This is Why I’m Cool: A History of Air Conditioning
posted ago by baron
Since Neolithic man first raised a disapproving glance towards the summer sun, humanity has been locked in an annual battle to stay cool and dry. From rural Malaysia to the streets of Manhattan, heat is the world’s biggest party pooper, and as we struggle with summer’s first heat wave, Quirky would like to give props to a gift that makes it all tolerable. That sweetest of amenities, our proverbial ninth wonder: the air conditioner has brought more joy to the world than candy and Nintendo combined, and it’s only fair that we pay tribute to the brave (and sweaty) inventors who brought it to life.The Earliest AC
The tyranny of heat is nothing new, and it is hardly surprising that humanity began to devise solutions right from the start. Though centuries away from complex mechanics, ancient cultures devised a number of clever ways to keep a room’s temperature low, using the clever application of both air and water circulation. In ancient Rome, wealthy homeowners would reroute water from aqueducts through their walls, which cooled the rooms within. Farther east, the Persians used a similar circulation system called a badgir (also called a windcatcher) that channels wind into interior rooms, cooling by improved circulation.
A modern example of a badgir in Central Iran
The first mechanical solution to heat
didn’t arise about until the second century A.D., when the Chinese
engineer Ding Huan invented the first rotary fan. His design featured
seven ten-foot-wide fans, which provided significant cooling: however,
since it was manually powered, this first design required that at least
one person be thrown under the bus (think of pulling four-hour fan duty
at the family BBQ). Luckily, further advancements made this technology
more efficient, and rotary fans were still a staple product in China a
millenium later.
The Industrial (Cooling) Revolution
While the concept of a rotary fan was toyed with for centuries, the next step in atmospheric comfort didn’t come until 1820, when British scientist Michael Faraday discovered that the evaporation of compressed ammonia could be used to rapidly cool water, allowing for ice to be manufactured anywhere. 22 years later, a physician from Florida named John Gorrie developed a plan to harness this artificial ice as a means of cooling an environment. Not content with placing a bucket of ice in front of a fan, Gorrie imagined a system that could cool a hospital (he believed that warm, fetid air was the cause of many diseases), and later expanded his vision to large, centralized cooling systems that could keep entire cities chilled. However, while Gorrie was able to build a working prototype of his device, he was plagued by financial troubles from the start, and the venture ultimately ended in failure. While there are several theories regarding the reason for the flop —the ice importer Frederic “Ice King” Tudor was rumored to have launched a smear campaign against the device— Gorrie nonetheless died an impoverished man in 1855, and his dream of an air-conditioned life would lie abandoned for the next 50 years.
While the concept of a rotary fan was toyed with for centuries, the next step in atmospheric comfort didn’t come until 1820, when British scientist Michael Faraday discovered that the evaporation of compressed ammonia could be used to rapidly cool water, allowing for ice to be manufactured anywhere. 22 years later, a physician from Florida named John Gorrie developed a plan to harness this artificial ice as a means of cooling an environment. Not content with placing a bucket of ice in front of a fan, Gorrie imagined a system that could cool a hospital (he believed that warm, fetid air was the cause of many diseases), and later expanded his vision to large, centralized cooling systems that could keep entire cities chilled. However, while Gorrie was able to build a working prototype of his device, he was plagued by financial troubles from the start, and the venture ultimately ended in failure. While there are several theories regarding the reason for the flop —the ice importer Frederic “Ice King” Tudor was rumored to have launched a smear campaign against the device— Gorrie nonetheless died an impoverished man in 1855, and his dream of an air-conditioned life would lie abandoned for the next 50 years.
A model of John Gorrie’s first air cooler, which used artificial ice to chill the air in a room
The Great Leap ForwardThe foundation for modern air conditioning was laid in 1902, by an American engineer named Willis Carrier. While working for the Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing and Publishing Company, Carrier was given a very specific task: in order to maintain paper density and ink alignment in their printing rooms, he was asked to design a device that fully regulated both temperature and humidity. Gorrie was familiar with the concept of heating air by running it through warm coils, and theorized that the system would work as well for cooling: by running air through coils filled with cold water, he was able to regulate the air’s temperature, and consequently, the amount of moisture it could hold.
Willis Carrier with the first model of his “Apparatus for Treating Air”
After four years and a biblical amount of hustle, Carrier presented
Sackett-Wilhelms with his patented “Apparatus for Treating Air”,
considered the first true air conditioner for its ability to alter both
cool and humidify/dehumidify. The design worked brilliantly, and Carrier
began to refine his product for the home and automobile, forming the
Carrier Air Conditioning Company of America in 1915 to meet rising
demand. In 1928, the development of Freon provided a safer alternative
to the toxic gases first used in the cooling process, and by the 1950′s
the consumer air conditioner had become a household standard. For anyone
who’s ever experienced a Manhattan summer without the blessing of AC,
the positive impact of this movement knows no measure.Sources:
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