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OHN C. DE LA VERGNE established and incorporated the De La Vergne Refrigerating Machine Company in New York City in 1880. He had been highly successful in the produce business and had an unusually wide acquaintance among brewers. Observing that the breweries were |
York Yankees. To meet the demand for power to drive the ice-making machines, Ruppert became interested in oil engines and the result was the first commercially successful oil engine in the world built by the De La Vergne Company in 1893. This forerunner of the modern Diesel is now on exhibi- tion in the Smithsonian Institute at Washington. De La Vergne obtained sole American rights for |
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using ice to keep the temperature of their ferment- ing rooms constant the year round and to cool their storage cellars, he spent considerable time in study of this condition and as a result began the manu- facture of mechanical refrigeration. The first instal- lation, a machine of 70 tons refrigerating capacity, was in 1880 for Burr Son & Company's brewery in New York. Brewers were quick to grasp the advantages of the ice machines and in the 1880's among De La Vergne's customers were such well known names as P. Ballentine SB Sons, Gottfried Kruger, both of Newark; Louis Bergdoll Brewing Co., and Bergner & Engel of Philadelphia; Adolphus Busch of St. Louis; Budweiser of Brooklyn; Jacob Ruppert of New York; Scheidt, Schlitz, Schmidt, and many others in America and abroad. Business grew very rapidly and in the 90's the use of mechanical refrigeration spread to other industries hitherto using ice. Some of these were artificial ice plants, abbattoirs and packing houses, markets and cold storage houses, hotels and res- taurants, dairies and creameries, chemical works, confectioners and chocolate manufacturers, and steamships. the company passed into the hands of Jacob Ruppert, father of the colorful owner of the New |
the manufacture of this English machine known as the Hornsby - Akroyd Oil Engine. In 1896 the company licensed for the manufacture of Koerting Gas Engines. Two starting innovations for the period were introduced by the company during the last decade of the century, indicating the pioneering versatility of the De La Vergne Company. Prior to 1895 it produced a self-propelled road vehicle called the "De La Vergne Hunting Trap". Using gas for fuel, this early "horseless carriage" attained the then amazing speed of 10 miles per hour. Only one of these automobiles was ever built, however, as the Board could see no market for this product. what was probably the first air conditioner. The company had supplied the old Hippodrome in New York City with an ice-making plant for the skating rink and the idea was conceived of blowing chilled air under the seats of the spectators. It was not a success, however, as the audience objected to hav- ing this part of their anatomy cooled, and blamed the colds they had or caught on this innovation. In 1909 the word "Refrigerating" was omitted from the title of the Corporation and it became the De La Vergne Machine Company. Under the date of September 30th of the same year, the De La |
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