Icemaker

An icemaker, ice generator, or ice machine may refer to either a consumer device for making ice, found inside a home freezer; a stand-alone appliance for making ice, or an industrial machine for making ice on a large scale. 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. This would include the evaporator and any associated drives/controls/subframe that are directly involved with making and ejecting the ice into storage. 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. Mr. 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 1834, Jacob Perkins builds the first practical refrigerating machine using ether in a vapor compression cycle. The American inventor, mechanical engineer and physicist received 21 American and 19 English patents (for innovations in steam engines, the printing industry and gun manufacturing among others) and is considered today the father of the refrigerator. 

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. Unfortunately for John Gorrie, his plans of manufacturing and selling his invention were met with fierce opposition by Frederic Tudor, the Boston “Ice King”. By then, Tudor was shipping ice from the United States to Cuba and was planning to expand his business to India. Fearing that Gorrie’s invention would ruin his business, he began a smearing campaign against the inventor. In 1851, John Gorrie was awarded U.S. Patent 8080 for an ice machine. After struggling with Tudor's campaign and the death of his partner, John Gorrie also passed away, bankrupt and humiliated. His original icemaker plans and the prototype machine are held today at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

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