How did refrigeration work before electricity was widespread?

Question

I’m curious about the really old ice boxes, but I was really wondering about the ones from the 1800s that relied on coolant and some form of evaporation.

I can’t really picture how old is physics work without electricity.

In: 47

Answer 1

A couple points to be made here.

Really old school ice boxes were literally just a box you’d put ice in. They’d harvest and store ice over the winter and deliver it to customers.

Nothing about refrigeration requires electricity. You can power a fridge with propane, a waterwheel, compressed air etc.