In this paper, I will be writing about refrigerators. Yes, refrigerators. Refrigerators are not on the cover’s of magazines or the star of prime time television commercials, but does that mean refrigerators are not important or that they are a boring topic? Refrigerators not only play an important role in the design of our homes but they are also an extremely useful part of our everyday life. In this final paper in our History of Product Design course, I will discuss the reasons why refrigerators are important from a design standpoint and that they do not need to be a boring appliance. I will start by giving a brief explanation of why the refrigerator and it’s design is important to our society. Following that, we will discuss how the refrigerator …show more content…
To understand the importance of the refrigerator and it’s design we can review some important details and ask ourselves two questions. The refrigerator is a common household item that nearly all Americans own. Only two percent of Americans living in poverty are without a refrigerator. We could ask the question: do people want to have a well designed or aesthetically pleasing home? It would be a reasonable assumption to assume that even people who are not gifted in design would prefer their home to have a pleasant environment, visually speaking. Then we ask: is the refrigerator an important aspect of our life? Before we answer that question, let us return to the first one we asked and analyze our results. The first question does not make a direct connection with the refrigerator. A homeowner may be very concerned with the design of their home, but they may feel the look of their appliances such as the refrigerator is negligible. Now we can relate this to to help us answer the second question. The refrigerator is something we not only use every day but also have in a prominent place in our house, the kitchen. Would you, or anyone else, want a large ugly object in your house? When you wake up in the morning, do you get a drink out of the refrigerator? …show more content…
Refrigeration as a means to preserve food began in the late eighteenth century. At that time, refrigeration was by a non-powered device called an icebox. The icebox was usually made of wood and were designed in the same way as a piece of furniture. They looked like regular wood cabinets some with simple woodworking designs. In 1913, the first refrigerators for people to use in their homes were made. Fred W. Wolf Jr. invented the first electric refrigerator for home use. It was similar to an icebox, but with an electric cooling unit on top. This refrigerator was sold from 1914 to 1922 and several thousands were produced. The first refrigerator to see wide-spread use and be massed produced in the US was the General Electric “Monitor Top” in 1927. The name monitor top came from the USS Monitor because the round top part of the refrigerator resembled the turret on the ship. The price of this refrigerator was $300 and were considerable to be one of the first affordable refrigerator models. After accounting for inflation, this would be the equivalent of over $4,000 in today’s money. Only a small portion of society could afford the refrigerator at these prices, especially considering the great depression. As innocent looking as these refrigerators looked, the refrigerants used were quite dangerous. Sulfur dioxide or methyl formate were commonly used in these refrigerators and
Ruth Schwartz Cowan wrote “How the Refrigerator Got Its Hum” in 1983. It was included in the section, “Failed Machines” of her book. I never thought about why most refrigerators are electric. We have owned gas stoves and dryers, but never a gas refrigerator. Gas appliances cost more upfront, but are inexpensive to run over time. Personally, I would rather have gas appliances than electric and believe many other people would too; however, there are major factors that caused the gas refrigerator to fail.
"Refrigerators." Canada Science and Technology Museum. Canada Science and Technology Museum, 2014. Web. 15 Feb. 2014. .
Lowe’s is leading the way by example. Lowe’s believes that creating long-term partnerships is a win-win situation for both sides of the deal. Lowe’s is the second largest home appliance retailer in the country, by working hand in hand for twenty-six years with Whirlpool, the largest marketer and manufacturer of home appliances. Whirlpool and Lowe’s have worked together to become unmatched in bringing their customers a high quality product and a very low competitive price. Through a tremendous logistical effort Whirlpool and Lowe’s have created a one of a kind Innovation Tour. A semi-trailer transforms itself into a functioning kitchen to show customers cutting edge appliances that will be available at Lowe’s in the future from Whirlpool and Kitchen Aid. As Lowe’s motto states, Lowe’s truly is “Improving Home Improvement”. (http://www.businesswire.com/)
Barry first discusses the impracticality of appliance manufacturers' desired features. They envision refrigerators which alert the consumer when they have run out of milk, transmits their weight to the gym, and allows the sharing of information on the internet. "I frankly wonder whether the appliance
products was do to the unique design of the kitchen, and the use of carhops.
First and foremost, it’s essential that the appliances are addressed. Appliances are the “age spots” of a house. As a result of planned obsolescence, products such as refrigerators and dishwashers are meant to be replaced every ten to fifteen years. This leads to the innovation of new ideas during product manufacturing. For example, when manufacturers released stainless steel refrigerators, the once-popular white models with the convenient ice distributer quickly became outdated. This illustrates a simple rule: investing in new appliances is one of the quickest ways to make a home feel as though the builders recently made the finishing touches and packed up their tools. They instantly modernize the house. This is the reason new appliances weigh so heavily in a buyer’s decision ...
...hed “piggy-back” service. The first mechanically refrigerated van was introduced. In 1925, there were 500,000 miles of hard surface roads in the U.S. In 1926, a fully loaded 2 ton truck was driven from New York to San Francisco in five days.
Refrigeration Refrigeration is defined as “The process of removing heat from an enclosed space, or from a substance, to lower its pressure.” (First website given in bibliography) In simpler terms, it is removing heat from states of matter in order to keep them cooler. The basic need for refrigeration is to cool food and beverages, as they often get spoilt if the temperature is high. Before actual refrigerators and other such mechanical systems were introduced, it was very common for people to cool their food with ice and snow.
Bowell states that IKEA is establishing themselves “...as a leader in creating and running innovative sustainable places.” This means that IKEA is taking their job seriously. They want to be the ones to help and inspire their customers into following the methods of sustainability. The “People & Planet Positive Strategy” allows the customers individuals to learn about how they can make a change in their own lives by the implementation of products from the company. IKEA is in the process of adapting to the lifestyle of being environmentally friendly. It is necessary for them to become net-positive. Most appliance retailers do not maintain this type of
Wicked Problems in Design Thinking Author(s): Richard Buchanan Source: Design Issues, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Spring, 1992), pp. 5-21 Published by: The MIT Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/
Hegeman, J. (2008). The Thinking Behind Design. Master Thesis submitted to the school of design, Carngie Mellon University. Retrieved from: http://jamin.org/portfolio/thesis-paper/thinking-behind-design.pdf.
Years ago Ikea committed to sustainability, its vision “to create a better everyday life for the many people” and its values standing at the base of this primary goal. The company seems to improve itself and make big steps toward this sustainable approach year by year, offering its customers a great value for money spend on all of their furniture products. The concept itself characterizes well its Swedish ruts, where individuals are accustomed to live a life
In thermodynamics Refrigeration is the major application area, in which the heat is transferred from a lower temperature region to a higher temperature region. The devices which produce refrigeration are known as Refrigerators and the cycle on which it operates are called refrigeration cycles. Vapour compression refrigeration cycle is the most regularly used refrigeration cycle in which the refrigerant is alternately vaporized and condensed and in the vapor phase it is compressed. Gas refrigeration cycle is the well-known refrigeration cycle in which cycle refrigerant remains in the gaseous phase throughout the cycle. Cascade refrigeration are the other refrigeration cycles discussed in this chapter; absorption refrigeration is the one more refrigeration cycle which is used where the refrigerant is dissolved in liquid before it is compressed. One more refrigeration in which refrigeration is produced by passing the electric current through two dissimilar materials is called as the thermoelectric refrigeration.
IKEA is more than a furniture store they are a company driven by values (IKEA, 2014). The company seeks to make their consumers lives easier by providing them with modern, innovative, inexpensive products which they use to tackle daily home activities. IKEA Group has 298 stores in 26 different countries (IKEA, 2014). The company’s vision is “to create a better everyday life for the many people” (IKEA, 2014, para 1). Using innovative techniques for creating, producing, and marketing their products IKEA can provide consumers with durable products for reason...
Nowadays, refrigeration and freezing had become the most popular method for food preservation. It is a desirable way to preserve food because at low temperatures which around –10°C to –25°C, chemical reactions very slowly thus it will make the bacteria in food hard to survive.