Timing is Everything
In 1899, Charles Duell, the U.S. Commissioner of Patents, reportedly said that, "Everything that can be invented has been invented." If only Duell hadn't been so shortsighted! By 1903, just four short years after Duell's bold statement, the Wright brothers had invented the airplane and Henry Ford's first assembly line cranked out an automobile. And yet another notable invention arose on the scene during that time, a development that impacted the Wright brothers and Ford, as well as every other mode of transportation, dwelling, workplace, hospital, hotel, theater and retail establishment. We're speaking, of course, about the 1902 invention of a young engineer in Buffalo, N.Y. That engineer was Willis Haviland Carrier.
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For the past century, Carrier air conditioning systems have been keeping the world cool. The man responsible for this phenomenon is Carrier's founder, Willis Carrier. Carrier had a humble upbringing and possessed high hopes from the start. Interested in mechanics from the time he was a child, he once planned to create an entire estate of mechanical animals. At the age of nine, like most children that age, Carrier had trouble understanding fractions. In an effort to help him better understand, his mother sat him down in the kitchen and cut an apple into halves, quarters, and eighths. As a result of this exercise, Carrier would solve every complex problem he encountered by reducing it to its simplest form and solving its component problems one by one. His high school graduation essay stated that, "a man with the power of will could make himself anything he wished no matter what the circumstances." On July 17, 1902, Carrier proved this statement true when he completed drawings for what came to be recognized as the world's first scientific air conditioning system.
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Carrier's 1902 invention marked the birth of the air conditioning industry as a result of the introduction of humidity control. As he defined it, air conditioning must perform four basic functions: control temperature; control humidity; control air circulation and ventilation; and, cleanse the air.
Through an unquenchable thirst to solve the unsolvable, Carrier, and the company he helped found, paved the way in air conditioning systems by introducing comfort cooling for businesses and window units and central air for homes. Carrier also was the first to customize air conditioning for use in many modes of transportation including buses, trains and ships. The many milestones and innovations of Willis Carrier and the Carrier Corporation will be celebrated throughout this anniversary year. Look for weekly articles commemorating landmark events in Carrier's history.
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