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[Door opens, footsteps]

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[Creak!] [THUD!]

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[Jazzy music: 'The Russians Are Coming' - Val Bennett]
[vacuum cleaner noise]

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[Jazzy music: 'The Russians Are Coming' - Val Bennett]
[TV static noise]

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[Jazzy music: 'The Russians Are Coming' - Val Bennett]
[Steam hisses]

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[Jazzy music: 'The Russians Are Coming' - Val Bennett]

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[Jazzy music: 'The Russians Are Coming' - Val Bennett]
[sewing machine rattles]

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[Jazzy music: 'The Russians Are Coming' - Val Bennett]
[*Whoop!*]

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[Jazzy music: 'The Russians Are Coming' - Val Bennett]

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Tim: Most people take their fridges for granted, but life would be very different without them.

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Probably the earliest record of artificial cooling comes from ancient Egypt

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where there are records of slaves being employed to fan earthenware pots.

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That was the same idea as this the earthenware milk cooler.

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You put water in the dish down below and and that keeps this cover wet

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And it's the evaporation of the water that cools the milk inside.

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[howling winds] [axe chips out ice]

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Tim: The other method of cooling things, used extensively in ancient Rome, was simply to collect snow.

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Using a bit of insulation, it can last a surprisingly long time without melting.

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[howling wind] [horse and cart clip clop etc]

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[chattering laughing socialising people]

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[Wheeeeee noise] [Socialising continues]

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The Romans not only cooled their wine, but they also made ice cream.

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[slurp]

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By the 19th century various other liquids had been discovered

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that evaporated much faster than water - like alcohol.

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If I dab some on my hand, the cooling effect is quite noticeable.

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it's evaporating so fast that my hand's almost dry already.

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And this produces even more rapid evaporation.

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it had been discovered, that various gases, when they're compressed can condense into liquids.

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And in fact the, this is carbon dioxide in this cylinder.

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And under pressure it's actually a liquid at room temperature.

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If I open the valve it'll shoot out of this pipe and evaporate very rapidly back to a gas

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and the cooling effect is quite dramatic...
[hiss of high pressure gas]

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[hissing stops]
You can see the black pipe has gone all white because it's covered in frost.

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If this gas was collected and compressed again it could be condensed back to a liquid

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and a sort of cycle could be established.

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[whirring noise]
And this is exactly the principle of the modern fridge:

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The liquid under pressure escapes through the restriction valve,

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as it evaporates to a gas the pipes get very cold.

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The gas is piped back to a pump where it gets compressed and heated.

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The hot gas then cools, and condenses back to a liquid, still under pressure.

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The cycle then starts all over again.

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The first patent for a machine like this was granted in 1834, to Jacob Perkins

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At the time, Perkins' invention was not greeted with much interest,

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because there was already a well-established natural ice industry.

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[running water]

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[Sawing ice]

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Ice was cut from the lakes in America on a vast scale.

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[running water] [sawing ice]

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By 1890, it was harvesting 25 million tons a year.

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Britain imported over half a million tons, partly from America and partly from Norway.

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It was stored in giant wooden ice-houses, where it could last all summer.

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This ice was delivered twice a week, by the ice men.

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they put it into these domestic ice-boxes.

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[thunking of ice]

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The ice went in the top, and the food goes in the bottom.

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The ice slowly melted and ended up in a drip tray which had to be emptied every day or two.

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Well, the natural ice industry was well established in Europe and in America,

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but in Australia the winters weren't really cold enough to produce much ice.

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[Digeridoo]

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In 1837, James Harrison emigrated from Glasgow to Australia.

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He became a journalist, but his real obsession was refrigeration.

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Harrison: Och dear, I cannae concentrate, it's too hot

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If only I had a wee machine to make ice!  Aye!

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[noisy machine]

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Tim: His first machine didn't work, which he blamed on inferior colonial workmanship.

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He then went to England and persuaded a Dr. Seeby to make one, based on Perkins' design.

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By 1858 Harrision had brought Seeby's machine back to Australia.

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Harrison: Here's mae machine. And here you see, a perrfect lump of ice.
Crowd: Hurray!

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Harrison: Aye, there's a flywheel, and make sure...
Man: Okay...

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Tim: Harrison was then commissioned by a brewery to build a commercial refrigeration plant.

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So cooling Australian lager was the first practical use of an artificial refrigeration machine in the world.

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Men: Okay, okay...  ....Ahhh!
[beer cans rattle] [ring pull clinks]

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[loud machine noise]

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Ice factories soon opened up in England, in competition with the natural ice warehouses.

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The Lowestoft Ice Company was one of the first, as David Forster remembers.

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David: The ice company originally began in 1898

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and it was my great grandfather, a Mr W. F. Cockerel,

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who decided that ordinary ice from the glaciers, the Norwegian glaciers,

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wasn't sufficient for good quality ice, so he decided to make artificial ice

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using ammonia refrigerant, which happened to come on the market in the 1870s, 1890s.

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[loud rushing water]

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Tim: Water is placed in the ice molds, which are then lowered into the giant brine tank.

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The circulating brine is cooled by pipes, full of the ammonia refrigerant, to about -10 C.

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[noise of machinery]

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The brine tank is vast, the size of a public swimming pool.

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[squeaky wheels]

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After a few days the water in the moulds has fully frozen, and ready for use.

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To extract the ice, the moulds are first transferred to a bath of warm water to loosen them.

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[water] [clanging]

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Although this process looks very impressive, today there are much quicker and cheaper methods of making ice.

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Block ice is now really obsolete, and this is actually the last lift.

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[clanking of ice]

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David: It's rather sad to see the last lift, that's on the floor there.

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Tim: These are the last blocks?
David: These are the last blocks.

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David: Actually the very last blocks.

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It's a very old fashioned way of making ice, and it's not really very viable nowadays.

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[clanking of ice]

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[humming engine noise]

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This is the engine room of the ice factory,

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and it's, er, basically a series of large motors and compressors,

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where the ammonia is compressed, that provides the refrigeration to cool the brine tanks.

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The modern domestic refrigerator is exactly the same in principle.

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With an electric motor, and a compressor, obviously much smaller.

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But there was a gap of about 30 years, between developing these large ones

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and making something that was practical enough to put in a kitchen.

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These have quite a few problems, they leak, their glands and valves on them.

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And also they're very smelly.  The whole place smells strongly of ammonia.

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The General Electric Company of America decided that the best solution

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was to enclose the motor and the compressor in a single airtight container.

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Their first model appeared in 1926.

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And they advertised it as being "So utterly reliable, so utterly dependable, that we've been able to enclose all the moving parts in walls of steel."

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And it is rather a handsome contraption.

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The shape of this fridge was designed by the refrigeration engineers themselves.

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Here it's being demonstrated by Bette Davis in 1935.

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Woman: Morning!
Bette: Good morning.

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Woman: My dear, why didn't you wake me up?

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Bette: Oh there's nothing to do really.

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Woman: And people quarrel with the inconvenience of living so far out?

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It's really been the most delightful weekend I've had in years.
Bette: I wouldn't live anywhere else.

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Woman: Of course, that's the difficulty of service...

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Tim: By the 1950s specialist industrial designers and stylists had been brought in.

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They changed their fridges' appearance every year or so to keep in fashion, and to present a sophisticated image.

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[slow music]

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And behind the separate refrigerator door, brand new for '57,

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scientifically planned illumination in the interior.

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Not just one light, to light the upper area, but two to give full illumination across the top,

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and then a thid light, to light the lower shelf area.

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Simply take the handy tray and place it in the ice ejector...

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Then pull down on the handle.

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That's all, no pushing, no shoving, simple, effortless.

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The handle does all the work for you.

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Ice cubes in a basket, just like that.

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And cubes always stay separate and free from each other.

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It's new, it's exclusive, for 1957.

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And hows this for convenience?

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The new juice can dispenser that drops a new can in place as soon as you remove one.

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And handy, as convenient, as the frozen food package dispenser alongside.

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Remove one package and another is ready for instant use.

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For more features to demonstrate, it's the Imperial 121 for 1957!

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[music builds up and ends]

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Tim: The modern fridge really is exactly the same as this one.

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It looks a bit different because the pipes and the motor and the compressor

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are now rather more discretely put at the back of the fridge,

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the motor down here and the pipes up the top.

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Here we've cut the pipework circuit out of a modern fridge

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This is the ice-box which is also the evaporator coil. Pressed out of two sheets of aluminium.

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This is the sealed unit that contains the motor and compressor.

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And the hot gas comes out here and it it cooled and condensed back to a liquid in these pipes at the back.

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Well, you can't actually see what's going on inside the evaporator,

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so Rex and I built this model which we've replaced the evaporator by this glass jar

152
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This is the liquid going into the evaporator here.

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[dripping liquid] 

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And it's evaporating inside the jar

155
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And returning to the, returning to the compressor as a gas

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I can feel the jar getting cold,

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and the coils at the back are getting quite hot.

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The flow is controlled by this valve, just like the valve on the carbon dioxide cylinder.

159
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And in fact early fridges had valves just like that.

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But we've been having great trouble to get the setting on the valve right,

161
00:14:10,441 --> 00:14:13,795
it tends to freeze up completely.

162
00:14:13,796 --> 00:14:17,550
In modern fridges the valve has been replaced by a fine capillary tube.

163
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This has the same effect of restricting the flow.

164
00:14:21,302 --> 00:14:26,611
And to stop it freezing up, the tube runs up alongside

165
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the warmed gas coming back down again, into the compressor.

166
00:14:34,464 --> 00:14:40,550
Various gases have been tried as refrigerants, but most were too toxic, corrosive or inflammable.

167
00:14:40,551 --> 00:14:46,563
Carbon dioxide itself is nearly ideal, but it has a rather strange property;

168
00:14:46,564 --> 00:14:51,107
it changes, it sometimes can change directly from a gas to a solid.

169
00:14:51,108 --> 00:14:54,083
Which I think we can show you with this setup here.

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Erm, If we...
[clanking] 

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00:14:58,452 --> 00:15:02,340
Turn it on...
[clank]

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[roaring noise]  [inaudible]

173
00:15:21,529 --> 00:15:26,619
This so-called dry ice is very useful stuff.

174
00:15:26,620 --> 00:15:29,200
It's used for keeping things cold,

175
00:15:29,201 --> 00:15:32,815
and it's also used theatrically, for creating effects of mist.

176
00:15:32,816 --> 00:15:35,525
When it's usually put into hot water.

177
00:15:35,526 --> 00:15:40,916
But it wouldn't be any good as a refrigerant, because the solid could keep blocking up the pipes.

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00:15:46,228 --> 00:15:50,667
Today most refrigerants are fluorocarbons, these are the same as

179
00:15:50,668 --> 00:15:54,248
the chemicals that are used as propellants in aerosol cans.

180
00:15:54,249 --> 00:15:55,549
[crunching noise]

181
00:15:55,620 --> 00:15:59,603
They're ideal, except for the hole they're making in the ozone layer.

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00:15:59,604 --> 00:16:04,254
There are only a few ounces in each fridge, but there are a lot of fridges in the world,

183
00:16:04,255 --> 00:16:07,944
and all the fluorocarbon escapes whenever a fridge is scrapped.

184
00:16:09,284 --> 00:16:13,381
We've cut the weld off this sealed unit so you can see what's inside.

185
00:16:13,382 --> 00:16:15,820
Most of it is really the motor.

186
00:16:16,808 --> 00:16:20,920
It all sits on these three springs which reduce the noise.

187
00:16:20,921 --> 00:16:27,197
It sits in a puddle of oil, so even on an old fridge the whole thing looks almost brand new.

188
00:16:28,171 --> 00:16:33,273
Outside, the motor is connected to a bit of electrical gear.

189
00:16:33,274 --> 00:16:37,108
There's one device which gives the motor an extra kick to start it up,

190
00:16:37,109 --> 00:16:40,017
and another device to stop it if it gets too hot.

191
00:16:40,562 --> 00:16:45,055
The compressor itself is really a little tiny lump that fits on the end.

192
00:16:45,056 --> 00:16:48,640
If I turn the motor round, I think you can see the piston going up and down.

193
00:16:48,641 --> 00:16:55,133
It's all very solidly made, because in the life of the fridge it goes round several thousand million times.

194
00:16:55,134 --> 00:17:00,032
Inside there are too reed valves which let the refrigerant in one side, and out the other.

195
00:17:00,033 --> 00:17:04,190
[motor whines]

196
00:17:04,191 --> 00:17:09,713
On this model, if we start it up, start the compressor going...

197
00:17:09,714 --> 00:17:14,492
[motor]
You can see the piston flies up and down at a fair rate,

198
00:17:14,493 --> 00:17:20,294
and the refrigerant comes in one side, and is pushed out the other side.

199
00:17:20,296 --> 00:17:23,821
[motor]

200
00:17:23,822 --> 00:17:31,020
Fridge compressors have a variety of other uses they're often used for, as compressors for air brushes,

201
00:17:31,021 --> 00:17:37,137
and they're even used by dentists sometimes connected to the pipe that sucks the saliva out of your mouth.

202
00:17:37,964 --> 00:17:41,818
Compressors and compressed air actually have all sorts of uses.

203
00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:51,442
[click] [bang] [hiss]

204
00:17:51,443 --> 00:17:54,371
Rex: This capsule gun works entirely on compressed air

205
00:17:54,372 --> 00:17:59,928
I made it, a few years ago, to simulate bullet hits for a films and TV.

206
00:17:59,929 --> 00:18:05,087
It's by necessity a bit complicated, the mechanism inside is a real plumber's nightmare.

207
00:18:05,088 --> 00:18:09,589
Here you've actually got a reciprocating cylinder, which actually drives the bolt forwards and backwards.

208
00:18:09,590 --> 00:18:15,749
When the charge, the capsule is put inside the breech, and it goes to the full extremity forward,

209
00:18:15,784 --> 00:18:18,669
it fires [hiss] compressed air down the barrel.

210
00:18:18,670 --> 00:18:21,888
It fires, many types of capsule.

211
00:18:21,889 --> 00:18:27,169
This one is a blood capsule and it would simulate a blood hit...

212
00:18:27,170 --> 00:18:32,171
[hiss] ...and of course these little fellows which are actually explosive capsules

213
00:18:32,172 --> 00:18:37,665
 and they give a shower of sparks, and a mild explosion when they hit.
[hiss-BANG!]

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00:18:37,666 --> 00:18:42,735
Tim: Meanwhile back inside the fridge, the compressor is pumping the refrigerant round,

215
00:18:42,736 --> 00:18:46,354
but it still needs something to turn it on and off at the right temperature.

216
00:18:47,287 --> 00:18:52,419
It does this with this fine tube full of a liquid.

217
00:18:52,420 --> 00:18:58,983
The liquid expands as the temperature rises and that pushes out this small bellows at the end.

218
00:19:01,184 --> 00:19:03,151
[click] [click]

219
00:19:03,152 --> 00:19:07,519
I've got one of these thermostat switches set up on the, this model here.

220
00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:13,903
If I hold the end to raise the temperature, um, the bellows will expand,

221
00:19:13,904 --> 00:19:18,543
and at some point the contacts on top will flick over and the compressor will start up.

222
00:19:18,544 --> 00:19:21,126
[clears throat] ...sometimes takes a little while.

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(mutters) Perhaps it's not going to do it?

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[click] [motor]
Ahhh!

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Well of course the thermostat switch also has a dial on it,

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to adjust the temperature that the compressor come on.

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It does this by moving the contact arm.

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The closer the arm to the bellows, the less the bellows has to expand to flick the switch.
[click]

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Thermostat switches have hundreds of uses.

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Wherever something needs turning on or off at a particular temperature.

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[clink clang]
This is a water clock I built a few years ago with a friend.

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On the hour, water is released from a tank on the roof,

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and this starts it all working.
[running water]

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It was important to stop the water freezing on the way down,

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so we fitted this thermostat to turn everything off whenever the temperature falls too low.

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[clanging and running water]

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That completes the basic fridge mechanism,

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but without a thick layer of insulation, all the cold would quickly be lost.

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This fridge has a blanket of fibreglass, just like roof insulation.

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Old fridges used to have massive door handles and massive hinges, that could apply a large closing force.

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And this squashed the rubber seal, all round the door, into contact with the frame.

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To apply enough force, the whole fridge had to be very strongly made.

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Voiceover: An elephant, weighing over 4 tons, wants to stand on top of this new fridgidaire.

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And it must not show any signs of strain under this tremendous load!

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Will it take it?  Can this new fridgidaire stand up under such terrific punishment?

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Those were the questions that flashed through everyone's mind.

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But Look!  Our elephant isn't in doubt.

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And as he cautiously but firmly places each foot on top of the frigidaire

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it is proved, without a question of doubt, that this new frigidaire cabinet

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is a real masterpiece of construction.

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Yes gentlemen, here is a cabinet so sturdy, so strong that

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the door can be opened and closed, while it supports this tremendous load of over 4 tons.

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Tim: In modern fridges, there's a flexible magnetic strip inside the rubber seal.

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You can sometimes see the seal pulling itself against the door frame, just after you've closed the fridge.

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Here we've cut one of these seals out of a modern fridge.

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And I can pull the magnetic strip out...

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And just to prove it's magnetic...
[rattle]

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This has made it unnecessary for fridges to have such massive handles and hinges.

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In fact, the whole casing can now be much less substantial.

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Rex: When I was repairing domestic appliances for a living,

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one of the most common faults I'd come across on fridges, was the ill fitting door seal.

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There's an easy way to check whether the door seal is actually gripping the cabinet or not,

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and that's to drop in a piece of paper...

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Which should be quite a tight, locked, fit.

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Here as you can see, there's a gap.

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Now there's quite an easy way of repairing this, which was rather embarrassing when you was in a customer's house,

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because the first thing to do, was to get the customer out of the kitchen.

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Because the only way to repair it satisfactorily was brute force.

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So you used to very subtly ask them for the guarantee or something like that, so she went away to look at it,

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and then you repaired it, by merely putting your foot against the bottom and pulling like blazes...

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[clunk]
...And you'll find that the door then fits.

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As you can see that's gripped.

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And of course, most people wouldn't like things like that done to their refrigerator.

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Tim: The most inadequate and flimsy parts of a modern fridge must be the doors:

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The plastic cracks up...

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The bottle stays pop out...
[cluck clank]

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And the ice-box door has to take an immense strain every time

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you try and open it when the thing's iced up!

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[clank snap!] 

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In fact, I suspect that broken doors are the most common reason why fridges are thrown away.

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But perhaps I'm being too critical.  A recent Which survey found that

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fridges were about the most reliable of our household machines.

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And certainly every single one of the fridges that we got for this programme,

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from the scrap yard, was still in working condition.

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It has been said that the weakest part of all machines, and computers, is their interface with the outside world.

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And the idea of enclosing all the moving parts of a fridge as a single airtight unit

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has not only stopped all the leaks, but it's also produced a machine that has a quite unusual degree of reliability.

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Just think how many times a year, your fridge has to turn on and off.

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The front of your fridge may be cheap and nasty,

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but I hope the next time you look at the back of your fridge, you'll regard it with suitable admiration.

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[Jazzy music: 'Take 5' - Dave Brubeck]