auto defrost history

[d-todd]

I am curious if fan-driven cooling and the automatic defrost system with timer and heater that we know today came about simultaneously. In other words, before that time, there was no traditional auto defrost, and no fan for cooling, but just an evaporator structure of some sort. Then the engineers came along and added a heater, then had to add a rear panel in order to protect food from the heater, then had to add the fan since the panel was in the way.

 

[DADoES]

Forced-air automatic defrosting in a freezer? Food items aren't affected?

 

[d-todd]

Forced-air automatic defrosting in a freezer? Food items aren't affected?

I edited my post to clarify.

 

[jamiel]

They were kind of parallel-pathing things through the 50s...for a long time there were auto defrost refrigerators (with coils or plates or panels) or cold-wall designs which operated without fans with frosting freezers. There was never a really satisfactory way to self-defrost the freezers without using the fan.

Gradually through the 60s these were superseded (first by Whirlpool and Westinghouse (cold injector) then Frigidaire then GE and last of all was Kelvinator which touted until the late 60s their cold plate that kept refrigerated food fresher and didn't dry out as much.