The History of Temperature Controlled Freight: The 1800s
By Seth Newman
The development of temperature controlled shipments goes all the way back to the 1860s. Living in Chicago, Gustavus Swift, a businessman who owned a butchering business, wanted to be able to sell his livestock throughout the United States. Intermodal transportation was picking up during this time and there were a few concepts of temperature controlled boxcars. Problems commonly arose in the early edition of these box cars as they would either tip due to weight being unbalanced, or the meat would spoil because of the poor insulation.
Intermodal Transportation was the first form of temperature controlled shipments, but it came with various issues including boxcars that would tip.
One of the first attempts at a patented insulated box car was J.B. Sutherland’s. As a Detroit engineer, Sutherland came up with the concept of hanging meat on hooks from the ceiling. Unfortunately, this would be a poor way of transporting the meat on rail. When the boxcar would travel around curves at high speeds, the meat would sway to one side of the car often placing all the weight on one side of the car and tipping it over.
After a few development cycles, Swift and an engineer named Andrew Chase found the right combination of ventilation systems, weight and ice to keep the meat from spoiling. In 1878, the duo produced a practical method of shipping meat in a temperature controlled box car. By packing the meat at the bottom of the car to keep the weight from shifting, upgrading the insulation on the walls, and placing the ice near the front of the car to chill the air, Swift and Chase had perfected the transportation of temperature controlled meat.
With the success of their temperature controlled boxcar, Swift was able to transport meat throughout the entire U.S. and Canada transforming into a millionaire overnight. Today, the Swift Bros Company is known as JBS.
Temperature controlled shipments weren’t just exclusive to the meat industry in the 1800s. At the end of the century, temperature controlled fruit shipments were coming into focus. The United Fruit Company started to ship fruit, specifically bananas by reefer ships to the U.S. from Central America. The fruit would be packed through side doors into the vessel, which helped keep the cargo away from bad weather and sunlight.
An early version of a temperature controlled ship from the 1800s. Most temperature controlled shipments were fresh fruit.
The 1800s proved to be an error-and-trial phase for the temperature controlled freight. With the 1900s on the horizon, the mass transportation of frozen goods was just getting started, the automobile just had to be invented first.
If you need a trusted transportation partner in temperature-controlled shipments whether it’s fresh or frozen you can give Ally Logistics a call at 888-466-1024 to speak to a sales representative or fill out a contact form.