Andrew Freeman

Who was Andrew Freeman?

Andrew Freeman, was the inventor of the electric block heater for automobiles.

Freeman first developed a block heater around 1940, and received U.S. Patent #2487326 on 8 November 1949.

He was born in Upham, North Dakota, and attended the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, North Dakota, where he majored in electrical engineering. He was president of Four Star Manufacturing, the company that made the original block heater, and co-founded and managed Minnkota Power Cooperative from 1940 to 1982. He died in Grand Forks.