Introduction
The development of modern refrigeration involved French, American and Australian inventors, but it was a Scottish professor and an English chemist who made the key breakthroughs.
IN the early 1800s, Jane Austen could enjoy eating ices and sipping French wine at her wealthy brother’s Godmersham home, courtesy of his ice-house, a brick-lined dome sunk into the ground, in which ice could remain frozen for years. Ice-houses allowed confectioners such as the ‘Pot and Pineapple’ in Berkeley Square, opened in 1757, to sell elaborate, high-quality ices to the gentry who stopped by in their carriages, and supply the best parties and balls.
In 1756, however, one year before the ‘Pineapple’ opened, Glasgow professor William Cullen had demonstrated that evaporating ether would draw heat from water and make ice. Michael Faraday subsequently showed how to compress and evaporate the gas endlessly to maintain steady cooling, allowing Jacob Perkins to patent the first vapour-compression refrigerator on August 14, 1835. A commercial version was demonstrated by Frenchman Ferdinand Carré at the Universal London Exhibition of 1862, and in 1918 American giant Frigidaire began mass-production.* Soon Jane Austen’s treat was on everyone’s table.
The word ‘fridge’ is in fact derived from Frigidaire and not from refrigerator. Early refrigerators were, like vacuum-cleaners, nicknamed after their most prominent manufacturer.
Précis
In Jane Austen’s time, ice cream and frozen treats were available only to those wealthy enough to store winter ice on their estates. Once William Cullen and Michael Faraday had established the principles of refrigeration, however, the technique was gradually developed by inventors from Britain and abroad to become the modern refrigerator, bringing chilled and frozen food to everyone. (59 / 60 words)
In Jane Austen’s time, ice cream and frozen treats were available only to those wealthy enough to store winter ice on their estates. Once William Cullen and Michael Faraday had established the principles of refrigeration, however, the technique was gradually developed by inventors from Britain and abroad to become the modern refrigerator, bringing chilled and frozen food to everyone.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, although, because, besides, or, otherwise, until, who.
Archive
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Maintain. Production. Sip.
2 Draw. Elaborate. Sink.
3 Professor. Wine. Year.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
High Tiles Find in Think and Speak
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
Your Words ()
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