Thomas Elkins designed a device that helped with the task of preserving perishable foods by way of refrigeration. Elkins patented this refrigerated apparatus on November 4, 1879. and had previously patented a chamber commode in 1872 and a dining, ironing table and quilting frame combined in 1870.

Dr. Thomas Elkins was a pharmacist and respected member of the Albany community. An abolitionist, Thomas Elkins was the secretary of the Vigilance Committee. As the 1830’s drew to a close and the decade of the 1840’s began, committees of citizens were formed all across the north with the intention of protecting fugitive slaves from re-enslavement. As slave catchers sought fugitives vigilance committees provided legal assistance, food, clothing, money, sometimes employment, temporary shelter and assisted fugitives in making their way toward freedom. Albany had a vigilance committee in the early 1840’s and into the 1850’s.

Thomas Elkins was an avid inventor and designed many improvements for everyday items. Living in Albany New York he designed a new refrigeration device, that strangely enough could also be used to store corpses. At the turn of the century, the common way of keeping food cold was by placing items in a large container and surrounding them with large blocks of ice. Unfortunately, the ice generally melted very quickly and the food soon perished. On April 11, 1879 Thomas Elkins received patent number 221,222  for a “Refrigerating Apparatus” for “food or corpses,” which provides a convenient container and method of chilling using the evaporation of water.