Frigidaire
Frigidaire is a major US appliance company owned by Electrolux.
Frigidaire was founded as the Guardian Frigerator Company in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, and developed the first self-contained refrigerator (invented by Nathaniel B. Wales and Alfred Mellowes) in 1916. In 1918 William C. Durant, a founder of General Motors, personally invested in the company, and in 1919 it adopted the name Frigidaire.[1] From 1919 to 1979 the company was owned by General Motors. During that period it was first a subsidiary of Delco-Light, and was later an independent division, based in Dayton, Ohio. In 1979 it was acquired by White Consolidated Industries which also owned Westinghouse appliances. Since 1986 it has been a unit of Electrolux.
The company claims firsts including:
- electric self-contained refrigerator,
- home food freezer,
- room air conditioner,
- 30" electric range,
- coordinated colors for home appliances
Brands now operated by Frigidaire include Kelvinator, White-Westinghouse, Tappan and Gibson.
Trivia
Some older Americans, especially in the South, refer to the refrigerator as "the Frigidaire," regardless of the brand-name (while others use the phrase "icebox") . This usage is also seen elsewhere, for example in Quebec and other French-speaking areas of Canada, France, Serbia, Romania, Israel and Peru.