01/19/2023
🌬️ Willis Carrier, a 25-year-old experimental engineer, created a primitive cooling system to reduce humidity around the printer- after two summers of extreme heat disrupted business and caused swelling pages and blurry prints. He used an industrial fan to blow air over steam coils filled with cold water; the excess humidity would then condense on the coils and produce cooled air.
In his effort to improve mechanical air-conditioning systems, Willis Carrier (1876-1950) introduced the first practical centrifugal refrigeration compressor in 1922 (1st image: from the collections of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History). NMAH
The technology (2nd image: c. 1947 advertisement for Carrier) that was initially envisioned as a tool to enhance industrial productivity is now a near necessity for American homes and transportation. Fotosearch / Stringer, Getty Images
