 | |
| Company type | subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Major appliances, small appliances |
| Founded | 1918 (as Guardian Frigerator Company) Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S. |
| Headquarters | Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S. |
Key people | Keith McLoughlin (CEO) |
| Products | Clothes washers and dryers, refrigerators, freezers, dishwashers, ranges, room air conditioners, dehumidifiers, and microwave ovens |
| Parent | Electrolux |
| Website | www |
Frigidaire Appliance Company is the American consumer and commercial home appliances brand subsidiary of multinational company Electrolux,[1][2][3][4] a Swedish multinational home appliance manufacturer, headquartered in Stockholm.
Frigidaire was founded as the Guardian Frigerator Company in Fort 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.[5]
The brand was so well known in the refrigeration field in the early-to-mid-1900s, that many Americans called any refrigerator a Frigidaire regardless of brand.[6] In France, Canada, and some other French-speaking countries or areas, the word Frigidaire is often in use as a synonym today, and in transcribed form in Serbo-Croatian also ("frižider", "фрижидер"). Although the alliterative names Frigidaire or its antecedent Frigerator suggest an origin of the widely used English word fridge, it is simply a contraction of refrigerator, a word in use since 1611.[7][8][9]
From 1919 to 1979, the company was owned by General Motors. During that period, it was first a subsidiary of Delco-Light[10] and was later an independent division based in Dayton, Ohio. The division also manufactured air conditioning compressors for GM cars. While the company was owned by General Motors, its logo featured the phrase "Product of General Motors", and later renamed to "Home Environment Division of General Motors".
Frigidaire was sold to the White Consolidated Industries in 1979, which in 1986 was purchased by Electrolux, its current parent.
The company claims firsts including:
- Electric self-contained refrigerator (September, 1918 in Detroit)[11]
- Home food freezer[citation needed]
- Room air conditioner[citation needed]
- 30" electric range[citation needed]
- Coordinated colors for home appliances
- ^ "Google Maps". Google Maps. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
- ^ "Electrolux Group". Electrolux IT Solutions AB. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
- ^ "Electrolux · 10200 David Taylor Dr, Charlotte, NC 28262". Electrolux · 10200 David Taylor Dr, Charlotte, NC 28262. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
- ^ "Google Maps". Google Maps. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
- ^ Cross, Mary (2002). A Century of American Icons: 100 Products and Slogans from the 20th-Century Consumer Culture. Greenwood Press. pp. 54–55. ISBN 978-0313314810. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
- ^ [The Frigidaire Story, GM Heritage Center]
- ^ Merriam Webster Dictionary
- ^ Online Etymology Dictionary
- ^ Dictionary.com
- ^ "Delco Lofts". Crawford Hoying. Retrieved 2024-05-17.
- ^ "Wright State University" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-01-06. Retrieved 2009-07-14.