1974 saw the development of the first auto-refreshing desiccant dry box for the consumer market. This device used pre-determined amounts of silica-gel which was periodically refreshed by a heater on a timer circuit.

Further R&D introduced the use of synthetic Zeolite (Molecular Sieves) as a replacement to Silica Gel in 1976.

A patent was awarded in 1982 to a Japanese company for their new design of an ultra-low humidity desiccant dryer. Many future competitive designs would have a number of similarities to this newly patented unit.

In 1987 Texas Instruments (Kyusyu, Japan) works with a leading manufacturer of dry boxes to design the first ultra-low humidity dry cabinet for use within their electronics manufacturing facilities. These cabinets are designed to maintain constant environments of 10%, 3%, and 1% RH, and are installed to protect moisture sensitive devices. Prior to this most dry cabinet applications were either residential/consumer or within the optics industry (to prevent fungal growth).