Air Conditioning Has Made the Planet Even More Hospitable
Posted In: Uncategorized by adminShrouded in technological cocoons, people forget how hostile the earth can be. No invention has spurred this domestication of the environment more than the air conditioner. A simple flick of a switch and the setting of a dial creates an ideal temperature for nearly any indoor environment we like.
Tragic? Who’s to say. We shall leave such philosophizing to the poets. To most, air conditioning is a monumental boon during hot summers and in warm climates. But how did it come to be? Did it come, like fire, from a wayward Greek god? Or, like suffering and war, from an opened Pandora’s box? There we go philosophizing again.
In Lawrenceville, Gwinnett County and Dacula as well as the rest of the greater Atlanta area when you call Hixon Heating and Air Conditioning our number one goal is to fix your heating or air conditioning system right the first time. We are experts in Grayson air conditioning.
Air conditioning, of sorts, originated in the depths of ancient Mesopotamia and Eastern Asia. AC was mostly relegated to temporary snatches of cooling wind and fresh water.
Several thousand years later, things hadn’t changed much. An early example of modern air conditioning is John Gorrie, who used his air conditioner, one that compressed and liquefied ammonia, in his Florida hospital. But something was missing, a breakthrough was lacking.
This was provided by Willis Haviland Carrier of Cornell University. In 1902, Carrier designed an evaporative cooling air conditioner used to stabilize the temperature and moisture of a room to control the environment of the Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing and Publishing Co. Enthused with his innovation, Carrier began spreading his air conditioners like flying daisy seeds and formed the Carrier Engineering Corporation in 1915, becoming the first proverbial HVAC contractor.
Carrier, and inventors Stuart Cramer and I. H. Hardeman, crafted new and more efficient air conditioners. Thomas J. Midgley, Jr., added the finishing touches in 1928 when he introduced his chlorofluorocarbon creation, Freon, beating more toxic refrigerants such as ammonia and propane.
Built upon the shoulders of such giants, air conditioners and refrigerants cooled brows, froze food, and made life generally more bearable. Countries in Central America, in Indonesia, in Northern Africa, in the Middle East and other areas now sustain massive populations, due in a large part to air conditioning and refrigeration.