The next time you’re lounging around in a cool room on a hot Summer’s day, remember to give thanks to Willis Carrier. Exactly one year after receiving his master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University in 1901, Carrier developed and patented the world’s first modern air conditioner, known as “the Carrier Air Conditioner.”
A Long-Time Problem
In the years before Willis’s invention, cooling systems were essentially elaborate methods of ventilation, and they weren’t super effective. With his “Apparatus for Treating Air” (patent #808,897 for all the tech nerds), Willis invented a mechanical system that could regulate both humidity and temperature, as well as the circulation and cleanliness of air in a building or room.
Here comes the fancy explanation: It used a low-pressure centrifugal system to draw air in through a filter and then pass it over coils containing an environmentally friendly, non-toxic coolant to cool the room. Heat generated by the machine’s motor was exhausted to the outside, while cooled and dehumidified air was channeled into the desired space. Okay, big words over!
Just the Beginning
If you thought Carrier would retire after he hit it big with air conditioning, you clearly don’t know inventors. Willis continued to refine his theories as well as his products, receiving a number of additional patents in the process.
In 1915, he co-founded Carrier Engineering Corporation, which is now the world’s largest manufacturer of climate control equipment. To this day, the technology that underpins Carrier’s invention continues to serve as the scientific foundation for all work carried out in the industry he founded. Not a bad day’s work!