Frederick McKinley Jones
By
John C Abercrombie
Frederick McKinley Jones was a prolific inventor. He developed a refrigeration system that revolutionized the entire food industry. He was an ardent learner and studied all of his life despite having limited schooling.
Born May 17, 1893 in Covington, Kentucky to an Irish father, John Jones and an African American mother. For unknown reasons, his mother abandoned her family while Frederick was quite young. This made life difficult as his father was challenged with the responsibility of caring for a small child and holding a job.
His father sent him to live at a local Catholic church because there were no orphanages that would accept a Black child. With the difficulties, this was the best option to see that his son would receive a good education and opportunities for a productive life.
Jones showed an early interest in anything mechanical. He could take almost anything apart and put it back together, often improving the performance in the process. Father Ryan, the Catholic priest encouraged his interest in mechanics.
Because of his keen interest in cars, he would spend as much time as possible tinkering and cleaning the cars of the wealthy parishioners. He was intellectually curious. He was able to understand almost anything mechanical and would ask for help when he did not understand something.
In return for his keep, Frederick helped clean, cook and do maintenance around the church and rectory. Jones had been sent to the church when he was 7 and his father died when he was 9.
Frederick was never happy with the repetitive and boring doctrine of the Catholic school and at the age of 11 ran away and found employment in an automobile garage in Cincinnati. He had been hired to keep the shop clean, but because of his love of mechanical tinkering, observed as much as he could.
His natural ability in mechanics served him well and he was hired as a full-time mechanic at the age of 14. Nobody really knew his true age as he lied to get the job in the first place. At the age of 15, he was a mechanic foreman supervising the entire garage.
With an interest in cars and speed, he also assisted the owner of the garage in building racing cars. Jones wanted to race, but his employer thought he was too young. Frederick thought otherwise and kept going to the racetrack during working hours and ultimately was fired for doing it.
Jones found work in various jobs including steamship, furnace and farm machinery repair all while continuing to work on automobiles.
While working on a boiler in a hotel, a guest was so impressed at his work that he offered him a job working on the family’s 50,000-acre farm in Hallock, Minnesota. Jones called Hallock home for 20 years, leaving only for WWI.
Jones took a correspondence course in electrical engineering in his spare time. Jones liked the area around Hallock and was quoted as saying “… it was a place where a man was judged more on his character and ability than on the color of his skin.”
During WWI Jones had been assigned to an all-Black unit, but because of his tremendous skill set he was in demand for electrical and mechanical work. He was in charge of maintaining communications systems at the military front. He even repaired X-ray machines and worked on complex electrical wiring. He taught night classes to soldiers on the subject of electrical circuitry and was promoted to Sergeant, an extremely high rank for a Black serviceman.
After the war, he returned to Hallock and worked as the town’s movie projectionist. When talking movies became popular, he upgraded the existing equipment at less cost and better performance than the comparable products on the market. He also built a radio transmitter for the town of Hallock.
Jones work caught the eye of Joseph A Numero who headed a Cinema Supply company. Numero employed Jones to improve the quality of the sound equipment the company manufactured. While employed there, Jones was granted his first patent June 17, 1939 for a movie ticket dispensing machine that he invented.
While working for Numero, another businessman stated that he needed a refrigerator for
his truck because he was unable to ship food without it. He had no idea that it could be done, however Jones proved up to this seemingly impossible task. A truck was purchased, and Jones did indeed develop a refrigeration unit that could withstand the shock and be mounted on a truck. Jones was granted the patent for the invention July 12, 1940.
With Jones success, Numero sold the Cinema Supply company and formed a partnership with him. They named the company Thermo King Corporation.
Jones had no formal training, but because of his intense self-study, could work with engineers who had university educations. He had no tolerance for shoddy workmanship or incompetence. He lacked patience with others who relied on theory and not on working on the real problem. He was practical rather than theoretical.
The work of Jones revolutionized the food transportation and frozen food industries. It was now possible to transport fresh food, fruits and vegetables over long distances and it was possible to move frozen food whereas before it was only canned food that was available. Seasonable foods became available year-round because they could be transported long distances without spoilage.
This has given us the supermarkets that we enjoy today, with a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, many from countries around the world. This has given us the frozen French fries and fish sticks, something that was not possible in the days before refrigerated transportation.
Before there were refrigerated trucks, ice plants and ice houses where huge 300 pound blocks were required for refrigeration. The area was congested as trucks lined up to be filled with ice.
Jones also developed units for trains, ships and airplanes.
The refrigeration units saved lives during WWII by making it possible to transport food, blood and medical supplies around the world. These units were also adapted to airplane cockpits and ambulance planes as well.
Jones has received many honors for his creative mind and the many patents that he holds.
The first Black member of the American Society of Refrigeration Engineers
Consultant to the United States Department of Defense
Consultant to the United States Bureau of Standards
Inducted into the Minnesota Inventors Hall of Fame.
First Black to receive the National Medal of Technology
Jones’ productive career yielded 61 patents.
40 patents for refrigeration systems
Invented portable X-ray equipment
Invented audio equipment
Improved engines
The condenser microphone was one of Jones inventions that he never patented. It was patented and manufactured by a second party.
The same thing happened with the development of the portable X-ray machine which he invented at the request of a doctor in Hallock. He never patented it and it was patented by a German firm.
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Inventor – Mr. Frederick McKinley Jones
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Frederick McKinley Jones was a brilliant inventor and the first African American to receive the National Medal of Technology. He pioneered the science of refrigeration by designing and creating portable air-cooling units for trucks. These early refrigerators revolutionized food transportation, but more importantly, they helped preserve medicine, blood, and rations during World War II. Readers of this unique play will explore Jones’ life on stage. Historical photographs highlight key points to Jones’ story. Stage directions, costume and prop notes, and character descriptions ensure readers will be able to perform with ease.
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we see in Frederick McKinley Jones a great inventor. He used his imagination and knowledge to change the world. In days past, we relied on ice to keep goods like procuce cool. There were bottlenecks as railroad cars and trucks jamed the ice houe. Today we can enjoy produce from long distances away, even the shipment of vital drugs because of the inventions of Frederick McKinley Jones. You too have the inguenitity to do the same. Believe in your self, start and don’t quit!