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Milton Garland: One "Cool" EngineerATLANTA, GA. - What do ice cubes, air conditioning, computers, hockey, antibiotics, organ transplants, space exploration, and fresh fruit have in common? To answer that question, look around you. Almost everywhere you look you will see the positive impact of refrigeration technology. One of the giants of the heating, ventilating, air-conditioning and refrigerating industry is refrigeration engineer and inventor Milton W. Garland. For the past 77 years, he has advanced refrigeration technology through his inventions and his public service. In fact, Garland, who will celebrate his 102nd birthday on August 23, is known throughout the industry as "Mr. Refrigeration." Garland holds 40 patents and is the developer of refrigeration compressors for industrial and commercial use. But, Garland's most recognizable invention was the first "shell" ice maker, which manufactured ice on the outside of four-inch diameter, ten-foot length tubes. His system was more efficient and sanitary than the then-current system of producing ice in galvanized cans. As a result, demand soared for use in chicken processing plants, for cooling milk containers during deliveries, and developing an industrial air conditioning system in a two-mile deep gold mine, which reduced temperatures from 110 degrees to 90 degrees F. At its Centennial Meeting, which was held in January, 1996, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. (ASHRAE), honored Garland, a Fellow and Life Member, as an ASHRAE Centennial Honoree: A Pioneer in Technology. Garland obtained his first experience with refrigeration engineering in the U.S. Navy during World War I. In 1920, he graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, and joined the Frick Company, in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. Over the next half century, he served in the positions of field installation trainee, chief engineer, vice president of engineering, and vice president of technical services. Of his career Garland says, "I wanted to be an engineer ever since I was a little boy. Someway, somehow, I was going to be an engineer." And, now 77 years later, the word "retire" simply isn't in his vocabulary. Since 1967, he has continued to work part time as senior consultant of technical services and patent coordinator at Frick. Garland plays golf once a week, and he is an avid hockey fan. And why not? He helped engineer the refrigeration system for the Hershey Bears' ice rink in Hershey, Pennsylvania. He and his wife, Alice, have been known to drive 140 miles round trip during the winter to see a home game. ### [_private/boilerplate.html]
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National Engineers Week Foundation
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