Can you please tell me who invented the refrigerated railroad car in 1968? thank you.

-- christina mcgee (mcgee.christina@worldnet.att.net), September 26, 1999

Answers

According to John H. White, former Curator of Transportation at the Smithsonian Institution, there were primitave refrigerator cars in service as early as 1842. The man you probably have in mind is George H. Hammond, who, in 1868, secured several patents involving refrigeration in transit. According to White, however, none of these inventions were successful to be used in the refrigerator cars that came to be the standard of the industry.

I highly recommend White's book, "The Great Yellow Fleet - A history of American Refrigerator Cars", published by Golden West Books in 1986, if you are interested in this subject.

Bob Hanson

-- Robert H. Hanson (RHanson669@aol.com), September 27, 1999.