Many of my clients in Essex, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and beyond, often see heat pumps as a relatively new, untested and alien concept. The fact is that the first heat pump patent was issued way back in 1912!
Throughout this series I will be tracing the long legacy of heat pump technology and also highlighting other significant moments in time, to hopefully give you some perspective, reaffirming that heat pumps are a historically successful heating solution.
As I mentioned, the first heat pump patent was issued in 1912, but how did we get there?
1748 – The first known artificial refrigeration was demonstrated by William Cullen at the University of Glasgow in Scotland (which is not too far from our Perth office).
1834 – Jacob Perkins built the first compression cooling machine with ether as refrigerant.
1846 – French engineers Ferdinand and Edmond Carré designed a chiller. The operation was based on compression and expansion of the air.
1852 – William Thompson (Lord Kelvin) proposed a practical heat pump system. Thompson called his machine ‘the heat multiplier’.
1873 – Carl von Linde built the first compression cooling machine in with ammonia as refrigerant in Munich.
1889 – The Eiffel Tower was completed. In the same year Nintendo was founded and Van Gogh painted ‘The Starry Night’.
1912 – The first heat pump patent was issued in Switzerland.
Next time we’ll be looking at the founding of Thermia heat pumps, the development of non-toxic and non-flammable refrigerants and more.
Jim is the Midlands & East England Heat Pump Expert, working with clients in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Rutland, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex. Call 0800 865 4328 to discuss how your project could benefit from the installation of a ground or air source heat pump.
