INVENTOR of the MONTH

Frederick Jones: The Refrigeration Trail Blazer

Shipping fruits, vegetables, orange juice and other items to the market without spoiling was a major problem until Frederic M. Jones patented the refrigeration system for trucks in 1949. His system was later adapted for trains and boats.

Jones was born in 1892 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He had only a sixth grade education but proved to be a very intelligent, creative, and self-taught mechanic. At the age of twenty while working as chief engineer for a large farm in Hallock, Minnesota he maintained a variety of mechanical equipment and automobiles. In his spare time he read books on electricity and machinery. He went to France during World War I where he served as an Army electrician. When he returned to Hallock, he built a transmitter for a new radio station. He also worked as an engineer for Joseph Numero who owned a motion picture equipment company. While with Numero, Jones converted silent movie projectors into sound projectors, but he also patented a machine for dispensing movie theater tickets.

One day Numero made what he thought was a lighthearted joke with two friends. One was a long haul trucker and the other made air conditioning units for movie theaters. The trucker complained that air conditioning mechanics could not make a small refrigeration system that was rugged enough to be installed in his trucks. Numero jokingly said Fredrick Jones could make one.

Jones took on the challenge and succeeded. Numero recognized the potential of the invention and invited Jones to join him in forming a new company to manufacture and sell the refrigeration system. Numero would provide the financial backing and Jones the creative and inventive expertise. Together they formed the U.S. Thermo Control Company that still manufactures refrigeration equipment under the name Thermo King.

The U.S. Patent office awarded Jones more than sixty patents during his lifetime. He was one of the outstanding authorities in the field of refrigeration and was elected to the American Society of Refrigeration of Engineers in 1944. He died in Minneapolis in 1981.

View Archive