This is a picture of an old Ice box people used to have in their homes. The primary objective of the Ice box was to keep food cold, much like our refrigerators today. An ice block would be placed on the top rack, and everything that you wanted to keep cold on the lower racks. Many of them were made from wood and they had some sort of insulation inside to keep the cold air in.
As Ice Boxes became more popular in the 1930's, ice blocks would be delivered domestically to homes. The worker would use tongs to grip the Ice Block from the back of the truck and carry it into the customer's house. Once the ice melted, it was time for them to come out again, or there would be some spoiled food... How far we've come.
Very interresting... That doesnt look too big. And with an ice block inside there it doesnt look like you can fit too much insde there! Good thing the refridgerator was invented. So once the ice melted a worker would bring you a new ice block? Wouldnt the ice block melt all over your food... ?!
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of a 3 Stooges episode where the Stooges have to deliver a block of ice to a customer on a steamy, hot day. They have to climb about 100 steps to get to the house and by the time they get to the house the block of ice has melted into an ice cube. The Stooges were great fun to watch in the day and I still get a laugh out of watching them.
ReplyDeleteDude you went way back on this one. I look at my fridge today and I see the change in the ice boxes of yester year. Back then a guy in a truck would have to bring blocks of Ice, usually carrying it up steps and through narrow door ways to keep the fridge nice and cool..today a guy in his car brings a small bottle of coolant works about 7 mins and presto super cool fridge air! Isn't technology great!
ReplyDeleteJust another of many appliances in our homes today that we take for granted. I guess you really had to plan ahead for vacations or if you traveled for work or you would come home to a real mess. Keeping up with the drain pan had to seem like an endless chore as well. Thanks to ammonia, Freon and other refrigerants combined with electricity, we no longer have those worries.
ReplyDeleteCrazy to think that refrigeration hasn't been around all that long at all. In fact my dad said that his father never had a refrigerator when he was growing up. I can't imagine having to get food fresh every day without a refrigerator. It must have been pretty difficult, especially if you consider that food back than had much less preservatives in them. In a way though this post made me think that technology is destroying a lot of job oppurtunites - not too many ice block delivery services now a days.
ReplyDeleteThe refrigerator does help save money and time which the world is always trying to get more of both. Recently our home refrigerator broke and my dad(thank God he is handy) fixed the fridge but I am sure with the "Ice Box" they didnt have to many issues besides the ice melting and having to call to get a fresh block. I wonder if people in colder temperatures made their own blocks to save money.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize the icebox was wooden. The comment from Andrew on fresh food, my mom talks about how the would get fresh chicken. She'd come home with it wrapped in paper, without a head. Sometimes my grandmother would kill it herself. There wasn't such a thing a refridgerating it. Without refridgeration, food had to taste much better. I remember old refridgerators, not that old, where you had to pull the handle down toward you to open it. Inside there was a small, thin metal door at the top to open the freezer. We no longer have to fill ice trays or drink water from the sink. It's all in the refridgerator. Nice pictures and information.
ReplyDeleteWow back flash to the honeymooners. The ice box was so small especially for big families. I can't even imagine trying to put the things I have in my fridge today into an ice box of yesterday let alone with a big block of ice in it. They have really come a long way. And thankfully we don't have to use a block of ice to keep everything cool. This is a great invention and I am definitely grateful for this technology.
ReplyDeleteThink of the socioeconomic impact of the advent of refridgeration. The iceman was put out of a job, no more chit chat down by the ice wagon, food didn't spoil so easily etc. Here's the biggee. Refridgeration means air conditioning. The population shift was enormous since people found it tolerable to actually live in places like Arizona and San Diego etc.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't fathom living in a world that we do without such technology like the refrigerator. I don't believe we would live as long as we do with the Icebox still present in our lives especially with the fast paced world we live in today. Imagine the need to fresh groceries everyday and the waste of what we do not use.
ReplyDeletethe simple pleasures of life that we are slowly taking away. The ice box is still used in other countries today. What the younger generation doesn't realize is you didn't need a huge ice box because you didn't go to Sam's club or BJ's to buy food for a month. You simply went to the corner market and bought the food you needed for that day. The good old ice box didn't need any electric and keep the food "ice cold". Although I love the fact that the refrigerator can hold large amounts of food and I don't need to order any ice, but the food will never taste as fresh as it did in the good old days.
ReplyDeleteHaving to put your own ice in a freezer to keep your food is an insane idea. Having to remember to put ice in our freezer with our busy schedules, I think our food would all go bad within no time. I am so grateful that our refriderators and freezers are able to be left unattended and our food should be fine when we come back home.
ReplyDeleteWow thats crazy how much the "ice box" has evolved. We go from having to use huge ice blocks to keep stuff cold, to having a freezer that can make ice for us. Thats very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI wonder which is more environmentally friendly, an ice box or a fridge? Did people still get ice deliveries in cold weather? Like if there was a really bad snow storm and an ice truck couldn’t down the street, did you just take all the food out of the ice box and pile snow on it? I image people couldn’t keep large amounts of food on hand. Living back in the “olden” days seems like one big, uncomfortable camping trip.
ReplyDeleteTechnology as advanced in this area....from capacity to what it can do from making ice either crushed or cubed to having a TV in the door, and my personal favorite the ones that can be programmed to keep track of what is in need and no longer available inside …..personal grocery list.
ReplyDeleteA far cry from my ice making refrigerator. My grand pop had one of these but he used it for his beer and he kept it outside with on ice. Ice boxes made it very difficult to keep food for long periods of time. This meant that food was less readily available to people and meat was eaten less. People then had it pretty bad.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that this is the most earliest form of the refrigerator. Not run on electricity and no wires! But this old contraption resembles our modern day "Whirlpool" or "Maytag"! Its shelving structures can store meat and cheese and the freezer for frozen vegetables, bread, and uncooked meats.
ReplyDeleteThis reminded me of my great grandmom...she used to call the fridge an ice box and I used to get confused until one day I asked her what the heck an ice box was. She told me exactly the same description as yours says. She also told me about old air conditioners....they took an ice block and put it in front of a fan and that was their cooling system in the hot summer months.
ReplyDeleteIm really glad that we have electric refridgerators in todays world. Do you know how much a block of ice that big would weigh? Me neither but its a lot.
ReplyDeleteMy grandmom always talks about ice boxes...she actually still refers to the refrigerator as an "ice box". I can't imagine having to have someone come to your house every day to deliver ice so that you can have cold food. This piece of technology is definitely an improvement to society!
ReplyDeleteI always thought ice box was just an old school term for a traditional refrigerator. I didn't realized that it literally required the use of a brick of ice. I can't imagine living this way, especially since we live in the time of canning and preservatives. For those who didn't know any different, I guess it's not so bad.
ReplyDeleteI think the ice box is funny, yet practicle--sort of. As a kid, my dad would always call the fridge the "ice box" & i immidiatly knew what he meant, but i didn't know at the time they were once literally ice boxes. I don't think ide like to be an ice delivery guy
ReplyDeleteYou could imagine what these ice boxes could be used for. I know a couple frat houses that use these to store kegs and alcohol for them since they can fit a lot of things in there. I would of loved to see them when they first came out though!
ReplyDeleteThe ice box is another invention that made things more convenient ofr us. It's crazy to believe that people use to have ice delivered to their house. Like Bill said in an earlier comment, my gransfather always called it the "ice box" and I always knew what he meant but never knew where the expression came from.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great scientific achievement, and it was the stepping stone to the creation of the refrigerator. This technology also sparked cultural evolutions such as supermarkets. The way we manufacture and store food has had a major impact on our society.
ReplyDeleteI can remember my Grams telling me about the ice box- I believe it was just ending when she was growing up but she still remembers it. Most people today would never survive with such a small fridge! Especially those families with over 10 kids!
ReplyDeletea fridge today can do so many things. Some have televisions and radios which is not needed whatsoever, but it is still neat that we have them. Technology has evolved so much over the years, and this is a prime example. To know that people had ice boxes is interesting.
ReplyDeleteMy Mom-Mom often talks about the ice man who used to deliver her ice. She said he was very handsome. Haha! But the ice box was such an interesting yet simple piece of technology. Wood with some sort of insulation... better than putting tons of salt on your meat to preserve it! It is fascinating that the idea for the refrigerator was there--a box with a front-opening door to hold and preserve food. We have come a far way... from frozen water to chlorofluorocarbons... or however it's spelled.
ReplyDeleteFrom frozen ice to Freon. The icebox and now the refrigerator. Preserving food for as long as we can has always been an interest of human nature. The icebox paved the way for in home containers to keep food fresher longer.
ReplyDeleteActually, people did fine without modern refrigeration in the old days. Food was kept fresh 'on the hoof' until it was needed, and people canned a lot of their own produce back then. An ice box would have held milk, butter, eggs and cheese but not much else, so it didn't have to be big. It's all a matter of what you're used to.
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