Mobile refrigeration to be honoured on dollar coin
18th October 2025
USA: Mobile Refrigeration and the pioneering efforts of Minneapolis-based company Thermo King are to be honoured on a new $1 coin to be released by the US Mint.
The American Innovation $1 Coin Programme has confirmed four designs for 2026, honouring innovations and/or innovators from Iowa, Wisconsin, California, and Minnesota.
The Minnesota coin features a 1940s-era truck with an early front-mounted refrigeration unit. Symbols on the truck’s side highlight the temperature-sensitive goods whose transport was revolutionised by mobile refrigeration.
Frederick McKinley Jones, who co-founded Minneapolis-based U.S. Thermo Control – later renamed Thermo King – patented the first refrigerated truck in 1939. His improved Model C, introduced in 1941, was mounted on the front of the vehicle, revolutionising the transportation of perishable goods.
Thermo King still maintains its headquarters in Bloomington, Minnesota, just outside of Minneapolis.
The US Mint’s American Innovation coin programme began in 2018 and honours American innovation and significant innovation and pioneering efforts of individuals or groups. It issues $1 coins with designs emblematic of innovation in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the five US territories.
