In addition to the development of electric refrigerators, gas-fueled refrigerators were also developed. Absorption refrigerators used a natural gas flame to maintain a heat exchange that cooled the food compartment. Albert Einstein was a patentee of designs for absorption units (Smithsonian National Museum of American History, undated). Yet, gas refrigerators were not purchased by as many households as electric refrigerators, and Servel was essentially the only major manufacturer of gas-absorption refrigerators in the U.S. between 1927 to 1956, when it stopped producing refrigerators. The gas refrigerator failed primarily because its development and marketing were not as aggressive and well financed as that of electric refrigerators. In addition, electric utilities were in a growth period between 1920 and 1960, while gas companies tended to be conservative and financially weaker (Cowan, 1983, pp. 142-143). More recently, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced that Servel gas refrigerators still in use are dangerous (https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/1998/CPSC-Warns-That-Old-Servel-Gas-Refrigerators-Still-In-Use-Can-Be-Deadly/).
The 1930 Electrolux ad below describes a key difference in early gas and electric refrigerators--gas refrigerators were quieter because they didn't have noisy compressors. The drawing below shows a Servel gas refrigerator. The colorful drawing at the bottom of this page is a patent drawing signed by Einstein and Szilard. The photo of Einstein at the top of this page was "doctored" by Libertarian Girl (https://www.flickr.com/photos/brookebida/19452443263).
Electrolux. (1930). Advertisment. Good Housekeeping, 90 (1), p. 107
Einstein, A., & Szilard, L., with annotations by P. Brandon Malloy. (2012, October 6). Clarified and annotated version of original Einstein Refrigerator drawing with colors showing phases http://www.google.com/patents?id=t0BRAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA1&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false