Carrier's "unique" igloo in the 1939 World's Fair attempted to give visitors a vision of how their futures and air conditionings futures would mingle, but it was not until after World War II that sales of these smaller units for businesses and homes began increasing again.
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Like many manufacturers, Carrier converted its production during World War II. Carrier systems were used in the vital production of synthetic rubber and in high-octance gasoline. Carrier chillers were removed from department stores (including Macy's), for installation in war production plants (they all got their chillers back after the war). Carrier air conditioning and refrigeration equipment was required for warships and cargo vessels, for munitions plants and for factories specializing in the production of such essential war material as bombsights and other precision instruments. Carrier made thousands of refrigeration units for walk-in coolers used by the Navy to keep perishables. Special portable coolers were made to permit the servicing of airplanes in hot climates. Carrier also turned out airplane engine mounts, sight hoods for guns, tank adapters and other military items.
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Perhaps the greatest of all of Carrier's contributions to the war effort was something Willis Carrier called his own greatest engineering achievement. This was a system designed for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and installed in its wind tunnel to simulate freezing, high-altitude conditions for the testing of prototpe planes. In 1950 Dr. Carrier said, "Once, I accomplished the impossible...and because of its success, high officials in the Air Force told me that World War II was shortened by many months."
In recognition for it overall contribution to the war effort, Carrier was awarded the Army-Navy "E" six times, an honor attained by only 13 other companies. Other significant accomplishments during the 1940s-50s saw air conditioning systems shrink in size, allowing the cooling of ocean liners, buses, railcars, automobiles and even a traveling display for Gargantua the gorilla that amazed audiences in the U.S. and Europe.
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But it wasn't until after World War II that Americans started wondering why they shouldn't be as comfortable at home as many of them were away from the home. Many of the advances in room and central air conditioning came in the 1950s. In 1955, William J. Levitt, then America's leading homebuilder, predicted that air conditioning would soom become a basic feature of American homes. He was right! By 1965, 10 percent of American homes were air conditioned. By 1995, more than 75 percent of American homes were air conditioned, and in some portions of the South, 90 percent of homes have comfort cooling.
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