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Post by elec573 on Jul 11, 2018 3:47:31 GMT
LoL I’ve got the beer and it’s in my ck ! And it’s on the verge of ice !
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Post by birkie on Jul 18, 2018 14:55:21 GMT
I'm still on our vacation road trip, and made it into the archives for a couple hours the other day. Here's a quick report. I'll post more as I sort through it. For added drama, my cell phone finally died, so I picked up a new one in New Hampshire (no sales tax!) in order to snap photos. They had no problem with that. When I arrived, everything (that fit the description of what I was looking for) was laid out: Some highlights: - A box of Steenstrup materials like original patents, transcripts of speeches, PR materials, obituaries, promotional photos, etc. His views on the depression, hard work, the role of the salesperson, and the American vs European systems were fascinating. It also looks like GE used him for "Ask Chris" type promotional materials - 1940s copies of the "product man", a publication apparently sent to dealerships and service shops. It contains a random assortment of product updates (i.e. announching the cheat freezers change from vertical to horizontal evaporator coil), and tips and tricks. I ran out of time when poring through this, but found an article on the control differences with stainless steel evaporator rebuilt DR machines, tips on how to rescue monitor tops from floods, and replacing capacitors. I also saw an announcement from 1948 that all restrictions and quotas for obtaining FEA machines had been lifted, so dealers would be wise to order as many as they can. It was unexpectedly fascinating. - Early (1926) recipe and song books, as well as an issue of the Silent Hostess - OC-2 brochures, and a few photos and promotional materials - Materials for customers who wish to send out machines for repair/rebuild, from the mid '90s - A few pictures of experimental machines. Including... What the heck is this? A ck-1 prototype from 1932???
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mach
7 Cubic Foot
Posts: 135
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Post by mach on Jul 18, 2018 15:29:58 GMT
Very cool! Worth the trip? How much more time would you have liked to have spent there?
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Post by ckfan on Jul 19, 2018 15:23:35 GMT
Wow, fantastic. I really am glad you made the trip! This is some great stuff. I am really wondering about this CK1 that you found. Is this the missing link between the DR and the CK?
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Post by Travis on Jul 19, 2018 21:40:57 GMT
OOH, I want one of those!
I wonder if that's a CK compressor with a type E control and 1933 hardware it seems. Was this weird beast a prototype before the CA form A reared its odd little head?
Must go to museum and copy lots of things.
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Post by ckfan on Jul 19, 2018 23:55:33 GMT
I knew that prototype would get your attention Travis.
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Post by stlvortac on Jul 20, 2018 0:26:18 GMT
Nice find! I could spend a day or two there. Given its location and valuable time while off work I don't think that'll happen for a long time.
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Post by birkie on Jul 20, 2018 3:17:33 GMT
Very cool! Worth the trip? How much more time would you have liked to have spent there? Yes, it was definitely worth it. My two hours were at a frenetic pace while the kids were entertained at the science center upstairs (it's oriented towards kids, so it's a somewhat surprising environment to find the archives down below). A solid day would have been better, especially for copying materials. I just took pics with my cell phone - so some papers were wavy, or out of focus, or (in the case of glossy photos) had reflections. The materials weren't really huge in volume, but were somewhat unordered, so a slower pace would have helped find things buried here or there. I'm pretty sure I didn't see everything - mostly the older materials (and the Steenstrup papers). It was only at the end after I wondered about seeing if I could find info on my chest freezer that I saw the late 40s "Product Man" publications. What I got from that was random, once I figured out what it really was. I wonder if that's a CK compressor with a type E control and 1933 hardware it seems. Was this weird beast a prototype before the CA form A reared its odd little head? . There were no papers associated with it, just the image and caption. If you look close, the condenser tubes look like those in the production CKs, except without the rest of the flat plate! Just the channels made from two pieces of steel. So bizarre. It really makes me think they were developing the CK as a potential successor to the DR. ~1933 is when Frigidaire started producing machines with R114, so maybe GE shelved the CK to go with a "safer" alternative, until it proved too unstable in the field? I don't know. Unfortunately, I didn't notice any documents that shed any more light into that (deepening) mystery. In fact, I didn't really see anything about the CA machines; probably because I had expressed interest over the phone in the older materials.
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Post by Travis on Jul 20, 2018 6:19:16 GMT
We need to go together. That’ll freak them out!
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Post by ckfan on Jul 20, 2018 11:59:49 GMT
This is getting good. The fact that this prototype had channels like the actual CK is very interesting. I thought I saw that on the paper but wasn’t sure. That also explains why the condenser is shorter than a normal DR one. It really does make you wonder. I think that Birkie is onto something when he said that this might have been the successor. I had no idea that 33 was the year Frigidaire started using 114 and the meter miser. The earliest one I’ve found so far was 34. That theory of GE wanting to join in with a non toxic refrigerant makes sense. Now we just need a document to prove it!
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Post by birkie on Jul 20, 2018 18:33:10 GMT
Here's another tidbit. I came across a document from a former engineer that describes room air conditioning. A small part of it mentions the DR-based prototype: These 1931 units then spurred the creation of the Air Conditioning department in 1932 The pictures were poor photocopies. I didn't see any originals, maybe there could be some in the "air conditioning" section of their archives
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Post by ckfan on Jul 20, 2018 18:44:17 GMT
For a person like me who loves to learn where it all started this is just amazing. I can’t believe they were able to make a poor DR3 cool a room! With water cooling it may have added quite a bit of capacity to it though. This is just...amazing!
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Post by birkie on Jul 20, 2018 21:48:42 GMT
I can’t believe they were able to make a poor DR3 cool a room! With water cooling it may have added quite a bit of capacity to it though. This is just...amazing! Yeah, I'm surprised too, especially with the "-5" in its name. I was sure it would have been one of the larger 2 cylinder models. Some back of the envelope calculations show that it could actually cool at 3x its nominal capacity with a 40F evaporator, and a condenser cooled to 60F by tap water. The cool water through the condenser helps considerably. If that's the case, that'd put it at around 2000 BTU. Then there's also the increase in volumetric efficiency due to the massively decreased compression ration. So it's plausible! I had no idea that 33 was the year Frigidaire started using 114 and the meter miser. The earliest one I’ve found so far was 34 There's a fascinating follow-up article published in the ASHRAE journal by Bernard Nagengast that has a section on the meter miser compressor that made things click for me. That mentions the 1933 date, and also a few other things: * The release of the DR threw Frigidaire for a loop, so they needed to respond in force with their own hermetic design, but didn't have the in-house expertise * The person who designed the meter miser was hired specifically for the purpose, and "caused a scandal" due to high salary demands, which paid off well for Frigidare in the end * The cotton windings were specially treated to cope with the solvent-like R12. From reading the patent, the issue was the natural oils and waxes in the cotton dissolving and clogging up the cap tube. But anyway, there must have been an active rivalry between GE and Frigidare at the time. I think GE was afraid they'd be one-upped.
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Post by ckfan on Jul 20, 2018 23:35:40 GMT
I just read the whole article. I love those pieces that he wrote. Very good stuff. I always learn so much. See Travis, you’re majestic is a rotary vane compressor like my coldspot!
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Post by turbokinetic on Jul 20, 2018 23:38:51 GMT
Very interesting article, thanks for posting it!
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