How it began
James Harrison was born in Scotland, studied chemistry while apprenticed to a printer in Glasgow, and emigrated to New South Wales in 1837. He moved to Victoria two years later and became proprietor of the Geelong Advertiser. While cleaning metal type with ether he noticed that the evaporating ether cooled the metal. He built his first experimental machine in 1851 and a commercial ice-making machine in 1854. A patent was granted in 1855.
How it works
Harrison's system used ether as the working fluid. A compressor forced ether vapor into a condenser, where it returned to liquid form. The liquid then moved through refrigeration coils. As it evaporated into vapor again it drew heat away and cooled the machine, and the cycle repeated.
Who pushed back
Harrison's attempt to extend the idea to shipping meat ended in failure. In 1873 he won a gold medal at the Melbourne Exhibition by showing that meat kept frozen for months was still edible, and proposed shipping it to England. For the voyage of the ship Norfolk he built an ice-cooled cold room instead of freezing the meat. He underestimated how much ice was needed and how fast it would melt, and 25 tons of meat spoiled in transit.
What changed first
After the patent Harrison was commissioned to build a refrigeration system for the Glasgow and Co. brewery in Bendigo. His system was soon in use in meat packing houses and breweries. He opened the Victoria Ice Works in Melbourne and later became a partner in the Sydney Ice Company.
What lasted
Australian sources describe Harrison's machine as the first practical vapor-compression refrigeration system, and remember him as the founder of mechanical ice making in the colony. He went on to patent further refrigeration systems in Britain while working as a correspondent for The Age, then returned to Geelong shortly before his death in 1893.
