KELVINATOR MOD KT104/2 YEAR 1966.

The KELVINATOR  MOD  KT104/2  refrigerateur menager classe n has 230dm3 capacity. All parts are original, compressor is a NECCHI M7J with a 165W power displacement, but this fridge  has a broken perimetral antidew line, therefore no cooling (R12  is gone) a must have to be restored (when I have time) Is a great refrigerator even by design that is why it should be preserved.

The KELVINATOR  MOD  KT104/2  is made by KELLY ITALIANA which was at the time the KELVINATOR Italian division which was extint in 1972 by aquisition of Italian Candy group............................


 Kelvinator is an appliance brand. It takes its name from William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, who developed the concept of absolute zero and for whom the Kelvin temperature scale is named. The name was thought appropriate for a company that manufactured ice-boxes and domestic refrigerators.

Kelvinator was founded in 1914, in Detroit, Michigan, United States by engineer Nathaniel B. Wales who introduced his idea for a practical electric refrigeration unit for the home to Edmund Copeland and Arnold Goss.

Wales, a young inventor, secured financial backing from Arnold Goss, then secretary of the Buick Automobile company, to develop the first household mechanical refrigerators to be marketed under the name "Electro-Automatic Refrigerating Company." After producing a number of experimental models, Wales selected one for manufacturing.

In February 1916, the name of the company was changed to "Kelvinator Company" in honor of British physicist, Lord Kelvin, the discoverer of absolute zero. Kelvinator was among some two dozen home refrigerators introduced to the U.S. market in 1916. In 1918 Kelvinator introduced the first refrigerator with any type of automatic control.

Frustrated by iceboxes, the Grand Rapids Refrigerator Company introduced a porcelain lined "Leonard Cleanable" ice cabinet.[4] Kelvinator began buying Leonard's boxes for its electric refrigerated models. By 1923, the Kelvinator Company held 80 percent of the market for electric refrigerators.

On July 3, 1925, Kelvinator bought Nizer Corporation in a tri-party merger valued at $20,000,000.

In 1926, the company acquired Leonard, which had been founded in 1881. Kelvinator concentrated its entire appliance production at the Grand Rapids factory in 1928.[4] That year, George W. Mason assumed control of Kelvinator. Under his leadership the company lowered its costs while increasing market share through 1936.

In 1926, Kelvinator Limited, England, was started in London. From simple merchandising of the products of the American factories it grew until it was producing much of its own equipment for the British market. In 1946, it was considered that the time was ripe for this unit to expand and be self-contained in its manufacture of Kelvinator Equipment, and the London manufacturing activities were moved to Crewe and greatly expanded with a further 19,000 square metres (200,000 sq ft) of floor space. The Crewe factory was shared with Rolls-Royce Motors, but burned down in the 1950s and was replaced by a brand new facility in Bromborough, Cheshire.

Italian manufacturer Candy bought the operation in 1979 together with the use of the Kelvinator brand name in the UK and produced both Candy and Kelvinator products until it closed around 2000.

In 2005, Carrier sold the Kelvinator division to National Refrigeration of Honea Path, South Carolina. The company manufactured Kelvinator bunkers, dipping cabinets, blast chillers, reach-ins, and low- and medium-temperature merchandisers.

The Kelvinator brand exists in Argentina for a wide variety of appliances marketed by Radio Victoria Fueguina in Tierra del Fuego. The factory is in this province.

Likewise, the Kelvinator brand of refrigerators has continuously been marketed in the Philippines since 1960s by Concepcion Industries, a local maker of air conditioning equipment and refrigerators, including other notable brands: Carrier and Condura.

The founders of Kelvinator were among the very first to introduce electric refrigeration to the United States.  In 1914, engineer Nathaniel Wales introduced his idea for a practical electric refrigeration unit for the home to Edmund Copeland and Arnold Goss.   With their help, Wales built and distributed his refrigerating mechanism with great success.  Two years later, they changed their company name to Kelvinator in honor of the brilliant British physicist, Lord Kelvin.

Since that time, Kelvinator has been credited with introducing many ”firsts” and has experienced numerous changes as well..

1925: Kelvinator introduces the industry’s first self-contained refrigeration unit with cooling system, compressor and condenser in one cabinet.

1926: Kelvinator establishes international branches in the United Kingdom and Canada.

1931:  The international branches of the Kelvinator Company are so successful that during this year more products are sold in the international branches than in the United States.

1934: Kelvinator introduced the world’s first two-door household refrigerator.

1936: Room air conditioners are added to the line.

1937: Kelvinator is purchased by the Nash Company, an automotive manufacturer.

1939: Kelvinator introduced the first across-the-top freezer on a refrigerator.

1947: Kelvinator introduced the first two-door refrigerator with two separate cold zones.

1952: Nash merges with Studebaker to form the American Motors Corporation(AMC).  Kelvinator remains a part of AMC.

1954: Electric range with disposable oven liner introduced.

1955: Kelvinator introduced the first side-by-side refrigerator, called the Foodarama.

1960: Kelvinator introduced the first all foamed-in-place refrigerator.

1965: Kelvinator introduced the first uniquely designed refrigerators for the kitchen and recreation room, called the “Kelvinator Originals”.

1966: Illuminated visual ice cream cabinet introduced.

1968: Self-cleaning electric range introduced, with automatic lock on oven door.

The Kelvinator Company is sold by AMC to White Consolidated Industries(WCI).

1970:  Electric range with automatic basting introduced.

1986: WCI is purchased by A.B. Electrolux of Sweden.

1987: Kelvinator International relocates to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

1996: All U.S. Manufacturing facilities are ISO 9000-certified.

1999: Kelvinator’s freezer factory still produces 70 percent of freezers manufactured in
the U.S.

2001: Kelvinator introduced Home Smart Refrigerators, a totally re-designed and     engineered line of refrigerators.

2004: Kelvinator introduced a line of 60cm deep Built-in Refrigerators. Also, the BIG FAMILY Pair was introduced. An All Refrigerator and Up-right Freezer paired together for 946 liters of storage capacity.

2005: All U.S. Manufacturing facilities are ISO 14001-certified.
2006: Kelvinator introduced a 390 liter Frost Free Chest Freezer.

HISTORY OF NECCHI. - Necchi was formed by a Family of  Lombard entrepreneurs, whose business was developed by Ambrose, born in Pavia January 2, 1860 by Joseph and Teresa Besozzi.

The father, since the first half of the nineteenth century, had started a craft and commercial production and sale of iron, branches and the like. In 1865 the company was established at the home of the family, located in so-called saints Bodies of Pavia, near the Castello Sforzesco. After a slow development in the beginning of the eighties it was possible a first extension of the business and the building, which, over the decades, he added, a mechanical workshop with adjoining foundry for iron castings. In 1892 the plant employed 85 workers and was renowned for the production of iron bridges, sheds, machinery and agricultural implements, which were then market in the agricultural district of Pavia. Three years later there was a further enlargement: the Necchi bought a building, opposite to that in which it was held until then the activity, and in 1896 put in place an extension of the first factory, to build a new foundry.

Ambrose, who at that time was beginning to support his father, he designed a few years later a further increase in the scale of activities and, to this end, he began by seeking an area on which to build a new plant.

After negotiations with the Municipality of Pavia, through which he obtained a reduction in the duty on coke, he chose to build the new building along the road leading to Abbiategrasso. In 1904, the far western suburbs of the city, near the train station was built an industrial complex that in a few years would gradually engulfed the buildings of two other local companies: the Gaslini-Rizzo and the rice mill Traverso-Noah.

The new plant, called the "Junction" because of its direct connection with the railway network, was equipped with two melting furnaces that powered the production of radiators for radiators; three years later, in late 1907 and early 1908, Ambrose - now firmly at the helm of the family - bought a new plot of land by the municipality, willing to give areas of public property for industrial purposes. So it was that at the beginning of 1908, what had now become the Company limited foundries Ambrogio Necchi could expand its manufacturing capacity by expanding and adapting the existing plant and the former Foundry Torti ing. G. Callegari production of enameled bathtubs and cookers.

In the same years, which proves the importance of the family in society bunting, closed the plant started in mid-nineteenth century, was built in its place a Liberty-style villa, which became from that moment the family residence. The closure of the old factory did not mean a reduction in activity. As evidenced by the limited data on the number of employees in all establishments Necchi, if at the end of the nineteenth century the attendants were just under 300 at the beginning of the second decade of the twentieth century exceeded the thousand. Between 1908 and 1911 in two new plants, albeit with slight seasonal variations, he worked a number of workers between 900 and 1150.

For the purposes of the subsequent development company dirimenti were two choices made by Ambrose: the decision to diversify its activities, which allowed the company to deal with multi-level competition from other foundries operating in the domestic market, and the option in favor of the production malleable iron, made in the first factory opened outside of the Body saints, a product that for many years have been the strength of the foundry Necchi.

This was a particular type of cast iron, characterized in that the alloy of iron and carbon from which it is costituta, decomposing after solidification, it is particularly elastic and ductile, and therefore particularly suitable for use in many mechanical production, which does not for the case soon became the company's customers bunting.

That the strategy adopted by Ambrose - which on 1 December 1912 he was conferred the honor of Knight of the work - was winning was confirmed, a few years before the outbreak of the Great War, the last expansion. At the beginning of the second decade the Municipality of Pavia had in fact treated with the military authorities the acquisition of the parade ground, a large area located on the northern outskirts of the city, to direct it to industrial uses. After purchasing the area the municipality itself had opened a second round of negotiations to transfer the land plots to companies that had requested and among them an important role was certainly the foundry Necchi, who in 1913 - at the end of the negotiations - managed to secure more than a third of the 120,000 m2 that constituted the area. In the summer of 1915 he joined the company in their possession and started the construction of a new plant, completed two years later and went into production during 1919.

The war did mark a setback in expanding business, because of the difficulties arising from the conflict itself and the subsequent economic depression that swept across the province of Pavia, but also for the events that affected the family. In one of the most difficult periods, while part of the production was converted to support the war effort, in accordance with the provisions of R. decree June 26, 1915 n. 993 - that granted to the government, through the institution of industrial mobilization, may impose directives to private industry for waste facilities and productions and sottoporne to military jurisdiction staff - Ambrose died suddenly in Pavia April 19, 1916, to only 56 years, leaving the company in the hands of his wife and children Vittorio Emilia Carcano, and Luigia Nedda.

This set the stage for a decisive reorganization of productive activities, of which he was the protagonist's son Victor, born in Pavia November 21, 1898. After attending the local high school, he enrolled in law school but the untimely death of his father and the call to arms not allowed him to complete his studies (however, received an honorary doctorate in physics from the University of Pavia in 1955). As long as he was assigned to the IX artillery regiment stationed in Pavia, ran in the family business first, then when the regiment was called to the front of the entrusted to a man of his confidence. After his discharge he decided to groped a new production, taking advantage of the wide availability of iron coming from the foundry, and devote themselves to sewing machines use family. In 1919 he founded the then Industrie Riunite Italian with 50 employees, who arrived in 1920 to produce about 2000 sewing machines a year in a new facility specifically dedicated to this production.

After a few years of activity precarious, in a market dominated by the competition of the American Singer and German manufacturers, the company moved toward stability, thanks to the network of national stores created by Vittorio in those years. In 1925 - after having sold the sisters Nedda and Luigia and the latter's husband, Angelo Campiglio, who became president, iron foundries and common enamelling, who went on to form the Fonderie A. and A. Necchi Campiglio - moved production of malleable cast iron and sewing machines to the new headquarters of the Yard. In the same year Industrie Riunite Italian were transformed into Company limited Vittorio Necchi, which Vittorio assumed the presidency.

The production, which stood on the 6120 cars a year, continued to grow, thanks to the new technical director Emilio Cerri - an engineer from the Fiat reorganized on the basis of modern functional criteria the productive sector - and in 1930 the number of machines manufactured went up to 19,669, more than 2,000 of which are exported. In 1930 he joined the company, as CEO, Gino Gastaldi, who had married a sister Lina Ferrari, a few years became the first wife of Necchi.

Gastaldi had to face the difficult business situation caused by the high operating costs due to a policy based solely on direct sales outlets; therefore decided to reorganize the entire network based on concessions provincial and local. The second half of the thirties, despite the restructuring of the sales network and reports all in all good that Vittorio settled with the fascist regime - witnessed by conferring the title of Knight of the work October 27, 1935 and, above all, by the frequent visits of politicians at the hunting family in Gambolò, the so-called "Portalupa ', and at the premises of the company (in 1938 the same Mussolini arrived in Pavia with his wife Rachel) - nevertheless marked a halt in the expansion of the company . The effects of the difficult international situation is translated into a decline in output, also determined by the increased foreign competition, particularly the Singer who had opened its own factory in 1934 in Monza.

After 8 September 1943, the company management, in the face of difficulties of the market and to avoid requisitions, began to hide - in Pavia and in the district - a growing number of sewing machines (over 20,000), which formed after the war a valuable economic resource. At the time, on the other hand, the Necchi now boasted a leading position in the domestic market: it was the highest number of employees, about 1200, and quantity of parts produced. About 40% of the 120,000 sewing machines manufactured in Italy in 1947 came from its plants.

The company, with its four divisions - the foundry, industrial sewing machines, sewing machines and household Cabinetmaking (that produced the furniture on which were then mounted machines) - is already characterized by a discrete degree of integration of the productions. In leading sectors, the foundry and the machines use family, had also reached a good level of quality. The foundry had established itself on the national market for the production of malleable iron; in the field of household sewing machines technical director Cerri had achieved good degree of standardization and organized production according to the technical needs of the product. He also designed and patented over the years Thirty a sewing machine family which, using a transmission system adopted previously only on industrial machines, allowed to sew with a needle that was moved in a zig-zag, useful for attaching buttons, do buttonholes, darning and embroidery; the product was the basis of the international success of the Necchi during the fifties.

Affirmation company also concurred Leon Jolson, the son of an agent Necchi Warsaw's Jewish origins who, to escape Nazi persecution, at the end of the thirties had taken refuge in the United States. At the end of the conflict Jolson filming the activities of representation in New York, contributing its extensive network of agents to the spread of the machines Necchi on the American market. The production in 1948 surpassed the 75,000 sewing machines; of these, thanks in part to the difficulties of German companies in recovering pre-war production levels, approximately 67.24% taken into export: to Argentina (35.50%), the United States (13.33% ), Belgium (5.67%), Brazil (3.62%), Uruguay (2.92%), Denmark (1.16%) and a dozen other countries with lower percentages to ' units.

In 1948, following the disappearance of Cerri, was hired Gino Martinoli, who for more than a decade he served as technical director at Olivetti, only to be taken in the mechanical IRI. The first decision of the new manager, in agreement with the owners and the general direction, was to increase the workforce: the arrival of 800 new units, easily found in the district of Pavia, brought the Necchi in the spring of 1949 to occupy 2034 employees between manufacturing and services. Subsequently, since the release of new staff and unprepared had resulted in a drop in productivity, was started the reorganization of the entire manufacturing process.

Abandoned gradually the multi-storey building in which were placed the productions, we moved to a new section of the plant, the shed F, where they proceeded to reorganize the production flow: from the entrance of raw materials and semi-finished to final assembly, for which was adopted for the first time the assembly. The reorganization involved the purchase of new machinery (thanks to a huge financing plan and economic aid obtained under the Marshall Plan), the rethinking of the corporate structure and its coordination function, new design procedures of sewing machines. The collaboration with Marcello Nizzoli, known by Martinoli in Ivrea some years before, allowed the Necchi to win the Compasso d'oro for design in 1954 with the series BU - Coil Universal Supernova and then in 1957 with the series Mirella.

In the mid-fifties, at the end of the reorganization process, compared to an increase of the workforce (4,500 units), the number of hours required to produce a sewing machine was reduced by over a third, ensuring the dominance Necchi on the domestic market, which held approximately 90% along with the company Singer and Vigorelli, and on that of exports, where the share was 74% of total exports.

These were the years of maximum splendor of the house bunting but, at the end of the decade, began some signs of decline: in fact, the statistics showed quite clearly the impending saturation of the Italian market, while on the international growing competition from new foreign producers, first among all Japanese. Vittorio strongly opposed to any product diversification, at least not until this became indispensable. In 1959 he signed an agreement with Kelvinator to produce licensed compressors for refrigerators. It was a compromise that allowed the company to open up another market, for which possessed the technical skills required, without sacrificing the production of sewing machines. He was created a department compressors and intensified the process of mechanization, with increased levels of automation, which guaranteed to the compressor Necchi a decent reputation among manufacturers of refrigerators.

It was, however, the corporate strategy of long period to present major problems: the compressor was in fact the most technologically advanced part of the refrigerator, the component which determined the main share of the production costs; opt for a work by 'contractors' meant giving the edge that only the production of the entire refrigerator would guarantee. This choice, along with the shrinking market of sewing machines and the decision to establish some 'connected', thus reintroducing direct sales, increased debt levels of the company, that the same Vittorio tried to mitigate, by bringing into play their personal assets.

In 1974, after the death of Joseph Manidi (CEO who replaced Gastaldi mid sixties), in an attempt to revive the fortunes of the company was contacted Giuseppe Luraghi, managers with long experience in the mechanical sector private and public.

Vittorio Necchi died in Milan on 17 November 1975 after a long illness.

With him, who had not had children, ended the industrial dynasty. The lack of interest in the fortunes of the company shown by the sisters was in fact a little later at the origin of the sale thereof.

NECCHI Industry today's is DEAD !




The Electrolux company built and marketed Kelvinator Commercial refrigeration products that included "stainless steel door refrigerators and upright freezers, high performance chest freezers, and glass top ice cream display freezers" designed to NSF and ANSI standards for food service applications.