Frederick McKinley Jones' Story

Frederick McKinley Jones’ interest in engineering and mechanics began at an early age. Born in 1893, he grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. There he worked odd jobs, including one as a janitor in an auto mechanic garage. He worked his way up to foreman of the shop and developed skills in automobile mechanics along the way. He later moved to Minnesota, where he began working as a mechanic and earned an engineering license. After serving in the US Army during World War I, Jones returned to Minnesota to dig deeper into engineering and electronics. After revolutionizing his town’s radio station, Jones was hired by Joseph A. Numero for his expertise in electronic engineering. Jones and Numero later formed a partnership and went on to design and patent a portable air-cooling unit for trucks, which is how Thermo King came to be.