We know it, we love it. But just who invented the wonderfulness of air conditioning?
The twentieth century had just begun. Willis Carrier, an engineer from snowy Angola, New York, had recently graduated from Cornell University. In his first few years in the work force, he had taken a job with a heating company, putting to use his master’s degree in mechanical engineering. This heating company built and implemented commercial heating systems, which would keep perishable goods dry. Coffee, and other commodities susceptible to rot and moisture damage, would be blow-dried, essentially. They would use heat to assist with keeping their supplies sellable.
One of the company’s clients was a printmaking shop in Brooklyn. This shop would heat their prints to dry the inks. The shop was having difficulty due to Brooklyn’s humidity – their printing inks were running and bleeding, making the prints smeary.
Young Willis visited the printing shop and took huge amounts of data. His data tables helped him suggest improvements to the heaters, and soon the company promoted him to head up their Experimental Engineering department.
His continued work with this printing shop led to the development of a mechanical humidity controller. This controller would send the humid Brooklyn air through a filter, and then through coils which held a coolant. These coils would help remove humidity from the air, and soon, those printing inks stopped getting smeared.
In South Carolina, a cotton mill began using this mechanical humidity controller to cool off the super-hot spindles in the mill. And then, in 1902, Willis Carrier patented his air conditioner. Thirteen years later, he founded the Carrier Engineering Corporation. More than a century after its founding, the company continues to thrive.
We Know Cincinnati Air Conditioning
Pinnacle Air Solutions knows Cincinnati air conditioning. We provide AC maintenance, repair and replacement. To reach us for a free AC consultation, please fill out our online contact form or call our Cincinnati office at 513.984.HEAT (4328).