BIG INVENTION
JULY 24, 2021
the invention of air conditioner
The story of how Willis Carrier cool the world for human, literally.
The invention of modern air conditioner occurred on July 17, 1902, when Willis Haviland Carrier designed the first modern air-conditioning system.
Born November 26, 1876, in Angola, New York, Willis Carrier would grow up to solve one of mankind’s most difficult challenges – controlling the indoor environment.
He was a skilled engineer who began experimenting with the laws of humidity control.
Initially his intention was to solve an application problem at a printing plant, Sackett & Wilhelms Lithographing & Printing Company in New York City.
The company had big problem with the muggy summer air, which kept morphing their paper and ruining their prints.
Apparently, Carrier’s machine worked beautifully, controlling the humidity and allowing The New York’s printing company to print without fear of sweaty pages and runny ink.
In 1933, the Carrier Air Conditioning Company of America developed a model that became a standard for air conditioner. The machine using a belt-driven condenser and blower, mechanical controls and evaporator coil.
This mechanism became the model in the growing U.S. marketplace for air-cooling systems.
The Carrier company official website describes, Willis Carrier earned engineering degree from Cornell University in 1901 then he designed the world’s first modern air conditioning system in 1902. Later on he founded Carrier Engineering Corporation in 1915.
Carrier later said that the most important lesson that he ever learned was from his mother. When he had difficulty grasping the concept of fractions his mother taught him by cutting whole apples into various-sized fractional pieces. This lesson taught him the value of intelligent problem-solving.
The “Father of Air Conditioning,” died on October 7, 1950, in New York City. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1985 and named one of TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People of the 20th Century” in 1998.
Today’s modern air conditioners incorporate advancements in vapor compression, diagnostics and controls, electronic sensors, materials and energy efficiency.
However, they are still operating on the same fundamental science as Carrier’s 1933 system. The invention of air conditioner by Carrier had big impacts on mankind activity.
According to the Energy Information Administration, currently some 80% of American households have air conditioners inside their house, mostly central systems.
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