Inventor and Seattle businessman Harvey F. “Sandy” Swenson was born in 1910 in Omaha, Nebraska. He attended college for a short time in Nebraska, but was primarily self-educated. He came to Seattle to manage a floor-polishing firm, where he modified a polisher motor to run a soft ice cream machine. He founded Sweden Freezer Manufacturing Company in 1932, eventually expanding the business to include plants in England, Canada, Japan and Holland. Harvey Swenson is credited with inventing the milk shake machine.
In 1948, the University of Washington granted Harvey Swenson a license to practice electrical engineering in the state of Washington. In 1962, Sweden Freezer Manufacturing Company attracted the attention of Dr. Belding Scribner of the University of Washington, who was developing the first home kidney dialysis machine. The University needed to partner with a private manufacturing company to produce the new dialysis machines. The components had to be high quality, sanitary, metal, and equipped with electronics, very similar to the soft ice cream machines made by Sweden Freezer Company. Harvey Swenson worked closely with Dr. Scribner to form a new division called Seattle Artificial Kidney Supply Company. In 1962, the first outpatient dialysis treatment center opened in Seattle, now known as Northwest Kidney Centers. Sweden Freezer Company manufactured several hundred dialysis machines a year during the 1960s.
In 1976, Sweden Freezer Company sold its medical division and Harvey Swenson entered real estate management. He found creative uses for the miles of surgical tubing left over from making dialysis machines. He wove it into lattice railings for his deck, spliced it into a drip irrigation system and inflated it to float crab pots near his Whidbey Island home. Ironically, late in life he was diagnosed with a medical condition that caused his kidneys to fail, and he needed dialysis treatments in Seattle. Harvey Swenson died on September 15, 1996 at age 86. After his death, his son Daniel Swenson continued to manage the real estate firm started by his father.
The collection includes detailed service manuals for specific models of soft ice cream and milk shake dispensing equipment. Marketing and advertising records include product catalogs, sales kits, statistics and detailed profit and loss calculations for soft ice cream and frozen carbonated drink machines. The 16 mm promotional film, “Ice Cream: Past, Present and Future” was produced by Sweden Freezer Company. Photographs include images of Sweden soft ice cream and milk shake machines installed in school cafeterias, cafes and restaurants.
View selections from the collection in digital format by clicking on the camera icons in the inventory below.
The collection is open to the public by appointment.
The Museum of History & Industry is the owner of the materials in the Sophie Frye Bass Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from MOHAI before any reproduction use. The museum does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.
Daniel T. Swenson Collection on the Sweden Freezer Manufacturing Company, Museum of History & Industry, Seattle
Gift of the estate of Daniel T. Swenson; received in 2009.
These materials are part of a donation that also included Sweden kidney dialysis machines, an ice cream machine and a Sweden 217 Shakemaker. These artifacts are cataloged and stored separately by MOHAI's Collections Department.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.
All manuals include drawings and specifications.
Refrigeration Service Engineers Society, Des Plaines, Illinois
Refrigeration Service Engineers Society, Des Plaines, Illinois
Includes a feature article on the development of the Seattle Artificial Kidney Supply Division.
Sales and marketing flyer
Sales and marketing flyer
Sales and marketing flyer
Sales and marketing flyer
Sales bulletins, photographs and ephemera
Products and specifications
Sales bulletins, includes specifications and estimated profit and loss schedules
Detailed cost and profit comparisons for soft and hard ice cream, sales manual, specifications, 2 photographs of Sweden softserve machines behind restaurant counter
Marketing study, includes 9 photographs of school cafeteria services and students waiting in line for ice cream products
Promotional 16 mm film produced by Sweden Freezer Company.