We can thank inventor Frederick McKinley Jones, for the proliferation of food choices we enjoy on a daily basis. The modern grocery store—which houses tropical fruits, exotic imported cheese, and frozen sushi-grade fish—was first made possible by Jones’ 1941 invention, the Model C, the pioneering venture into mobile refrigeration.
How the Model C transformed food transportation
Working with Hallock, Minnesota, entrepreneur Joseph Numero, Jones set out to put a refrigerator inside a truck. Before the invention of the Model C, food transportation relied on the unreliable salt and ice. Jones’ Model C weighed only 700 pounds, saving engine power, and relied on a four-cylinder engine, a reciprocating compressor, and a six-volt starter to keep food cool. Jones filed for U.S. Patent No. 2,303,857 on Nov. 16, 1939, and during World War II, he and Numero supplied Model Cs to the U.S. Army, calling their company Thermo King Corp. After the war, Thermo King’s mobile refrigeration technology became commercially available and made it possible to transport meat, dairy, and other food products hundreds of miles, radically changing the human diet. Thermo King made over $1 billion in annual sales until it was sold to Ingersoll-Rand Co. in 1997.
Jones was born May 17, 1893, in Cincinnati, Ohio. When he was 9, his mother died, and he was raised by a priest in Covington, Kentucky, for the next two years. He ran away at age 11 and began working as a mechanic in Cincinnati, developing a love for invention. His service in the U.S. Army during World War I was marked by great success in mechanics, and he advanced to the role of sergeant.
Jones earned more than 60 patents throughout his career. He became the first Black American to receive the National Medal of Technology when the honor was posthumously bestowed upon him in 1991.
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