1947

The Cart Before The Horse The following article ran in the April 14, 1947 News:

Drive-In Service Accents Frozen Horse Meat

VAN NUYS, CALIF. — Van Nuys Grain & Feed Co. here which operates a “drive-in service” for poultry ranchers, pet fanciers, dog kennels, and truck growers* has installed a huge refrigerated display case which makes it convenient for customers to buy large amounts of frozen horsemeat for dog food without getting out of their cars.

The refrigerator, a six-compartment, reach-in type, is located to the right of a triangular driveway. Customers may drive directly to the refrigerator, give their order to helpers stationed at a convenient pair of scales, and the quick-frozen meat is loaded into the car or truck.

[*Truck growers are farmers who would grow enough produce to put it in their truck and peddle it.]

1962

Some Things Never Change George S. Jones Jr., Air-Conditioning & Refrigeration Insti-tute’s (ARI’s) managing director in 1962, announced a training program meant to turn out “sorely needed service and maintenance personnel” in the refrigeration and air conditioning field. The training program was authorized in order to satisfy the need for more trained service, maintenance, and installation workers throughout the United States.

The training director named was Charles J. McKeone, who had instituted a model program for Syracuse, NY, schools. In the program developed in Syracuse, the courses were taught during the day to high school students training to enter the field directly. Nighttime courses were also available for those already in that line of work.

Either or both types of classes were made available to schools that wanted to add refrigeration and air conditioning to their curricula.

1992

Nothing Like Homemade With the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Air Act and no-vent rule coming later in 1992, people found their own ways of coping with the situation. One man turned the situation to his own advantage.

Ed Bas reported on a man who built his own refrigerant recovery machine in the April 13, 1992 News. Bruce Maness built his device “mainly out of junk parts and things that everyone has around their scrap heap,” he said.

Maness had been recovering refrigerant for two or three years by the time the original article was published, and was hoping to copyright his plans and make this available to other contractors, so they could build the device themselves.

Publication date: 04/09/2001