Air Conditioning

A Cool History

Humanity's first trials to improve air condition were simple. Possibly the very first form of air conditioning was the use of a cave for shelter. In summer, the cave provided a cooler environment than the strong sun and heat of the outdoors. Forced cooling took longer to develop.

A primitive form of air conditioning was recorded as far back as when ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and eastern Indian peoples observed that hot, dry breezes became cool and moist when moved through damp mats or over porous containers of water. Roman emperors cooled their gardens with snow brought down from mountains. Snow was also used in Baghdad in the 8th century to cool the air in the Caliph's residence, where spaces between walls were packed with it. In the early part of the 8th century, Japan improved the fan with pleats.

The work of experimental scientists contributed to the many pieces of modern, mechanical air conditioning. From Galileo Galilei's air-and-water thermoscope invention in 1592, to thermodynamic discoveries continuing through the 1800s, inventions primarily led to work with mechanical heat. However, innovation efforts soon began to focus more on refrigeration.

In 1851, Dr. John Gorrie, a physician in Florida, patented his refrigerating machine that lowered the temperature and humidity of air. Gorrie believed that cooling and drying the excessively hot and humid air, typical of the climate of the southeastern United States in summer, would improve the health of local inhabitants.

By the 1880s, mechanical refrigeration, or “manufactured air,” was used commercially by cold storage, ice-making, brewing, dairy, and meatpacking companies. Another key technology that played an important part in conditioning the air of large spaces was the power plant. In 1882, the first electric power plant in New York provided an inexpensive source of energy for commercial and residential [Page 22]customers. Air conditioning would remain a commercial commodity until the next century.

Air circulation was also improved with the electric fan. The first commercial electric fan was manufactured by Crocker and Curtis Electric Motor Company in 1882. In 1908, the first oscillating fan came on the market. Electric fans quickly became popular in office buildings. In 1902, Willis Carrier, a mechanical engineer with the Buffalo Forge Company of Buffalo, New York, developed a spray-type temperature and humidity control. This and other innovations and improvements he developed led to his title, “the father of air conditioning.”

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