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Air Conditioning
Air Conditioning
Air Conditioning
. Franklin noted that, soon after they passed the freezing point of water 0 C (32
F), a thin film of ice formed on the surface of the thermometer's bulb and that
the ice mass was about 6 mm (1/4 in) thick when they stopped the experiment upon
reaching -14 C (7 F). Franklin concluded: "From this experiment one may see the p
ossibility of freezing a man to death on a warm summer's day"[8]
In 1820, English scientist and inventor Michael Faraday discovered that compress
ing and liquefying ammonia could chill air when the liquefied ammonia was allowe
d to evaporate. In 1842, Florida physician John Gorrie used compressor technolog
y to create ice, which he used to cool air for his patients in his hospital in A
palachicola, Florida. He hoped to eventually use his ice-making machine to regul
ate the temperature of buildings. He even envisioned centralized air conditionin
g that could cool entire cities. Though his prototype leaked and performed irreg
ularly, Gorrie was granted a patent in 1851 for his ice-making machine. Improved
process for the artificial production of ice. His hopes for its success vanishe
d soon afterwards when his chief financial backer died; Gorrie did not get the m
oney he needed to develop the machine. According to his biographer, Vivian M. Sh
erlock, he blamed the "Ice King", Frederic Tudor, for his failure, suspecting th
at Tudor had launched a smear campaign against his invention. Dr. Gorrie died im
poverished in 1855, and the idea of air conditioning went away for 50 years.
James Harrison's first mechanical ice-making machine began operation in 1851 on
the banks of the Barwon River at Rocky Point in Geelong (Australia). His first c
ommercial ice-making machine followed in 1853, and his patent for an ether vapor
compression refrigeration system was granted in 1855. This novel system used a
compressor to force the refrigeration gas to pass through a condenser, where it
cooled down and liquefied. The liquefied gas then circulated through the refrige
ration coils and vaporized again, cooling down the surrounding system. The machi
ne employed a flywheel and produced 3,000 kilograms of ice per day.
Though Harrison had commercial success establishing a second ice company back in
Sydney in 1860, he later entered the debate over how to compete against the Ame
rican advantage of unrefrigerated beef sales to the United Kingdom. He wrote: "F
resh meat frozen and packed as if for a voyage, so that the refrigerating proces
s may be continued for any required period", and in 1873 prepared the sailing sh
ip Norfolk for an experimental beef shipment to the United Kingdom. His choice o
f a cold room system instead of installing a refrigeration system upon the ship
itself proved disastrous when the ice was consumed faster than expected.
Electromechanical cooling[edit]
Willis Carrier
In 1902, the first modern electrical air conditioning unit was invented by Willi
s Carrier in Buffalo, New York. After graduating from Cornell University, Carrie
r found a job at the Buffalo Forge Company. While there, he began experimenting
with air conditioning as a way to solve an application problem for the Sackett-W
ilhelms Lithographing and Publishing Company in Brooklyn, New York. The first ai
r conditioner, designed and built in Buffalo by Carrier, began working on 17 Jul
y 1902.
Designed to improve manufacturing process control in a printing plant, Carrier's
invention controlled not only temperature but also humidity. Carrier used his k
nowledge of the heating of objects with steam and reversed the process. Instead
of sending air through hot coils, he sent it through cold coils (filled with col
d water). The air was cooled, and thereby the amount of moisture in the air coul
d be controlled, which in turn made the humidity in the room controllable. The c
ontrolled temperature and humidity helped maintain consistent paper dimensions a
nd ink alignment. Later, Carrier's technology was applied to increase productivi
ty in the workplace, and The Carrier Air Conditioning Company of America was for
med to meet rising demand. Over time, air conditioning came to be used to improv
.[14][15] Their activist marketing first in Germany led to companies like Whirlp
ool, Bosch, and later LG and others to incorporate the technology throughout Eur
ope, then Asia, although the corporate executives resisted in Latin America, so
that it arrived in Argentina produced by a domestic firm in 2003, and then final
ly with giant Bosch's production in Brazil by 2004.[16][17] In 1995, Germany mad
e CFC refrigerators illegal.[18] DuPont and other companies blocked the refriger
ant in the U.S. with the U.S. E.P.A., disparaging the approach as "that German t
echnology."[17][19] Nevertheless, in 2004, Greenpeace worked with multinational
corporations like Coca-Cola and Unilever, and later Pepsico and others, to creat
e a corporate coalition called Refrigerants Naturally!.[18][20] Then, four years
later, Ben & Jerry's of Unilever and General Electric began to take steps to su
pport production and use in the U.S.[21] Only in 2011 did the E.P.A. finally dec
ide in favor of the ozone- and climate-safe refrigerant for U.S. manufacture.[14
][22][23]