page_title: Kelvinator
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Kelvinator / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Furnishings in the Cà d'Zan - John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art - Sarasota, Florida, USA. This is a Kelvinator Electric Refrigeration Unit, c. 1926.
context_page_description: Kelvinator was a United States home appliance manufacturer and a line of domestic refrigerators that was the namesake of the company. Although as a company it is now defunct, the name still exists as a brand name owned by Electrolux AB. It takes its name from William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, who developed the concept of absolute zero and for whom the Kelvin temperature scale is named. The name was thought appropriate for a company that manufactured ice-boxes and refrigerators.
context_section_description: Kelvinator was founded on September 18, 1914, in Detroit, Michigan, United States, by engineer Nathaniel B. Wales who introduced his idea for a practical electric refrigeration unit for the home to Edmund Copeland and Arnold Goss.
  Wales, a young inventor, secured financial backing from Arnold Goss, then secretary of the Buick Automobile company, to develop the first household mechanical refrigerators to be marketed under the name "Electro-Automatic Refrigerating Company." After producing a number of experimental models, Wales selected one for manufacturing.
  In February 1916, the name of the company was changed to "Kelvinator Company" in honor of the Irish-Scottish physicist, Lord Kelvin (William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin), the discoverer of absolute zero. Kelvinator was among some two dozen home refrigerators introduced to the U.S. market in 1916. In 1918 Kelvinator introduced the first refrigerator with any type of automatic control.
  Frustrated by iceboxes, the Grand Rapids Refrigerator Company introduced a porcelain lined "Leonard Cleanable" ice cabinet. Kelvinator began buying Leonard's boxes for its electric refrigerated models. By 1923, the Kelvinator Company held 80% of the American market for electric refrigerators.
  On July 3, 1925, Kelvinator bought Nizer Corporation in a tri-party merger valued at $20,000,000.
  In 1926, the company acquired Leonard, which had been founded in 1881. Kelvinator concentrated its entire appliance production at the Grand Rapids factory in 1928. That year, George W. Mason assumed control of Kelvinator. Under his leadership the company lowered its costs while increasing market share through 1936.
  In 1936, Kelvinator introduced the "Kelvin Home", which was one of the earliest attempts to market in-home central air conditioning and heating to ordinary consumers. Customers could choose from a number of different home designs, all of which were equipped with climate control systems and the latest electric appliances, and were advertised to cost about $7,500 for a six-room house. The first Kelvin Home shown to the public was located in Livonia, Michigan and attracted thousands of visitors. A number of surviving homes are registered historic properties, including several in the Rosedale Gardens Historic District in Livonia and the Kelvinator House in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
caption: Kelvinator refrigerator, c. 1926
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