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Home Tips > Tips By Category > Tips you can implement daily Frederick McKinley Jones had over 60 patents. He also made several innovations for sound equipment for "talkie" movies, but never patented them. Several of his unpatented inventions were duplicated and patented by others, such as the portable x-ray machine. The United States government used his portable air conditioner during World War II to preserve medicines and blood serum. He also received over 40 patents in the field of refrigeration.
His refrigeration unit became the first product of the Thermo King Corporation founded by Joe Numero.
Mr. Jones was the first African American to be awarded with the American National Medal of Technology (awarded posthumously on September 16, 1991).
Frederick Jones was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. Returning from France after serving in World War I, he worked as a garage mechanic. With his experience as a mechanic, he developed a self-starting gasoline motor. His mastery of electronic devices was largely self-taught, through work experience and the inventing process. He arrived in Minnesota in 1912 and soon took a job as a mechanic on a farm in Kittson County owned by James J. Hill.
In the late 1920s, Jones designed a series of devices for the developing movie industry, which adapted silent movie projectors to use talking movie stock. He also developed an apparatus for the movie box-office that delivers tickets and returns change to customers and a snowmobile. Frederick M. Jones was granted more than 40 patents in the field of refrigeration. In 1935 he invented the first automatic refrigeration system for long-haul trucks. Jones' inspiration for the refrigeration unit was a conversation with a truck driver who had lost a shipment of chickens because the trip took too long and the truck's storage compartment overheated.
The system was, in turn, adapted to a variety of other common carriers, including ships and railway cars. The invention eliminated the problem of food spoilage during long shipping times. The ability to provide fresh produce across the United States during the middle of summer or winter changed the American consumer's eating habits. Frederick Jones also developed an air-conditioning unit for military field hospitals and a refrigerator for military field kitchens.
Frederick Jones died February 21, 1961, receiving a total of over 60 patents in his career.
Reference: Minnesota Historical Society
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