Palmer’s Display Model of a Refrigerator Car (Patent Number 290,600) – ca 1883
date: label: date made
content: ca 1883
notes: label: Description
content: In 1883 Cassius Clay Palmer of New York, NY applied for and received a patent for a railway refrigerator car that was cooled by mechanical refrigeration. This model was not filed as part of his application but was used for display purposes to explain the car’s operation and promote sales. At the time of Palmer’s patent refrigerated railcars depended upon large quantities of ice being loaded into the cars. Palmer claimed that his system was “..the first which has been devised by means of which the use of ice can practically be dispensed with….” The Palmer design took power from one axle of the car via a pulley and belt which drove the machinery. To provide a constant speed drive for the refrigeration compressor and to provide power during periods when the car was not in motion, Palmer used stored compressed air. The axle driven belt ran a two cylinder air compressor which fed compressed air to storage tanks mounted beneath the car. A check valve and pressure regulator supplied constant pressure air from the cylinders to an air-driven engine which in turn powered the compressor for the refrigerant (chloride of ethyl) returning from the cooling coils inside the refrigerated compartment. Palmer made provisions for some of the compressed air to be used to keep a positive pressure differential with the outside environment. This discouraged warm air and dust from entering the refrigerated portion of the car. The compressed air engine also powered an air circulation fan to aid maintaining a uniform temperature throughout the car. Palmer’s design proved successful in tests, and in 1888 Armour & Company had eight cars built for them. However, the Palmer car did not find lasting commercial success. The then existing refrigerated car infrastructure was based on ice, and those in charge of the industry did not want the status quo disturbed. As a result mechanical refrigerator cars were not a commercial success in the United States until 1950.
label: Description
content: The display model is constructed of wood, brass and iron. It is of a natural wood color. The model includes details of double door openings on the sides as well as the compressed air cylinders beneath the car.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York
topic: label: Subject
content: Railroads
label: Subject
content: Refrigeration
label: Subject
content: Model
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Transportation, Railroad
label: See more items in
content: Engineering, Building, and Architecture
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Miss Alma E. Palmer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TR.335473
label: catalog number
content: 335473
label: accession number
content: 321708
label: patent number
content: 290600
objectType: label: Object Name
content: refrigerator car
label: Object Name
content: display model, refrigerator car
label: Object Name
content: model, railroad freight car
label: Other Terms
content: refrigerator car; Rail
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 10 in x 32 in x 612 in; 25.4 cm x 81.28 cm x 1554.48 cm