An Idea Emerges From The Fog
Many inventors experienced their stroke of genius with the help of the weather. Benjamin Franklin harnessed electricity in the middle of a thunderstorm by flying a kite with a metal key attached. Frank Epperson discovered the Popsicle as a result of accidentally leaving his soda drink outside to freeze overnight. Willis Carrier is yet another inventor who had a flash of genius as a result of the weather. It was fog that inspired him to perfect his air conditioning system.
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Not content with his first air conditioning system, Carrier was certain that a better way could be found to dehumidify air. In the fall of 1902, he was waiting for a train in Pittsburgh. Temperatures were in the low 30s F, and the platform was wrapped in a dense fog. It was then that he had a flash of genius. By replicating foggy conditions, if he could saturate air and control its temperature at saturation, he could get air with any amount of moisture he desired. He could also achieve this result by drawing the air through a fine spray of water to create actual fog. By controlling the water temperature he could control the temperature at saturation. In 1906, he was issued a patent for his "Apparatus For Treating Air." It was the world's first spray-type air conditioner, designed to humidify or dehumidify air.
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In 1911, Carrier delivered his "Rational Psychrometric Formulae" to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Viewed as the Magna Carta of Psychrometrics, it caused engineers to accept the control of air as a branch of their profession. Carrier's psychrometric chart appeared in college textbooks, and engineering schools began to teach the topic of air conditioning as a subject. His "Formulae" was translated into many foreign languages and became the cornerstone for all fundamental calculations in the air conditioning industry.
In 1915, the Carrier Engineering Company was formed. Its sole product was a guarantee to achieve the temperature and humidity levels its customers required. In 1922, Carrier the company began manufacturing products after the company's namesake. The rest, as they say, is history.
The history of air conditioning and the history of Carrier are so tightly intertwined that it's difficult to separate one from the other. Many of the industry's firsts are also Carrier milestones. The thousands of Carrier employees continue to add to industry history each day as they apply technologies and create customer-pleasing comfort that would impress even Willis Carrier.
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