Singing Wheels:  The History of the Fruehauf Trailer Company
  • The Fruehauf Trailer Historical Society - Home
    • The Detroit Historical Museum presents - Fruehauf History
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  • The Internal Struggle for Power
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  • Author's News Blog
    • Ruth Ann Fruehauf Bio
    • Darlene Norman Bio

Fruehauf Reefers

REFRIGERATION TRAILERS
Railroads were using refrigeration in their railcars as early as 1877 and these railcars were built in Detroit. William Davis patented a refrigerator car that employed metal racks to suspend animal carcasses above a frozen mixture of ice and salt. In 1868, he sold the design to George H. Hammond, a Detroit meat packer, who built a set of cars to transport his products to Boston using ice from the Great Lakes for cooling.  August Fruehauf used this technology to adapt a semi-trailer for transporting perishable foodstuffs in the early 1920s.  These units had four- and six-ton capacities and were generally used to haul cans of ice cream.  After the cargo was loaded, a trap door on the roof of the trailer was opened to allow pulverized ice and salt to enter through spouts keeping the cargo cold.  This was later improved creating vents in the front and back of the semi-trailer to allow air in during travel, which was cooled by the ice.  Metal floors were grooved so that melted ice water would be drained out the back.

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We are Social

An organization dedicated to the preservation of the history of Fruehauf Trailer Company and the Fruehauf family legacy.  

​The society has created historical books and a traveling exhibit rich with Fruehauf memorabilia and archival materials. Our next book,  “Fruehauf, the First Name in Transportation” an in-depth analysis of the company’s history will be published soon.
Picture
Copyright © 2013 -20 by 
Ruth A. Fruehauf and Darlene Norman.  
All rights reserved.
Online Store
The Fruehauf Trailer 
Historical Society
PO Box 5008-164
Mariposa, CA 95338

info@singingwheels.com
  • The Fruehauf Trailer Historical Society - Home
    • The Detroit Historical Museum presents - Fruehauf History
  • Bookstore & Gift shop
  • Classic Trailer Types
  • Company History early years
  • Company History - Later years
  • Fruehauf Inventions and Patent List
  • Military Defense Vehicles
  • The Fruehauf Family
  • Who Really Invented the Shipping Container?
  • What Happened to the Fruehauf Trailer Company?
  • The Internal Struggle for Power
  • Singing Wheels and other movies
  • Author's News Blog
    • Ruth Ann Fruehauf Bio
    • Darlene Norman Bio