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March 23, 1942 Life
 [Table of Contents]
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early
technology. See articles from Life magazine,
published 1883-1972. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.
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Servel is not a name that immediately comes to mind (and probably not at all)
when thinking of companies who manufactured refrigerators or any other household
appliances. However, they were rather prominent in the in the early 1940's when
this "Wartime Message" appeared in a 1942 issue of Life magazine. So, too,
was Crosley, a name which lives on today, and
they still make refrigerators (at one time manufactured by Westinghouse). Unique
about Servel refrigerators was that they operated off of natural gas. It might seem
strange that a cooling - even freezing - process can be accomplished via a flame,
but such is the case. In fact, Melanie's parents had a
gas-powered refrigerator and a gas-powered
chest freezer at their house on a mountaintop in West Virginia, where they got free
natural gas from a well a gas company operated from their property. But I digress...
The motivation for posting this piece is that Servel was one of hundreds of American
companies that spent some of their hard-earned their advertising money to promote
the sacrificial efforts of fellow citizens (many of whom were former employees or
relatives of current employees). It was a time when major companies were owned and
run entirely by patriotic Americans.
Servel, Inc. Wartime Message
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Servel Company: A Brief Overview and Historical Context |
High Technology Companies
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Colonel William McCurdy Jr. was a businessman and the founder of the National
Electric Products Company, which later became known as the Servel Corporation. The
company was known for producing a variety of electrical appliances, including refrigerators.
The Servel refrigerator was one of the company's most successful products, and
it was known for its innovative use of natural gas as a coolant. This allowed the
refrigerator to operate without electricity, making it popular in areas where electrical
service was not yet available.
The slogan "Serving Electricity" was used by Servel as a way to promote its products
and highlight the company's commitment to providing reliable and efficient electrical
appliances. It was a clever play on words, as the Servel refrigerator was actually
powered by natural gas, not electricity.
Today, the Servel Corporation is part of the Dometic Group, a global manufacturer
of a wide range of products for the RV, marine, and hospitality industries. However,
the Servel refrigerator continues to be remembered as an important innovation in
the history of electrical appliances.
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AI Technical Trustability Update
While working on an update to my
RF Cafe Espresso Engineering Workbook project to add a couple calculators about
FM sidebands (available soon). The good news is that AI provided excellent VBA code
to generate a set of Bessel function
plots. The bad news is when I asked for a
table
showing at which modulation indices sidebands 0 (carrier) through 5 vanish,
none of the agents got it right. Some were really bad. The AI agents typically explain
their reason and method correctly, then go on to produces bad results. Even after
pointing out errors, subsequent results are still wrong. I do a lot of AI work
and see this often, even with subscribing to professional versions. I ultimately
generated the table myself. There is going to be a lot of inaccurate information
out there based on unverified AI queries, so beware.
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 A Wartime Message to the 2,000,000 owners
of Servel Gas Refrigerators
On April 30th, the last refrigerator for normal civilian use will have rolled
off the lines at Servel - and at every other refrigerator plant in America.
From that day - and until victory is won - every resource and facility of this
industry not already devoted to war production will be geared to all-out manufacture
of these vital materials.
Because automatic refrigerators have come to play such an important part in the
lives of most families, it is natural that this change-over may raise some questions
in people's minds. "Will my present one last?" "Suppose it doesn't?" "Can I still
get service?"
You, as a Servel owner, are familiar with the qualities of the Gas Refrigerator.
You remember your reasons for buying it. You can be assured, therefore, of this:
Your refrigerator is not likely to need repairs.
There are no moving parts in its freezing system. No moving parts means nothing
to wear or cause noise. It means long life.
Besides, the order stopping the manufacture of refrigerators will not reduce
or impair facilities for inspection and service. Servel will continue to cooperate
with Gas Utilities, Distributors and Dealers in servicing Servel Refrigerators.
You can feel confident that your refrigerator will continue to operate - will continue
to provide you and your family with safe food protection and ice cubes.
Today, Gas Companies are also serving you another way. Their home economists
are working hand-in-glove with the government on the National Nutrition Program.
They'll show you how to feed your family better and more economically. Give you
latest information on foods that keep you fit.
Looking beyond today, no one can say for sure what refrigerators are going to
be like when peace returns. No one knows. But this is certain - that there will
be refrigerators - that we'll be making them (and who knows what other modern appliances!)
- and that they'll be finer than ever.
Servel, Inc.
Makers of the Refrigerator That '''Stays Silent ... Lasts Longer"
Posted February 27, 2023
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