Battalion during the Civil War. Knew John Gorrie and his ice machine. Had a riverboat shipping company between Apalachicola Fla. and Columba Ga. Chief planner of the Gorrie Ice Co. of Savannah Ga. In 1851, primary engineer of Capt. Geo. Bucknam’s cotton compress Co. In 1885, Whiteside and Stratton built the first commercial ten-ton ice machine in Savannah, Ga. The Iron Age. The Iron Age A review of Hardware, Iron, Machinery, and Metal Trades, Vol. 69, (19). New York: David Williams Company, 1902. 44. Ice And Refrigeration Illustrated, Capt. Samuel J. Whiteside, Deceased. Ice And Refrigeration Illustrated, Vol. 22, No. 1-6. (H.S. Rich and Company), 1902: 1. ↑
- H.D. Stratton, build his first ice machine in 1876, based on Ferdinand Carré absorption machine. In 1878 he went to Columbus Ga. and in 1883 formed a partnership with the Columbus Iron Works Co. In 1885, he installed a machine in the Gorrie Ice manufacturing plant in Savannah Ga. In 1890 Philadelphia, he established an ice making plant. ↑
- The Southern Ice Exchange was formed by Mr. L. S. Young, of Gadsden, Ala., and Mr. Chas. W. Biese, of Chattanooga, Tenn. and other independent ice manufacturers including in 1890.To form an association of Southern ice manufacturers and dealers for their mutual benefit. Executive Committee included Samuel J. Whiteside as well as several others. ↑
- George Whiteside. Dr. John Gorrie. (Ice And Refrigeration Illustrated Vol. 7, (5), 1897) 351-357. ↑
- Miss Winifred Kimball. The Iceman. (Unpublished. The State Library and Archives of Florida, n.d.) ↑
- The North Carolinian. Ice By Art. (The North Carolinian, Fayetteville North Carolinian, 1850), 3. ↑
- Prepared for Ice and Refrigeration. Gorrie Monument Unveiled. Ice and Refrigeration Illustrated. v. 18 (Jan.-June 1900), (H.S. Rich & Co., Chicago ; New York: 1900), 491-496 ↑
- Pensacola News Journal, Florida To Honor Gorrie Inventor Of The Ice Machine, With Hall Of Fame Statue. (Pensacola News Journal (Pensacola, Florida), 02 01, 1914), 11. ↑
- Pensacola News Journal New Bridge Will Be Memorial To Dr. John Gorrie. Pensacola News Journal (Pensacola, Florida), 06 04, 1924: 2. ↑
- John Gorrie Ice Memorial Week Planned.” Pensacola News Journal, 07 30, 1935: 3. ↑
- The Tampa Tribune, Tampa Schools Given Permanent Building, (The Tampa Tribune (Tampa, Florida), 10 24, 1915),7. ↑
- The Tampa Tribune. The South’s Record, John Gorrie. The Tampa Tribune (Tampa, Florida), 06 20, 1923: 8. ↑
- Professor Piazzi Smyth, Astronomer Royal For Scotland, On A Method Of Cooling The Air Of Rooms In Tropical Climate. The Practical Mechanic’s Journal vol. 3, (Apr, 1850, Mar, 1851, 185), 155,194. ↑
I wondered if you found records of when the two, possibly separate, portraits of Dr. Gorrie were created? Part of the puzzle is that George Whiteside said no pictures were ever made, according to Sarah Gorrie Robinson. But one had to be made for the Pillars statue, which is almost identical to the portrait that is archived at the Smithsonian/NMAH.
Jeromy Roundtree got permission to show me the small one at the Gorrie Museum, which was almost certainly the basis for the 1935 Foster portrait. The frame is very old, almost surely from a daguerreotype. And yet the image is a photograph of a portrait, and the image is printed on Kodak Velox paper, which Kodak started using in 1899. I can show you the images if you write to my email. I suspect that one painting was done around 1910-1914. But perhaps the other did turn up in the family’s possession. I would appreciate your thoughts, if you have time.
Greeting James,
Thanks for reaching out. I am glad you met Jeromy Roundtree is awesome and very knowledgeable on Gorrie. I have been told and have read several times that there is not any photographs of John Gorrie. What I can tell you is that the image in the big portrait at the John Gorrie museum and the image sculpted for the Capital statue were base on hired model of Spanish decent pick to match Gorries build. I have this information somewhere in my plethora of information on Gorrie. I will start the hunt for that information and get back to you next week. I am currently taking my final exams for my Ph.D. in history, therefore I and running around like a chicken! I will get back to you once I find that information.
Thanks for stopping by History With Kev,
Kevin