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| History Timeline |
| 1930: The Fluorocarbon Boom
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 Frigidaire's Thomas Midgley ends his talk at the 1930 meeting of the American Chemical Society in Atlanta with a dramatic demonstration of R-12 displaying the safety and efficiency of fluorocarbon refrigerants. A year later, R-12 is introduced as a commercial refrigerant. The fluorocarbon industry is born.
DuPont and General Motors combine their resources to form Kinetic Chemicals, Inc. in 1930 at the DuPont Deepwater, New Jersey, plant. Freon® is registered as a trademark for fluorocarbons. A year later, Freon® 12 is being produced in commercial quantities and, because of its inherent safety characteristics, is made available to the entire refrigeration industry. A new age of refrigeration is at hand.
In succeeding years, DuPont introduces a series of commercial Freon® products: R-11, R-114, R-113 and R-22, later to become the basic intermediate for Teflon®, which was accidentally discovered by DuPont chemist Roy Plunkett in 1938.
Air-conditioning expands to restaurants, drug stores and larger retail stores. The first practical room air conditioners for home use appear in the early 30s. The first window air conditioner is introduced by the Thorne Co. in 1932 but is never mass-produced.
GM's Cadillac Division starts work on a vapor compression system with R-12 as its refrigerant. By 1939, a prototype self-contained unit is installed in the Cadillac's trunk. Some buses have already been equipped with self-contained air-conditioning units since the mid-30s, though mostly as test vehicles.
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