Homeowners today can take the comfort of their air conditioned home for granted. That’s a testament to how far we’ve come as far as making our homes more comfortable using heating and cooling equipment.
In case you’re curious about the evolution of our ever-necessary air conditioners, here’s how it began, according to professionals at Hader Solutions.
Ice
The natural element that scientists, like Dr. John Gorrie, looked to back then for cooling was ice. However, without the ability to manipulate temperature, how did they get the ice? In the end, they had someone literally pick away at the ice in frozen lakes and mountains then shipped as fast as they could to homes, offices, and hospitals.
When that proved to be too much of a logistics nightmare, scientists strived to do better.
Making Ice With Manual Power
Still stuck with fetching naturally occuring ice (as no device had been invented to affect air temperature directly), Gorrie decided he wanted to make ice. He got the idea to use a horse-powered system that was actually a compressor. This laid the foundation for modern air conditioning devices.
Carrier
The first company to develop a device that could treat air was Carrier. Using a series of coils and different materials, their “air treatment” device could humidify air by adding moisture, and dehumidify air by taking away moisture. While not drastically affecting the temperature, it did make things more comfortable. Driven mostly by the desire to provide comfort to hospitals, HVAC systems have certainly come a very long way.
If you want to know more about HVAC systems in the past as well as modern times, contact Hader Solutions at (513) 612-9201 in Cincinnati.
