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Sunday, September 28, 2014

"Frederick McKinley Jones"[May 17,1893-February 21,1961]

Was a prolific early 20th century  African American inventor who helped revolutionize both cinema and refrigeration industries.Over his lifetime,he patented more than sixty inventions in divergent fields with forty of those patents in refrigeration Frederick is best known for inventing the first automatic refrigeration system for trucks.
Frederick was born in Cincinnati Ohio.His mama died when he was nine,and he was forced to drop out of school.A priest in in Covington,Kentucky,raised him until he was sixteen.
Upon leaving the rectory,Frederick began working as a mechanic's helper at the R.C.Crothers Garage in Cincinnati.Frederick would spend much of his time observing the mechanic's as they worked on cars,taking in much information as possible.These observvations,along with an insatiable appetite for learning through reading helped Frederick develop an incredible base of knowledge about automobiles and their inner
workings.Within three years his skills and love for cars had netted him a promotion to shop foreman.By nineteen,he had built and driven several cars in racing exhibitions and soon became one of the most well known racers in Great Lakes region.
During World War I,he was a sergeant in the U.S. Army and served in France as an electrician.While serving,he rewired his camp for electricity,telephone,and telegraph,service.In 1919,after being discharged by the Army,he moved to Hallock Minnesota where he began his study of electronics,eventually building a transmitter for a local radio station.To make ends meet,Frederick often aided local doctors by driving them around for house calls during the winter season.When navigation through the snow proved difficult,Frederick attached skis to the undercarriage of an old airplane body and attached an airplane propeller to a motor.He was soon whisking doctors around town at high speeds in his new "snow machine."
Over the next few years he would invent more and more innovative machines.When
one of the doctors he worked for complained that he had to wait for patients to come into his office for x-ray exams,Frederick created a portable x-ray machine that could be taken to the patient.Unfortunately,like many of his early inventions Frederick never through to apply for a patent.He watched helplessly as other men made fortunes of their versions of the same device.Impervious,Frederick new projects including a radio transmitter,personal radio sets,and eventually motion picture devices.
In 1927,Joseph Numero,the head of Ultraphone Sound Systems,hired Frederick as an electrical engineer.Joseph's company made sound equipment that was used in movie
houses throughout the Midwest.Always the innovator,Frederick converted silent-movie projectors into talking projectors by using scrap metal for parts.In addition,he devised ways to stabilize and improve the picture quality.
In 1939,Frederick invented and received a patent for an automatic ticket-dispensing machine to be used at movie theaters.He later sold the patent rights to RCA.
Eventually,Joseph & Frederick formed a partnership called the U.S. Thero Control Company,with Frederick as vice president.He was given the task of developing a
device that would allow large trucks to transport perishable products without spoiling.Frederick set to work and his automatic refrigeration system,the Thermo King,was born.Eventually,he modified the original design so it could be outfitted for trains,boats,and ships.
The Thermo King transformed shipping and grocery businesses.Grocery Chains were now able to import and export products that previously could only have been shipped as canned goods.As a result,the frozen food food industry was born and for the first time consumers could enjoy foods from around the world and U,S. Thermo King became a multimillion-dollar company.
During World War II,a need for a unit for storing blood serum for transfusions and medicines led him into further refrigeration research.For this,he created an air-conditioning unit for military field hospitals and a refrigerator for military field kitchens.As a result,many lives were saved.A modified form of his device is still in use today.
In 1944,Frederick became the first African American to be elected into the American Society of Refrigeration Engineers.During the 1950s,he was a consultant to the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S.Bureau of Standards.
When he died,Frederick had more than sixty patents.In honor of his tremendous achievements as an inventor,he was posthumously awarded the National Medal of Technology.Frederick was the first African American inventor to ever receive such an honor,

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