• The first U.S. patent for refrigeration is issued to Thomas Moore of Maryland.

• Air conditioning makes its official public debut at the Missouri State Building during the St. Louis World’s Fair.

• Chlorofluorocarbon refrigerants are synthesized by a General Motors research team for Frigidaire. Albert Henne, a co-inventor of the CFC refrigerants, also synthesizes R-134a.

• The Refrigeration Equipment Manufacturers Association (REMA) and the Air-Conditioning and Refrigerating Machinery Association (ACRMA) unite to become the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI).

• The American Society of Refrigerating Engineers (ASRE) joins with the American Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers (ASVE) to form the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).

• The Refrigeration Service Engineers Society (RSES) is founded to provide education for professional refrigeration technicians, while the small commercial and domestic refrigeration industry was in its infancy.

• The Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI) establishes the “ARI Ozone Committee,” to bolster activities combating state and federal fluorocarbon refrigerant legislation.

• Signees to the Montreal Protocol agree on amendments that eliminate CFC use and production by the year 2000. The protocol is later revised to advance the CFC phaseout to end of 1995, with HCFCs to be phased out in steps by 2030.

• Indoor air quality becomes a big issue following the outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease in a Philadelphia hotel.

Publication date: 06/27/2011