Who Created the Idea of the Air Conditioner?

Before Air Conditioning

Imagine life in your Anoka home during the summers without the comfort and convenience of modern air conditioning?

Before the invention of the air conditioner, it was difficult to get cool. Ancient Egyptians used to reduce temperatures in their homes by taking wet fabric and placing that over their doorways. The cold water would evaporate into the home which would lead to a reduction in temperatures. The cool mist would be refreshing, at least compared to the scorching desert outside. The Romans used a similar method by using the aqueducts to send water to their houses. Besides fresh water, the cooling property of colder than air water being pumped through the Romans houses helped reduce temperature in the hot temperatures of modern Italy. Benjamin Franklin, in the 1700’s, performed experiments on liquids to reduce temperatures in homes.

Invention of Modern Air Conditioning

Willis Haviland Carrier is credited as having developed the first modern air conditioner. Willis Carrier’s background was in engineering and he developed the idea of using air pushed through coils filled with cold water. This process would push out gusts of cool air into the room and would cool the temperature of the room. Carrier’s goals were to not only decrease the temperature in a room, but he also wanted to decrease the amount of humidity in a room as well. His system did both as the process of pushing air through coils would reduce the amount of humidity in a room as well. In 1906, Carrier was declared as the owner of U.S. Patent 808,897. He also developed a way to control the functions of the air conditioner and received U.S. Patent 1,085,971 on it in 1914. He created a company to put his ideas in action and created the Carrier Engineering Corporation to sell his invention.

Modern Air Conditioner

The air conditioner was considered a luxury item until post-WW II where a reduction in prices allowed for air conditioners to be purchased by more and more people. Cost of parts in the modern air conditioner have gotten lower and lower with improved manufacturing. The air conditioner is in use throughout the world and in many poor countries where decades before it would have been cost prohibitive. Advances in computers have helped air conditioners become more user-friendly with touch screens and other technologies that are used to make the control of the air conditioner easy. In 2016 and in Anoka, the air conditioner is cheap and easy to use.Call Superior Heating and Cooling at (763) 422-1721 for air conditioning service in your Anoka, MN home!