85 year old fridge still humming along

[Bruce Wayne]

Quite possibly Americas oldest fridge.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...wn-fridge-America-chillin-85-years-later.html

 

[Gingerella72]

Neat! I wish the article went into more about how long this man had owned this particular fridge, where he found/bought it, does it require any maintenance, etc.

 

[LizzieMaine]

GE used to advertise that the "monitor top" mechanism lasted the equivalent of 400 years in accelerated lab testing. So there's still a ways to go yet.

 

[Formeruser012523]

They sure don't make things like they used to!

 

[sheeplady]

"Vintage: GE still manufactured appliances in the US back in the 1920s."

The fact that is a caption on one of the pictures makes me more than a little sad. It's almost like "Gee, a long long time ago we used to make things in this country."

 

[Shangas]

It wouldn't do for G.E. to manufacture goods in China in the 1920s, what with civil wars and everything going on.

If it makes you feel any better, the Chinese are importing American-made disposable chopsticks, on account of the fact that the Chinese timber-reserves are so damn low, they don't have enough left to make their own.

 

[vitanola]

Quite possibly Americas oldest fridge.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...wn-fridge-America-chillin-85-years-later.html

That little Ball Top "Scotch Yoke" machine is old, but is not as old as claimed, and is most definitely not the oldest Refrigerator in use here in the 'States.

That model (a CF, I think) was introduced in late 1934 as a 1935 model. There is one sitting one of the storage buildings down in VA. I have a working CA machine of 1933 or 1934 vintage, and a working double-door DR model, which dates between 1927 and 1932. My machine is closer to the earlier year, as it uses the composite (wood-frame) cabinet. The DR is going into the kitchen of the house that I'm currently restoring.

The Monitor Top refrigerators are legendary for their reliability, but I know of a couple of older machines in use just here in Michigan, including a 1920 or 1921 vintage Frigidaire, and a mid-1920's Kelvinator.

The Monitor Top machines require virtually no maintenence, save for occasional defrosting, and the replacement of the rubber door seals every couple of generations. The Frigidaire and Kelvinator machines, n the other hand need regular oiling, and occasionally lose belts. The GE refrigerator design is far ore advanced.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The Monitor Top machines require virtually no maintenence, save for occasional defrosting, and the replacement of the rubber door seals every couple of generations. The Frigidaire and Kelvinator machines, n the other hand need regular oiling, and occasionally lose belts. The GE refrigerator design is far ore advanced.

Other manufacturers caught onto the idea of a sealed mechanism by the end of the thirties. My Kelvinator uses the "Polarsphere" unit, which, while not as visually-memorable as the Monitor Top, is just as reliable. It loses out on the efficiency count, though, because it's in the bottom of the cabinet instead of the top.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

If it makes you feel any better, the Chinese are importing American-made disposable chopsticks, on account of the fact that the Chinese timber-reserves are so damn low, they don't have enough left to make their own.

We need to raise the prices of those sticks a few thousand times then.

 

[CharleneC]

We need to raise the prices of those sticks a few thousand times then.

Why?