Fermentation cellar of a brewery with
natural convection cooling. |
After Linde and his friends in the breweries had developed a reliable and economic refrigeration system, it was time for him to pursue a larger customer group. Linde did so in partnership with his licensees, Maschinenfabrik Augsburg and the Swiss company Gebrüder Sulzer, as well as sales representatives Satre & Averly in Lyon, Carels Frères in Ghent, Belgium, and Morton in Great Britain. |
They found open doors with many European brewers: Since there was always a shortage of natural ice during in warm winters for fermentation and cooling the cellars, Linde’s powerful refrigeration machines quickly generated strong interest. In addition to the ice machines, von Linde soon also supplied equipment to automate and streamline the efficiency of the cooling process, thus saving strenuous manual labour. Finally, he was able to produce the crystal-clear artificial ice preferred by his customers.
Even before the founding of the "Gesellschaft für Linde’s Eismaschinen Aktiengesellschaft", von Linde had already delivered 20 refrigeration systems in Europe. In 1878, the professor decided to concentrate on commercially refining and marketing his refrigeration machines. In order to do so, he had to leave a stable job in the civil service.
His negotiations with Karl Lang, the technical adviser and supervisory board member of many Rhineland breweries, were a decisive factor in this decision. In 1878 he advised Carl von Linde to give up teaching and take up a position as head of his own company.