An Overview of the History of Air Conditioning

Ice Is Used to Cool Rooms

The general feeling amongst many in the world is that the air conditioner as we know it was created by inventor Willis Haviland Carrier, but there were many other attempts to cool the air around people prior to his invention in 1902.

Despite Carrier developing the first working air conditioner the process used can be dated back as far as Benjamin Franklin is usually seen as the man who developed the theory of evaporating liquids to freeze water and therefore developing the process of air conditioning in its simplest forms.

HVAC companies understand the processes of cooling air, which many individuals did over the course of history and led to people living in the south of the US developing homemade options with water-soaked sheets hung in front of fans for a simple way of cooling air temperature.

Carrier Develops his Idea

An innovative idea was created by the US Armed Forces for cooling the room used to treat President James Garfield, but despite its success, the large amount of ice used and the death of Garfield left this option on the shelf of air conditioning history.

The air conditioning technology most closely linked to that installed and maintained by HVAC specialists in the 21st century was created in 1902 by Carrier. Carrier developed his device for the publishing company where he worked in a bid to stop the wrinkling of paper and smudging of ink during the hot summers in Brooklyn, New York.

The system saw developed and tweaked by various inventors over the years with the first home unit installed in 1914, but thought to have never been used as the Minneapolis mansion cooled by the system was never lived in.

Modern Developments

Despite the process of air conditioning taking almost the same course over the last century, it has seen developments and increases in use. The single room systems developed and maintained by HVAC professionals around the world came into being in 1931 and quickly followed in the 1970s by whole-home forced air systems.

Choosing between a window and central air systems becomes the major choice for commercial and residential property owners who look to make improvements to their homes and keep them cool throughout the summer.

Keep your Durham HVAC system up to date with a little help from Green Horizon One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning®. Call us at (919) 646-3639 today!