How does it work?
Early air conditioning, around the end of the 19th century, was as crude and simple as fanning air over blocks of ice. In the 1880’s the Madison Square Theatre would use 4 tons of ice every evening. However, it wasn’t until 1902 that the first air ‘conditioning’ was patented by Willis Carrier.
Willis Carrier was both an engineer and an inventor. He was born near Angola, New York state and raised on a farm. He attended local schools and won a scholarship to Cornell University. He graduated in 1901 with a degree in engineering. He started work the following year for The Buffalo Forge Company where he designed a humidity-control machine for New York printing plant. This device saturated the incoming air with water, thereby controlling both its temperature and humidity. Four years later, a dust filter was added and so the term ‘air conditioning’ entered the language. He therefore became the father of modern air conditioning systems, with over 80 patents. He started the Carrier Corporation in 1915, which manufactured air conditioners. By 1930 Carrier air conditioners were cooling more than 300 theatres (saving tons of ice in the process!).
In 1939, he invented a practical air-conditioning system for skyscrapers which used a lot of glass in the construction and so became very hot in the summer.
