[1] In 1850, Ferdinand's brother Edmond Carré (22 January 1833 – 7 May 1894) developed the first absorption refrigerator, using water and sulphuric acid.

[2] Ferdinand continued Edmond's work on the process and in 1858 developed a machine which used water as the absorbent and ammonia as refrigerant.

His design was based on the gas–vapour system of Australian inventor James Harrison.

It was replaced by systems using the liquid vapor compression cycle.

He also invented the Carré machine, an electrostatic generator used to produce high voltages.