Throughout the summer months you may find yourself increasingly grateful that you have an air conditioning unit for your home so that you and your family can stay cool. As you think about how grateful you are for your air conditioner have you ever taken time to wonder who invented the first air conditioner? Air Supply Heating & Air Conditioning thought it would be fun to go through the history of the air conditioner with you today.
John Gorrie Pioneer of Cooling
For years there was nothing you could do to make your home cooler on hot days. As the temperatures increased during the summer months people would just suffer through the heat. In the 1840s Dr. John Gorrie, an inventor and a physician, started looking into the idea that cooling cities would help with some of the things caused by hot temperatures. Dr. Gorie believed that if they could find a way to cool houses and businesses that people could avoid getting diseases like malaria. He also believed that if patients were more comfortable that they would heal more successfully. Dr. Gorie’s first idea was to use ice to help cool hospital rooms. This would require ice to be shipped to the hospital in Florida that he worked at from frozen lakes and streams in other parts of the United States. This option was extremely expensive and logistically challenging. So he started thinking about options for artificial cooling. He created a machine that could make ice that used a horse, water, and wind-driven sails or steam. He patented this design in 1851. Dr. Gorie’s ideas were never successful because he ran out of money but his ideas did get other people start thinking about the concept.
Who Invented Air Conditioner? Willis Carrier
Willis Carrier was the next person that made notable advances in the arena of artificial cooling. Willis Carrier was a skilled engineer. He worked at a printing plant in New York and was trying to solve an application problem that they were having. He began researching the laws of humidity to help solve the problem. Willis built on some of the concepts from Dr. Gorie and built a system that sent air through coils filled with cold water, cooling the air while at the same time removing moisture to control the humidity in the room. This first machine was invented in 1902. By 1933 Willis Carrier had started the Carrier Air Conditioning Company of America. They sold an air conditioner using a condensing unit that was belt-driven with a blower, mechanical controls, and evaporator coils. Over the years there have been significant advances to the air conditioner but they still use the same basic fundamental principals that Willis Carrier used in his original air conditioning unit.
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Today we live in a world where our air conditioning units are extremely effective and efficient. Scientists have researched different ways to make modern air conditioning units better and better as the years have gone on. Here at Air Supply Heating & Air Conditioning we are definitely grateful for the technology that was invented by Dr. Gorie and Willis Carrier. Contact us for all your air conditioning needs.