Even Einstein thought we were cool

Baltzar von Platen and Carl Munters are two young Swedish engineering students with a crazy idea. They are convinced the best way to create a cooling effect is to use heat. They believe so wholeheartedly in the idea that they regularly skipped class to work on it. Finally, after many long days and even longer nights, they manage to design a cooling cabinet with no compressor, no moving parts – and no ice. Simply by applying heat to a boiler, a cooling agent circulates in the system, absorbing the heat and thereby creating a cooling effect.
Their cabinet turns out to be the world’s first refrigerator.

The cabinet is granted a patent. Even the great Albert Einstein is impressed, calling their invention a stroke of genius. In the same year, Arctic, an appropriately named Swedish company, acquires the manufacturing rights.

It doesn’t take long for Electrolux, a growing appliance company, to see the potential of von Platen’s and Munter’s invention. In 1925, the company acquires Arctic. In the years following World War II, refrigerators find their way into every middle-class home. Sales are in the millions of units.

In the 1950s, Electrolux starts to make inroads into the leisure market – especially in America, which is riding a massive post-war boom. To strengthen its presence in a growing segment, the company acquires ground-breaking innovations and strong brands whenever and wherever it makes good business sense.

By the end of the 1960’s, Electrolux gives its leisure appliances division a name:
Dometic.

In 2001, Electrolux divests its interests in the leisure market to EQT, a private equity firm. Dometic has to stand on its own feet. Which it does by staying true to its roots and relentlessly developing smart, often award-winning, solutions. As the new century progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that ever more people across the world want to live mobile. For some, like professional truck drivers, it’s business. For the rest, it’s leisure. But they all share essential needs – like cooking, taking care of personal hygiene and maintaining a pleasant temperature. This simple truth provides the foundation for a new concept that captures the Dometic offer: “Mobile living made easy.”

In 2015, Dometic becomes a public company, its shares trading on the Stockholm Stock Exchange.