The De La Vergne Refrigerating Machine Company.

(New York): (Knickerbocker Press, [1897]. Fifth edition. Octavo. 128 pp. Printed in red and black throughout. Numerous illustrations of the company's machines (Some full page, others vignettes). One fold out plan. Publisher's burgundy cloth with gilt spine and cover lettering. Minor extremity wear but a very good, solid and attractive copy.John C. De La Vergne organized the De La Vergne Refrigeration Machine Co. The original intent was to manufacture refrigeration machines for breweries. His first machine had a 70-ton refrigeration capacity for Burr & Son Co. brewery in New York City. Soon the company was providing refrigeration for most of America’s best known breweries, as well as some overseas. By the 1890s, De La Vergne refrigeration was used by hotels, restaurants, dairies, creameries, chocolate manufacturers, steamships and many more businesses.After De La Vergne died in 1892, the business was taken over by Jacob Ruppert, who was interested in oil engines to meet the demand to power ice-making machines. “The result,” said the 1936 issue of the Baldwin-Southwark Magazine, “was the first commercially successful oil engine in the world.” In 1903, De La Vergne Refrigeration manufactured a 125 HP dual flywheel oil engine for display at the 1904 World’s Fair in St.Louis.