Very few people nowadays are still not familiar with the technology that is air conditioning. Almost all the houses in the United States are equipped with air conditioners to stave off that annoying heat when summertime comes around. Probably all the cars in America are equipped with air conditioners. There are not too many facilities left in the country that is not equipped with air cooling machineries which is why there are not too many people who are not yet aware of this technology. But most people don't know how this convenient gadget came to be.
Air conditioning, according to historians, was already a concept being used by the Chinese and the Romans in ancient history. Back in Ancient Rome, engineers fashioned some of the houses to let in aqueduct water within the walls to cool them. In ancient China an inventor named Ding Huane, constructed a rotary fan that was used to cool air. His machine had to be operated manually though which made it uncomfortable for the one operating it. In Persia during medieval times, they used wind towers and cisterns to keep buildings cool during summertime.
There were several accounts of the concept of air conditioning being applied to actually cool infrastructures back in ancient times, but the air conditioning that most people are familiar with today was invented back in 1902 by a man named Willis Haviland Carrier.
Carrier invented the electric air conditioner back in 1902 when he was trying to solve a problem with a publishing company. Sackett-Wilhelm's Publishing Company was looking for a way to improve the process of manufacturing in their factory and the humidity of the place was proving to be a hindrance. Carrier's aim was to lower the humidity and thus improve the working conditions of the employees. By sending air through cold coils, Carrier was able to lower the temperature and control the humidity of the printing plant. His invention was so successful that people started using these machines to cool their own homes too.
The term "air conditioning" didn't come from Carrier though. Stuart W. Cramer, who hailed from Charlotte, North Carolina, was the one who coined the term and he did so when he was looking for ways to increase the moisture in the air in a textile mill. His process of combining moisture with ventilation to change or cool the air brought about the term. Carrier liked the term and incorporated it to his company's name.
Back then, air conditioners used methyl chloride, ammonia and propane which were highly dangerous substances. It was only in 1928, when a man named Thomas Midgley Jr. invented Freon, a chlorofluorocarbon gas, which is present in most air conditioners of today.
Air conditioning has changed the way people live. It is almost impossible to find a house in the US where air conditioners are not being used.
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