Ancient refrigerators

That was easy.

??? THAT page is your idea of a helpful answer? Retorting ?unbelievable!? is a wild understatement.

Offers nothing regarding the innards of the ice makers. Nor addresses the question of whether the inventors were educated in thermodynamic theory.

Indeed, brainlessly typing keywords into Google, then copying URL of pages you didn?t read, is never difficult.

? Rich

You're welcome. What did your research reveal?

In the early days, they cut it out of frozen lakes and rivers and stored it in ice houses insulated with thick layers of hay.

Mechanical refrigeration was developed about 1850, but took a while to become widely commercially available. I think the physics was pretty well understood by that time.

Jon

Electricity? I once lived in a house with no electricity supply. We used a Kerosene fridge. I believe there are also propane fridges.

Usually a deep hole in the ground, often an impressive stone/brick superstructure over over the top, and a trap corridor with doors each end to keep any heat out.

There was also a trade in ice from areas where it was cold.

See

making ice on a commercial scale came well before home fridges - mostly the ice was for the fish and meat trade, but you could buy in blocks of ice for domestic use.

There is a pretty good history here ...