Razor blades, celluloid film, capsules for pharmaceuticals, processed tobacco, bakeries, meat packing houses, soap manufacturers, munitions . . . the list of industries that found they could improve their products by using "conditioned air" from Carrier expanded dramatically.
Encouraged by their success, Carrier and six friends scraped together $32,600 and formed the Carrier Engineering Company in 1915 - a company whose only product was a guarantee to achieve the temperature and humidity levels their customers required.
Carrier, the company, began manufacturing products in 1922 after the company's namesake developed one of the most significant achievements in the industry's history - the centrifugal refrigeration machine. The centrifugal chiller, or just plain centrifugal as many call it, was the first practical method of air conditioning large spaces. This single achievement paved the way for the upward expansion of cities as well as bringing human comfort to hospitals, schools office buildings, airports, hotels, and department stores.
Once again, though, the first machines were used to stabilize industrial processes like candy and pottery making.
Comfort cooling made its debut in 1924 at the J.L. Hudson Department Store in Detroit, Mich. Shoppers at the store's popular basement bargain sales fainted from the heat as huge crowds overpowered the ventilation system. The sales became even more popular as three Carrier centrifugal chillers were installed to cool the basement and soon the rest of the store.
Many Americans experienced air conditioning for the first time in theaters as owners struggled to revive summer business that always slumped as temperatures rose.
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