Madison Cooper Papers
name: label: Creator
content: Cooper, Madison, 1868-1946
label: Creator
content: Madison Cooper Company (Watertown, N.Y.)
topic: label: Topic
content: Horticulturists
label: Topic
content: Refrigeration and refrigerating machinery
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The collection was donated by Daniel Cooper, son of Madison Cooper, in 1963.
creator: label: Creator
content: Cooper, Madison, 1868-1946
label: Creator
content: Madison Cooper Company (Watertown, N.Y.)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Madison Cooper Papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: Madison Cooper was an inventor and manufacturer of refrigerating systems in the early twentieth century. Cooper received several patents for his refrigeration inventions, including several refrigerating apparatuses, an air-circulating system, a process for preventing the formation of frost on refrigerating surfaces and a refrigeration train car. The collection spans 1900-1963 and includes his United States and foreign patents, his publications related to refrigeration, and a few documents and photographs related to Cooper and the Madison Cooper Company.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Madison Cooper was an inventor and manufacturer of refrigerating systems in the early twentieth century. Born in Leray, New York, on March 19, 1868, Cooper moved as a young man to Minneapolis, Minnesota where he entered the butter and egg shipping business. He invented a cold storage system while working in the produce business. Cooper shifted careers to focus on cold storage engineering where he planned, designed and installed refrigeration systems in over 100 plants in the United States and Canada. Cooper moved the Madison Cooper Company to Watertown, New York around 1903 and in 1909, built a plant for the manufacturing of refrigerating equipment in Calcium, New York. The advent of mechanical and electric refrigeration in the 1920s superseded Cooper's system and his company dissolved in 1936, although at least one of Cooper's systems was still in operation in 1953. Cooper died on July 8, 1946 and was remembered not only for his contributions to refrigeration, but also as a horticulturist and editor and publisher of The Flower Grower.

Cooper received several patents in the United States and abroad for his refrigeration inventions, including several refrigerating apparatuses, an air-circulating system, a process for preventing the formation of frost on refrigerating surfaces and a refrigeration train car. He focused on simple and inexpensive construction that provided economic and efficient operation. Many of his inventions involved the use of a false floor that allowed cool air to flow underneath it and a perforated ceiling that released warm air. Other patents included cold air circulation within walls to cool buildings and apartments and focused on controlling temperature, humidity and air purity.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 0.25 Cubic feet (1 box)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1900-1963
custodhist: label: Custodial History
content: Transferred to the Archives Center from the Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, now known as the Division of Work and Industry, 2007.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.1054
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Correspondence
label: Type
content: Articles
label: Type
content: Clippings
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Pamphlets
label: Type
content: Patents
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is organized into two series.

Series 1, Historical background, 1900-1963

Series 2, Patents, 1900-1908
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Processed by Cara Whiting (intern), April, 2011; supervised by Alison Oswald, archivist.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Correspondence -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Articles -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Clippings -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Pamphlets -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Patents
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Series 1, Historical background, 1900-1963, consists of biographical information about Madison Cooper. The series includes obituaries, two diagrams of optimal temperature for food storage that were produced by the Madison Cooper Company, and three photographs that show Cooper and workers in the shop and office in Watertown and the plant in Calcium. 

Cooper published articles related to refrigeration and specifically to his refrigeration systems titled "Chloride of Calcium in Refrigeration," 1900, "Natural Ice Cold Storage and the Cooper Systems of Refrigeration," 1901, "Ice Refrigeration," (1902), the Madison Cooper Company publication "Cold"(1914), and "The Cooper Systems of Refrigeration," undated.

Series 2, Patents, 1900-1908, contains United States and foreign patents related to Madison Cooper. 

The United States patents contain drawings and specifications of Cooper's refrigerating inventions and are arranged by patent number. 

Patents include: 

Refrigerating apparatus (US Patent, 11,822)

Process of preventing formation of frost on refrigerating surfaces (US Patent 644,847)

Old-storage apparatus (US Patent 659,468)

Indirect air-circulating systems of cold-storage apparatus (US Patent 677,536)

Cold-storage apparatus air circulating system (US Patent 754,749)

Refrigerator cars (US Patent 881,902) 

Foreign patents are arranged alphabetically by country. Patents for the process of preventing formation of frost on refrigerating surfaces include: 

Austria 
Process of preventing formation of frost on refrigerating surfaces (4,075) 

Canada 
Process of preventing formation of frost on refrigerating surfaces (66,959)

Canada
Improvements in indirect air circulating systems for cold storage apparatus (75,602) 

Canada
Improvements in refrigerating apparatus (75,636)

France 
Process of preventing formation of frost on refrigerating surfaces (297,158)

Germany 
Process of preventing formation of frost on refrigerating surfaces (117,943)

Great Britain 
Process of preventing formation of frost on refrigerating surfaces (2,840) 


Also included are an assignment of letters patent related to the refrigerating apparatus (US Patent 11,822) shared with George A. Dole and a contract related to the patents for the process of preventing frost formation on refrigerating surfaces.