Robbie commented:

>[ You're fortunate that it contained a Freon(tm) refrigerant.
>[ Well into the 1930s it might have been sulfur dioxide (SO2),
>[ with its sickening smell of rotten eggs!

Or ammonia, often used in commercial fridges.  Also, SO2 smells awful,
but it's H2S (hydrogen sulfide) that has the genuine rotten-egg smell.

Peter Neilson