Baltzar Von Platen (inventor)

Baltzar Von Platen (inventor)

Baltzar von Platen (1898–1984), together with Carl Munters, was the inventor of the gas absorption refrigerator in 1922 while they were both Swedish engineering students at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. The technique produced "cold" from a heat source such as propane, electricity, or kerosene. In 1923 production by AB Arctic began. In 1925 AB Arctic was purchased by Electrolux, which began selling them worldwide. Servel purchased rights to manufacture the refrigerator in 1925 and was the only U.S. manufacturer for many years. Von Platen was awarded the Franklin Institute's John Price Wetherill Medal in 1932.

Baltzar von Platen also worked with ASEA, Sweden's major electrical company, on the development of a process which used heat and pressure to produce diamonds. Von Platen left the project before it succeeded in producing the first synthetic diamonds in 1953.