History of RefrigeratorA long time ago, around 500 BC, the Egyptians and Indians made ice during cold nights by putting water in earthenware pots and keeping wet pots. In 18th-century England, servants collected ice in winter and put it in ice boxes, where the sheets of ice were packed in salt, wrapped in strips of flannel, and stored underground to keep them frozen until summer. Before the introduction of the refrigerator or "ice box", people used snow and ice to keep their food cold, which they either found locally or brought from the mountains. Cellars and caves were also used to refrigerate food. Meat and fish were preserved in hot weather by salting or smoking. Early cellars were holes dug in the ground and lined with wood or straw and filled with refrigeration for most of history. At the beginning of the 19th century, ice boxes were used in England. These coolers were usually made of wood, covered with tin or zinc, and insulated with various materials, including cork, sawdust, or seaweed. They were used to hold blocks of ice and refrigerate food. Ice was delivered as needed (people simply hung the "Ice Today" sign in their window for the deliveryman) and a drip tray caught the melted water which then had to be emptied daily. Natural ice was harvested, distributed and used commercially. and domestic applications in the mid-1800s. The ice trade between Boston and the South was one of the first casualties of the Civil War. The warm winters of 1898 and 1890 created severe shortages of natural ice in the United States. This spurred the use of mechanical refrigeration for freezing and storing fish as well as in the brewing, dairy and meat industries. In the 19th century...... middle of paper ......preserving meat meant salting it, and iced drinks in summer were a real luxury. Today, the refrigerator is one of the most common household appliances in every home. Works cited by PageBunch, Bryan and Alexander Hellemans. The Tech Times: A timeline of the most important people and events in technology history. New York: Simon & Simon, 1993. Donald Clarke, Mark Dartford, How It Works: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, Volume 15, Marshall Cavendish Inc / January 1977. "The History of the Refrigerator (Including freezers) » http: //inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blrefrigerator.htm (September 2, 2001). "History of the Refrigerator" http://www2.whirlpool.com/html/homelife/cookin/cookref5.htm (September 2, 2001). "Eloctrolux Fridge Histroy" http://www.eletrolux.com/node218.asp (3 september 2001).