We often take air conditioning for granted, as AC is present in most buildings and homes these days. It is interesting to look at how this system became what it is today. Air conditioners were once very unaffordable for middle-class people and took up so much room, that the unit itself needed a room! Luckily, we are living in a time where getting an AC unit installed near Lake of the Ozarks is an easy phone call away! Let’s dive into a brief overview of the history behind how the air conditioner came about.
In the 1940s a Florida doctor, John Gorrie was inventing a cooling remedy to help fight diseases as well as make people feel comfortable. He would take blocks of ice from frozen lakes and streams to cool down hospital rooms. This would quickly get exhausting and is not feasible long-term. He then began experimenting with refrigeration and attempted to build a machine that would make ice using wind-powered sails or steam. A patent was granted in 1851 for his ice-making machine. John was never able to see his invention come to fruition in the marketplace, as his financial backer died. But he did lay the foundation for air conditioning, modern-day.
When was it invented?
There was a humidity problem in a Brooklyn publishing company, that damaged the magazine pages from all of the moisture in the air. Willis Carrier, worked at the Buffalo Forge Company and was given the task of solving this problem. He used cooling coils to humidify the air or dehumidify the air, getting this patented as his “Apparatus for Treating Air.” To humidify the air, he would heat water or dehumidify it by cooling water. He tested his methods with trial and error, eventually perfecting the technology. After finally building a system that could regulate the air, he left Buffalo Forge and started his own company. The air conditioning invention date was 1902 and credited to Carrier.
The term, “air conditioning”
In 1906, Stuart Cramer, was the first to come up with the term “air conditioning.” The first unit to be used in residential homes was installed in 1914. This machine was huge, seven feet high, six feet wide and twenty feet long…almost needing a room for itself. The first air conditioners ran for $10,000 to $50,000 then, now it would be equivalent to $120,000- $600,000.
What followed?
Within two years after Carrier’s invention, in 1904, workers at St. Louis World’s Fair used mechanical refrigeration to cool parts of the Missouri State building that housed fair experiences. The Ac machine cooled 35,000 feet of air per minute and gave people a peek into what this could look like in their homes for comfort. In the same year, theatres started using heating and cooling systems to force air through the floor vents. This did not go well, as the lower areas were way too cold, and the upper area was left with very hot and muggy air.
The Furnace
Benjamin Franklin invented the cast Franklin stove in 1742, that later turned into a furnace. Most homes were heated by wood-burning stoves in 1885. In 1935, the first forced-air furnace was introduced and used an electric fan to circulate the coal-heated air through the ducts. Soon after, gas and oil-fired versions all followed.
Modern Air Conditioners
Since 1947, air conditioners became much more compact and affordable. 43,000 systems were in use by 1947. By the 60s, most homes in the U.S. were built with central air. The electric air conditioner window units were affordable and came down in price.
Air conditioning keeps us cool and comfortable nowadays as well as saves lives. Between 1960 and 2004 heat-related deaths were 80 percent lower than in the previous 59 years.
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