Ray Notgrass: On today’s Exploring History podcast, we’ll talk about a really cool subject–the history of air conditioning.
Titus Anderson: [music in background] Welcome to Exploring History with Ray Notgrass, a production of Notgrass History.
Ray Notgrass: I’m Ray Notgrass. Thanks for listening. Has it been hot where you live this summer? Are you grateful for air conditioning? I’ll bet most of us would answer yes to both questions. I’ve often wondered how people made it before air conditioning existed. My usual conclusion has been that they just endured it, or that since they hadn’t had air conditioning they didn’t know any better. But those answers aren’t really true. People have tried to find relief from the heat for a long time.
Many people have slept outside on a porch or roof or fire escape during hot weather. People have put up awnings over windows to block out the sun. The Roman Colosseum had a large removable awning to shade the seats. The wealthy have had the most options. Sometimes they have had summer homes on the seacoast or in the mountains. And we’ve all seen illustrations of servants fanning royalty with large fans or palm leaves. One attempt at bringing relief was called evaporated water, in which someone blew a fan through a large mat soaked with cold water. It helped a little. It’s true that most people endured because they had to, but some were always trying to find a way to escape the heat.
Heat hasn’t been the issue in the northern United States as it has been in the South, Midwest, and West, but the number of homes and public places without air conditioning has been steadily declining for years. In the late 1800s, in crowded places such as New York City, the heat was insufferable. Many Broadway theaters simply closed for the summer rather than pack people in a small space with no windows or ventilation. People who worked in office buildings and factories with steam-driven machinery did have to endure the heat, and a good number suffered from heat exhaustion. The U.S. Capitol was poorly ventilated, and that made summer sessions of the House and Senate especially trying in hot, swampy Washington, D.C.
In 1736 the English House of Commons installed a 7-foot “blowing wheel” as it was called, a fan that was hand operated by an employee who was called a ventilator. It didn’t help much. The electric fan was patented in 1854. This provided some relief to individuals and small rooms, but there were problems and dangers at first. The fan required electricity, of course, which was not always available. Fans were fairly expensive, and at first they did not have protective cages around the swirling blades, which made for a safety hazard.
People made various attempts at bringing relief from the heat. Most of these involved blowing a fan across large tubs of ice or drilling holes in the floor and putting fans and ice underneath the floor, sometimes with exhaust fans in the ceiling to draw hot air out. Again these were not very effective or efficient, and there was the issue of having enough ice to operate the system. This method required tons of ice, with a theater needing 2 to 4 tons for each performance, and finding a source was also sometimes difficult. For many years people cut large blocks of ice from northern lakes and streams and stored it in warehouses to sell in the summertime, but the ice tended to melt, and so the remaining ice carried a high price tag. The process of artificially producing ice was just beginning during the late 1800s. In fact, John Gorrie patented an ice-making machine in 1851, but he had trouble raising capital and was mocked by people who shipped ice, so his project didn’t go anywhere. In addition, members of the Senate used the openings in the floor as spittoons, which was not very sanitary. The House and Senate each had a Committee on Ventilation, but their efforts, which included tearing out the chamber floors more than once, had limited success.
In 1880 the Madison Square Theater in New York debuted an ice and fan system that worked fairly well, and the play being performed that summer became a must see attraction. One patron observed that he had attended the play 12 times, not so much for the play itself but because the cool air gave such relief from the heat wave the city was enduring.
Cooling with anything but small fans was impractical for private homes. The elaborate systems created for theaters were expensive, labor intensive, and impractical for such small spaces. And then, not everyone was convinced that artificial cooling was a good thing. Some people complained of getting too cold and getting sick from the cold air. There were those who thought people just needed to endure the heat. God made the weather, they said, so who are we to mess with it? Some doctors warned that artificially cooled air would be fatal to men over 60.
One key problem was how to reduce the humidity in the air, otherwise the systems just blew around hot, moist air. This need led to the development of refrigeration coils, coils that were chilled and thus condensed the moisture in the air. The 1893 Chicago World’s Fair featured an exhibit of what it called artificial cold that used refrigeration coils. An expensive system installed in the New York Stock Exchange in 1903 actually worked by using condensation to reduce humidity.
The man who really started the air conditioning industry was Willis Carrier–that name ought to ring a bell. Born in 1876, Carrier graduated from Cornell University with a degree in mechanical engineering. His first major job came in 1902 for a printing company that needed cool, dry air for its machines and paper. Carrier developed a system that used an industrial fan blowing air over coils filled with cold water. The humidity condensed on the coils and the air came through it cooler. By the way, the name for the systems we’re talking about came from an unusual source. About this time, a textile engineer in North Carolina wanted more humidity in his factory to keep threads from breaking. He called the system he was looking for air conditioning, and the name stuck. In 1907 Willis Carrier organized the Carrier Air Conditioning Company of America. In 1913 Carrier installed his first residential system. It was in a 38,000-square-foot mansion, but it was officially a private home. Sadly, the owner died soon after the home was completed; the house then went through a series of owners, and it’s possible that the air conditioning system installed in it was never turned on.
They say necessity is the mother of invention, and two factors in the second decade of the 20th century increased the interest in air conditioning. Motion pictures were beginning during this period, and small theaters called nickelodeons became popular. But the small closed room quickly became very stifling, so ventilation and cooling systems were developed for them. Then the Great War (World War I) came, and munitions factories needed air conditioning to maintain a safe environment.
In 1922 Carrier developed the centrifugal compressor using the refrigerant Dielene. He installed one successfully in a New York theater in 1925. At this point, the air conditioning industry took off. A cool interior would soon be available to great numbers of people. Department stores started installing air conditioning. Radio stations and movie studios created a new need with their enclosed spaces. In 1928 Carrier won the contract to install systems in the U.S. House and Senate.
About this time, railroads were suffering from a loss of ridership because many people had begun traveling by car and airplane. Rail travel was known to be hot and dusty. Rail cars couldn’t handle large, heavy cooling equipment. But in 1930 Carrier installed a centrifugal compressor in a rail car. It was expensive, but the increased ridership that came as a result helped to pay for it.
In the early 1930s, companies such as Frigidaire and General Electric began marketing room air conditioners for homes. Then in 1932 Carrier offered what it called an atmospheric cabinet which used the refrigerant Freon. But this was during the Depression, so interest didn’t exactly take off.
And what about air conditioning for cars? Early models had windshields that would open, which let air blow in but also dirt and insects. Car makers began to install side windows that rolled down. That helped. In 1933 General Motors introduced the Ventipane, a small triangular window at the front of the driver and passenger doors that swung open and supposedly let fresh air in and drew out air from the interior. Having experienced these windows myself, I can say that they helped the driver and passenger some but did little for those in the back seat.
In 1939 the first air conditioner for an automobile debuted. The equipment was in the trunk, and the vent was mounted above the back seat. Unfortunately, it tended to drip on the rider sitting right in front of it. There were few takers for car air conditioning at first.
But during the 1930s, air conditioning came to be expected in office buildings, both installed in new ones and retrofitted into existing structures. After World War II with the housing boom for new families, air conditioning became much more common even in homes, both central air units and window units. Sadly, Willis Carrier died in 1950, just as his creation was really catching on. But for some reason, Carrier never installed a system in his own home.
Air conditioning and television grew in popularity together. Television provided families entertainment, and air conditioning created a comfortable environment for watching it. This was a special blessing since televisions at the time used vacuum tubes, which became very hot during use. In 1955, 1 in 22 American homes, or about 4 and a half percent, had air conditioning in at least one room. The 1960 census revealed that 13 percent of American homes had it in at least one room. The trend was growing.
In the 1960s, NASA astronauts walked to the launch pad carrying air conditioning units for their space suits. In 1968 American Motors made air conditioning standard on its Ambassador model car. But I should point out that air conditioned cars were something of a luxury then. Most people just drove around with the windows rolled down. If you saw a car with the windows up, you assumed it had air conditioning. Some people were accused of driving with their windows rolled up to make other people THINK they had air conditioning. Then in 1965 the Houston Astrodome opened as the largest air conditioned facility in the world.
The 1970 U.S. census showed 37 percent of homes had at least one room with air conditioning. This increased to 57 percent in 1980.
But air conditioning had its downside as well. The rapid increase in use placed a huge demand on electric utility systems. Blackouts and brownouts became fairly common, sometimes affecting huge areas. Environmentalists began to blame Freon (mostly from aerosol cans) for creating a hole in the ozone layer. In 1976 a mysterious illness struck a Legionnaire convention in Philadelphia. About 200 men became sick and 34 died. A study of the hotel’s air system revealed a bacteria that caused what came to be called Legionnaire’s disease. Central air systems were tested around the world, and some 40 to 60 percent were found to have the bacteria. This pointed up the need for regular cleaning and maintenance of air conditioning systems.
But air conditioning has arrived. In the United States, 90 percent of homes and 98 percent of cars have air conditioning. Manufacturers continue to develop more effective, efficient, and environmentally friendly systems. And air conditioning is a worldwide phenomenon. It’s not absolutely everywhere, because of cost and need, but you will not go many places where it is not in use. If you are ever in the city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, you can visit Ski Dubai, a five acre indoor skiing facility with artificial snow that is maintained at 30 degrees. We’ve come a long way from a fan blowing over a tub of ice.
I want to acknowledge the fun and fascinating book Cool: How Air Conditioning Changed Everything, by Salvatore Basile, for most of the information in this podcast.
I’m Ray Notgrass. Stay cool, and thanks for listening.
Titus Anderson: This has been Exploring History with Ray Notgrass, a production of Notgrass History. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast in your favorite podcast app. And please leave a rating and review so that we can reach more people with our episodes. If you want to learn about new homeschool resources and opportunities from Notgrass History, you can sign up for our email newsletter at ExploringHistoryPodcast.com. This program was produced by me, Titus Anderson. Thanks for listening!
Visit Homeschool History for more information about the history of air conditioning.