Jump to navigation Jump to search This article is about ice making machines. For ice maintenance in the baking ammonia replacement of curling, see Curling.
For the Depeche Mode song, see Dreaming of Me. The term “ice machine” usually refers to the stand-alone appliance. The ice generator is the part of the ice machine that actually produces the ice. When most people refer to an ice generator, they mean this ice-making subsystem alone, minus refrigeration. An ice machine, however, particularly if described as ‘packaged’, would typically be a complete machine including refrigeration, controls, and dispenser, requiring only connection to power and water supplies. The term icemaker is more ambiguous, with some manufacturers describing their packaged ice machine as an icemaker, while others describe their generators in this way.
In 1748, the first known artificial refrigeration was demonstrated by William Cullen at the University of Glasgow. Cullen never used his discovery for any practical purposes. This may be the reason why the history of the icemakers begins with Oliver Evans, an American inventor who designed the first refrigeration machine in 1805. In 1844, an American physician, John Gorrie, built a refrigerator based on Oliver Evans’ design to make ice to cool the air for his yellow fever patients. His plans date back to 1842, making him one of the founding fathers of the refrigerator.