Air Conditioning Grows Through Industrial Applications

Air Conditioning Grows Through Industrial Applications

Humans have always sought creature comfort from heating their cave to storing food for later consumption and many of their finds for the home began as processes for business or industry. In 1851, Dr. John Gorrie used compressed ammonia to make what his patent application called an icemaker. It was used to cool the patients’ rooms and despite his dreams of whole-house air conditioning, he lacked the financial resources and his invention remained in the planning stages.

It took almost 50 years before the first commercial application of air conditioning cooled air for industrial processing, thanks to the invention of Willis Carrier. Stuart Cramer, operating a textile mill in South Carolina found a way to add moisture to the air, making fabrics easier to work with while cooling the environment, and coined the term air conditioning in his application for the patent.

The earliest methods of air conditioning used compressed gases such as ammonia, methyl chloride and propane, but the danger they presented led to the use of chlorofluorocarbon and in 1928 under the trade name of Freon, was found to be safe for man and machine. However, it was found harmful to the atmosphere and was replaced by hydrofluorocarbons, which proved safer, however even newer gases that are ozone friendly is taking their place and by 2010, all new products will contain Puron.

Air Conditioning Use Spreads To Personal Comfort

During the 1950’s air conditioning use expanded into home and automobiles, improving personal space and helped in the development of larger, deep-well buildings. Developing central air conditioning systems that sent cooled air through ductwork enabled wider building construction. Previously, the buildings had to be thin enough to allow for proper air circulation throughout the entire building.

It has also been noted, and disputed, that human productivity improves in areas where cooler temperatures are maintained. Studies have professed that the most productivity occurs in a room temperature of 72-degrees, and diminishes one percent for every two-degree temperature rise. Many say this is a result of an air conditioning salesman’s pitch and dispute the theory. While other are convinced the study conducted in the Hawthorne Works, a factory in the early 1930’s, shows the relationship between environmental temperature and productivity.

From the days of using towers of water and windmills to speed evaporation, controlling the interior environment has found it way into the air conditioning processes available today. From cooling small rooms to entire buildings, humans have found another way to enhance their creature comfort.