1 00:00:01,120 --> 00:00:04,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:14,040 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:18,120 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. It's August, 4 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 1: although by the time this podcast comes out it could 5 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:23,479 Speaker 1: possibly be September. Not quite sure when this one's gonna 6 00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:27,200 Speaker 1: drop yet. And also, it's hot. That's what August means 7 00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:30,160 Speaker 1: usually for us, at least, yeah for us for sure. 8 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:32,639 Speaker 1: I started working on this episode on one of those 9 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:34,960 Speaker 1: days when I woke up and it was already eighty 10 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:38,559 Speaker 1: two degrees inside my apartment. It is eighty six degrees 11 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:41,960 Speaker 1: in my little studio right now. I am sitting with 12 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:45,519 Speaker 1: a cold pack draped over my chair. So I decided 13 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:49,800 Speaker 1: we should talk about the history of air conditioning. And uh, 14 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:52,880 Speaker 1: sorry to our Southern Hemisphere friends who are always getting 15 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:55,840 Speaker 1: the episodes in which I'm complaining that it's hot, and 16 00:00:55,920 --> 00:00:59,200 Speaker 1: so we're going to talk about ice or air conditioning 17 00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:05,280 Speaker 1: or whatever. When it's winter there. I could go there 18 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:07,600 Speaker 1: and complain about winter while you're here and complain about 19 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:09,480 Speaker 1: hot because I love the heat, but that cold is 20 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:14,640 Speaker 1: not for me. Uh So, about a year ago, we 21 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:17,600 Speaker 1: did an episode on Frederick Tutor who cut ice out 22 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:20,880 Speaker 1: of ponds in Massachusetts in winter and then turned that 23 00:01:20,959 --> 00:01:24,600 Speaker 1: into a globally traded commodity. In that episode, we talked 24 00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:26,560 Speaker 1: about some of the ways that people had been making 25 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:29,480 Speaker 1: ice and refrigerating things in warmer parts of the world 26 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:32,600 Speaker 1: before the establishment of the ice trade and the development 27 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:37,320 Speaker 1: of mechanical refrigeration. Things like people in the Indian subcontinent 28 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:40,960 Speaker 1: using earthenware vessels as evaporative coolers to make kind of 29 00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:45,120 Speaker 1: a semi frozen slush, or using saltpeter infused water to 30 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:49,120 Speaker 1: chill bottles of beverages. Similarly, people all over the world 31 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:52,480 Speaker 1: had figured out ways to keep themselves at least relatively 32 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:56,200 Speaker 1: cool for millennia before the invention of air conditioning. A 33 00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:58,440 Speaker 1: lot of these methods are still in use in one 34 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:02,760 Speaker 1: way or another today. Most obvious starting point is the fan. 35 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:06,160 Speaker 1: People have probably fanned themselves with their hands or with 36 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:09,800 Speaker 1: relatively flat objects for about as long as people have existed, 37 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:14,600 Speaker 1: but in terms of objects created specifically as fans, we 38 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:18,120 Speaker 1: know that goes back at least five thousand years. We 39 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:22,520 Speaker 1: have examples of hand fans from numerous ancient civilizations all 40 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:26,240 Speaker 1: over the world. The earliest fans were fixed or rigid, 41 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:30,280 Speaker 1: and made of all kinds of feathers, fronds, textiles, and 42 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:34,600 Speaker 1: other materials. The first folding fans were probably developed in 43 00:02:34,639 --> 00:02:37,760 Speaker 1: either Japan or China. There are examples from both that 44 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:40,639 Speaker 1: are about the same age, and both nations have their 45 00:02:40,639 --> 00:02:43,920 Speaker 1: own lore about the development of the folding fan, and 46 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:46,919 Speaker 1: of course, fans themselves have their own history, with all 47 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:50,480 Speaker 1: kinds of mythology and symbolism and etiquette and art and 48 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:53,640 Speaker 1: culture woven in, and a lot of cultures, fans have 49 00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:57,520 Speaker 1: also had religious or ceremonial uses as well, And that's 50 00:02:57,639 --> 00:03:00,720 Speaker 1: on top of all the variation in the materials that 51 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:03,160 Speaker 1: fans have been made of and how they've been designed 52 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:06,720 Speaker 1: and constructed. We probably, if we felt inclined, could do 53 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:09,639 Speaker 1: a whole episode just on fans. Only if we talk 54 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:15,520 Speaker 1: about Star Trek and the fan dance, then I'm in um. 55 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:18,720 Speaker 1: A lot of the earliest personal cooling methods were built 56 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:22,600 Speaker 1: around the fan, people either fanning themselves or having a 57 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 1: servant or an enslaved person do it for them. In 58 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:29,120 Speaker 1: places that were both hot and dry, people used fans 59 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:32,200 Speaker 1: to force airs through damp and screens or mats, which 60 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:34,920 Speaker 1: would both humidify the air and cool the air. As 61 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: water evaporated. In places where it was hot and damp, 62 00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:41,160 Speaker 1: people were more likely to use fans to move air 63 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 1: over ice, although that still made the room even more humid, 64 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:47,160 Speaker 1: and depending on where that ice came from, it might 65 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:51,160 Speaker 1: also make the room smell like gross pond water. After 66 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:55,240 Speaker 1: President James Garfield was shot in one his doctors used 67 00:03:55,240 --> 00:03:58,200 Speaker 1: a variation on this fan and ice method to try 68 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:01,200 Speaker 1: to keep him cool, and that used almost five hundred 69 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:04,920 Speaker 1: pounds of ice per day. Leonardo da Vinci developed a 70 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:09,280 Speaker 1: water powered fan in about fifteen hundred, and mechanically driven 71 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:12,280 Speaker 1: fans powered by things like hand cranks were developed about 72 00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:16,520 Speaker 1: the same time. The first electric fan was developed by 73 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:20,400 Speaker 1: Crocker and Curtis Electric Motor Company in eighteen eighty two. 74 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:24,280 Speaker 1: That in eighteen eighty four, William Whitely developed the all 75 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:27,320 Speaker 1: Weather Eye, which was a fan that attached to the 76 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:30,920 Speaker 1: axle of a carriage, so when the carriage was moving, 77 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:33,839 Speaker 1: the fan turned and it forced air over a block 78 00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:37,440 Speaker 1: of ice that was mounted under the passenger area, sort 79 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:41,080 Speaker 1: of air conditioning the inside of the carriage. That's pretty ingenious. 80 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:44,560 Speaker 1: There are also all kinds of architectural features all over 81 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:48,839 Speaker 1: the world intended to keep people cooler. Before industrialization and 82 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:52,160 Speaker 1: the creation of air conditioning, most people lived in buildings 83 00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:54,960 Speaker 1: that were adapted to where they lived. They used local 84 00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:58,239 Speaker 1: materials and building techniques which were suited to the needs 85 00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:01,320 Speaker 1: of the climate and the landscape. The whole idea is 86 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:06,640 Speaker 1: summed up as vernacular architecture. Vernacular architecture is absolutely full 87 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:09,280 Speaker 1: of ways to deal with heat and humidity, and there 88 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:12,440 Speaker 1: are so many that we cannot possibly name them all, 89 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:15,919 Speaker 1: just like we cannot possibly name every variation on the fan. 90 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:19,720 Speaker 1: But here are some examples. People on coasts oriented their 91 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:23,159 Speaker 1: homes to catch the sea breeze through the windows. Porches 92 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:26,640 Speaker 1: gave people an outdoor, semi sheltered place to go when 93 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:30,159 Speaker 1: the house got too hot, and sleeping porches had bunks 94 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:32,280 Speaker 1: or hammocks already there for when it was just too 95 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:35,760 Speaker 1: hot to possibly go to sleep in the house. Thick walls, 96 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:39,839 Speaker 1: high ceilings, and large windows have insulated buildings while also 97 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:44,919 Speaker 1: allowing air circulation. Shady courtyards and fountains have offered respite 98 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:47,479 Speaker 1: from the heat, and in places where it's hot in 99 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:50,880 Speaker 1: the day and cool at night, Thick walls made from 100 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:54,120 Speaker 1: mud or adobe absorb heat during the day and to 101 00:05:54,200 --> 00:05:56,640 Speaker 1: keep the inside cooler, and then release it at night 102 00:05:56,680 --> 00:05:59,160 Speaker 1: to keep the inside warmer. Then of course there's just 103 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:01,719 Speaker 1: planting tree used to shade the buildings from the sun. 104 00:06:02,279 --> 00:06:05,760 Speaker 1: In the southeastern United States, one common design was the 105 00:06:05,839 --> 00:06:09,120 Speaker 1: dog trot house. This was a house with two halves 106 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:13,200 Speaker 1: separated by a roofed breezeway in between, which usually also 107 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:17,080 Speaker 1: connected a front and back porch. Usually the kitchen was 108 00:06:17,160 --> 00:06:19,440 Speaker 1: on one side of the dog trot while the sleeping 109 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:22,039 Speaker 1: area was on the other, so you weren't heating up 110 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:24,960 Speaker 1: your bedroom while you were cooking your food. Dog trot 111 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:27,840 Speaker 1: houses were often built up on bricks or stones rather 112 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:30,520 Speaker 1: than resting on a foundation or the ground, and that 113 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:33,440 Speaker 1: allowed air to circulate under the house as well. And 114 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:36,440 Speaker 1: sometimes these are also called possum trot houses. And the 115 00:06:36,480 --> 00:06:39,719 Speaker 1: same basic design is still used in some places today. 116 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:43,160 Speaker 1: My sister in law lives in a house just like this. Yeah, 117 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:45,279 Speaker 1: there are also, I mean there are historic ones that 118 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:48,880 Speaker 1: still stand and newly built houses that are still following 119 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:51,200 Speaker 1: that same basic design. I remember when I was in 120 00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:53,960 Speaker 1: college there was one at the botanical gardens next door 121 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:56,440 Speaker 1: to the campus. Or we like to go sit around 122 00:06:56,480 --> 00:07:00,480 Speaker 1: and read. Step wells are a way of healing with 123 00:07:00,520 --> 00:07:04,440 Speaker 1: the heat and very arid countries, especially on the Indian subcontinent. 124 00:07:04,839 --> 00:07:07,720 Speaker 1: This is a pool of water very very deep underground, 125 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:11,240 Speaker 1: which people would reach down an incredibly long spiral or 126 00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:15,280 Speaker 1: zigzag staircase. These pools had to be that deep underground 127 00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:17,320 Speaker 1: because that's how far down you had to go to 128 00:07:17,320 --> 00:07:20,200 Speaker 1: get to the water table. They were used as a 129 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:23,280 Speaker 1: water source, but then also having such a deep, dark 130 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:26,640 Speaker 1: underground shaft gave people a place to retreat out of 131 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:30,000 Speaker 1: the heat. Sometimes step wells were designed to serve as 132 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:34,440 Speaker 1: very large gathering places with intricate stairways and terraces, basically 133 00:07:34,480 --> 00:07:36,960 Speaker 1: lots of places for people to go down there and 134 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:39,680 Speaker 1: chill out. A lot of these step wells fell into 135 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:43,760 Speaker 1: disuse as human activity lowered the water table, either gradually 136 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:47,480 Speaker 1: filling with trash or being taken over by animals. The 137 00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:50,320 Speaker 1: British Empire also destroyed a lot of them under the 138 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:53,360 Speaker 1: idea that they were unsanitary, and this was kind of 139 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:56,800 Speaker 1: ironic since it was extremely fashionable for British people to 140 00:07:56,880 --> 00:08:01,160 Speaker 1: complain about how miserable the heat was in colonial India. Today, 141 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:04,880 Speaker 1: though some stepwells are being restored and reopened as water sources, 142 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:07,320 Speaker 1: and the same principle has been used to design modern 143 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:11,800 Speaker 1: buildings that require less energy to cool. Wind Catchers were 144 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:15,280 Speaker 1: common and Persian architecture starting thousands of years ago, and 145 00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:18,840 Speaker 1: a lot of them are still standing and still working today. 146 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:21,960 Speaker 1: This is essentially a windowed tower that's built to take 147 00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:25,320 Speaker 1: advantage of the prevailing winds. So exactly how the tower 148 00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:28,640 Speaker 1: is designed, how many windows it has, and which direction 149 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:32,000 Speaker 1: it faces depends on where it's being built. When the 150 00:08:32,040 --> 00:08:34,960 Speaker 1: wind blows through a wind catcher, it draws hot air 151 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:38,080 Speaker 1: up out of the house. Sometimes there's also a reservoir 152 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:40,800 Speaker 1: of water or a very deep well inside the house, 153 00:08:40,840 --> 00:08:43,920 Speaker 1: so as the hot air moves out, moist, cooler air 154 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:47,200 Speaker 1: is pulled up from below. A similar design was also 155 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:51,880 Speaker 1: part of ancient Egyptian architecture. So Vernacular architecture is just 156 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:55,360 Speaker 1: full of things like this, and people living in hot 157 00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:59,000 Speaker 1: places have also adapted their behavior, like the siesta during 158 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:01,720 Speaker 1: the hottest part of the day a but as areas 159 00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:05,200 Speaker 1: have adopted air conditioning, these traditional elements have tended to 160 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:08,760 Speaker 1: disappear as people instead designed buildings that are going to 161 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:11,680 Speaker 1: be mechanically cooled and We're gonna start talking about that 162 00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:14,160 Speaker 1: in some detail after we first pause for a little 163 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:24,760 Speaker 1: sponsor break. Modern air conditioning was developed in the United States, 164 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:27,920 Speaker 1: and the United States has adopted it much faster than 165 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:30,560 Speaker 1: the rest of the world, So the next stretch of 166 00:09:30,559 --> 00:09:33,600 Speaker 1: this show is going to be pretty US centric. The 167 00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:36,000 Speaker 1: first person in the United States to write down some 168 00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:39,640 Speaker 1: thoughts for creating a large scale way to cool places 169 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:43,000 Speaker 1: was John Gory. In eighteen forty two, he wrote about 170 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:47,199 Speaker 1: wanting to use mechanical condensation to quote counteract the evils 171 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:51,080 Speaker 1: of high temperature and improve the condition of our cities. 172 00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:54,800 Speaker 1: He speculated about a massive city that could use one 173 00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:57,880 Speaker 1: machine to cool off the entire place, as well as 174 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:01,840 Speaker 1: to cool individual buildings. It's not clear whether he ever 175 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:04,719 Speaker 1: made a working prototype of this air conditioner he had 176 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:07,840 Speaker 1: in mind, but he did create a refrigerator that could 177 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:10,320 Speaker 1: make ice. He had this working at the U. S. 178 00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:14,520 Speaker 1: Marine Hospital in Appalachicola, Florida, in eighteen forty four, and 179 00:10:14,559 --> 00:10:18,360 Speaker 1: he patented it in eighteen fifty one. That ice was 180 00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:20,840 Speaker 1: put to use in conjunction with fans to try to 181 00:10:20,920 --> 00:10:25,440 Speaker 1: keep patients with malaria and yellow fever cool. By eighteen eighty, 182 00:10:25,520 --> 00:10:28,000 Speaker 1: people were using fans and ice together to try to 183 00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:31,679 Speaker 1: cool buildings on a much larger scale. That year, New 184 00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:35,319 Speaker 1: York's Madison Square Theater was using four tons of ice 185 00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:38,080 Speaker 1: per day to try to cool the theater in the summer. 186 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:41,000 Speaker 1: Before trying that it would pretty much just not had 187 00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:44,280 Speaker 1: shows in the summer. There's some overlap in the development 188 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:47,400 Speaker 1: of refrigeration and air conditioning, and in the late eighteen 189 00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:51,040 Speaker 1: eighties people were also using refrigeration to try to cool 190 00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:55,000 Speaker 1: whole rooms. Pipes were used to carry a refrigerant from 191 00:10:55,040 --> 00:10:58,680 Speaker 1: a central station out to customers, and this central station 192 00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:02,160 Speaker 1: refrigeration was mainly used to cool whole rooms for things 193 00:11:02,240 --> 00:11:06,520 Speaker 1: like meat packing and cold storage. A few businesses did 194 00:11:06,559 --> 00:11:10,040 Speaker 1: try to put central station refrigeration to use basically as 195 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:15,120 Speaker 1: air conditioning for people's comfort, though, in a restaurant called 196 00:11:15,240 --> 00:11:19,080 Speaker 1: Ice Palace opened in St. Louis, Missouri, that used central 197 00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:21,640 Speaker 1: station refrigeration to keep the whole building cool, and it 198 00:11:21,760 --> 00:11:25,319 Speaker 1: also decorated the place with lots of pictures of wintry scenes. 199 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:29,440 Speaker 1: Over the next couple of decades, several people started designing 200 00:11:29,440 --> 00:11:33,680 Speaker 1: the systems that evolved into modern air conditioning. Alfred Wolfe 201 00:11:33,679 --> 00:11:36,240 Speaker 1: created cooling systems for a number of buildings in the 202 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:40,160 Speaker 1: late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In eighteen eighty nine, 203 00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:43,960 Speaker 1: he created a ventilation system for Carnegie Hall or Carnegie 204 00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:47,000 Speaker 1: if you like that pronunciation, but most people except Carnegie 205 00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:50,080 Speaker 1: Hall as the pronunciation on that one. Uh. These included 206 00:11:50,200 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 1: racks for blocks of ice. In that same year, he 207 00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:56,240 Speaker 1: used chilling coils to cool the air in a dissecting 208 00:11:56,360 --> 00:11:59,680 Speaker 1: room at Cornell Medical College, which seems like an excellent 209 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:03,520 Speaker 1: venue for air conditioning. In two he created a fan 210 00:12:03,640 --> 00:12:06,280 Speaker 1: driven system for the New York Stock Exchange that cost 211 00:12:06,360 --> 00:12:10,240 Speaker 1: one thirty thousand dollars and it could heat and cool 212 00:12:10,280 --> 00:12:14,360 Speaker 1: the building In cold weather. Steam boilers added heat and humidity, 213 00:12:14,400 --> 00:12:16,840 Speaker 1: and in hot weather, the air moved over coils that 214 00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:20,839 Speaker 1: were filled with a cooling brine to cool and dehumidify. 215 00:12:21,280 --> 00:12:24,600 Speaker 1: At about the same time, engineer Stewart Kramer was working 216 00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:28,120 Speaker 1: in textile mills in the South, especially in the winter, 217 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:30,920 Speaker 1: that air in these mills would become very dry, which 218 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:34,280 Speaker 1: was a problem. Cotton thread is a lot more brittle 219 00:12:34,440 --> 00:12:37,480 Speaker 1: and likely to snap when it's too dry. Wool is 220 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:41,200 Speaker 1: a lot easier to work when it's properly moist. Plus 221 00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:44,040 Speaker 1: static electricity. When working with a bunch of textiles and 222 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:48,560 Speaker 1: too dry air could be just unbearable. Kramer developed systems 223 00:12:48,600 --> 00:12:52,880 Speaker 1: that combined ventilation with humidification. They basically circulated the air 224 00:12:52,960 --> 00:12:56,320 Speaker 1: while also releasing a very fine mist of water. The 225 00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:59,280 Speaker 1: word that he coined for this combination of temperature and 226 00:12:59,360 --> 00:13:03,440 Speaker 1: humidity can role was air conditioning. Kramer was awarded a 227 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:06,720 Speaker 1: patent for his air conditioning system in nineteen oh six. 228 00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:11,160 Speaker 1: Concurrently with Wolf and Kramer, Willis Carrier was working at 229 00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:14,800 Speaker 1: Buffalo Forge Company and the company made things like blowers 230 00:13:14,840 --> 00:13:17,360 Speaker 1: and bellows, and he had been made head of its 231 00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:21,560 Speaker 1: new experimental engineering department. Those three men that we've just 232 00:13:21,600 --> 00:13:23,800 Speaker 1: talked about, His is probably the name that at least 233 00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:27,880 Speaker 1: rings a bell, because Carrier is still associated with air conditioning. 234 00:13:28,160 --> 00:13:30,560 Speaker 1: We just got a new air conditioner installed and it 235 00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:36,880 Speaker 1: is a Carrier unit. So. Second, Wilhelm's Lithographing and Publishing 236 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:40,160 Speaker 1: company in Brooklyn, New York was one of Buffalo Forge 237 00:13:40,200 --> 00:13:44,080 Speaker 1: Companies clients, and they were having a problem with humidity. 238 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:47,960 Speaker 1: Variations in the humidity affected the paper that was running 239 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:51,080 Speaker 1: through their printing presses. Sometimes this would cause the ink 240 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:53,839 Speaker 1: to bleed or to smear or for the paper to 241 00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:56,880 Speaker 1: visibly work. But a bigger problem was that they were 242 00:13:56,880 --> 00:14:00,520 Speaker 1: printing in color. Colored inks went on to the paper 243 00:14:00,679 --> 00:14:04,440 Speaker 1: one layer at the time. Even a slight difference and 244 00:14:04,559 --> 00:14:07,440 Speaker 1: humidity affected the paper enough that the colors would be 245 00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:10,800 Speaker 1: out of register. Those layers wouldn't line up correctly. It 246 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:14,320 Speaker 1: would not look like a cleanly printed color document. It 247 00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:18,199 Speaker 1: would look like overlapping out of the lines, messed up color. 248 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:22,120 Speaker 1: I'm thinking about the various episodes we have done about 249 00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:26,200 Speaker 1: artists and there weren't getting printed cheaply, and I'm betting 250 00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:29,040 Speaker 1: probably these problems were part of part of how they 251 00:14:29,120 --> 00:14:32,360 Speaker 1: ended up such a mess. Uh So, Carrier developed a 252 00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:35,200 Speaker 1: system that moved air over a series of coils that 253 00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:39,160 Speaker 1: were cooled with compressed ammonia. Moisture condensed out of the 254 00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:42,160 Speaker 1: air and onto the coils, drying it out, which also 255 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:44,960 Speaker 1: had the side effect of cooling the air off. He 256 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:49,800 Speaker 1: ultimately developed a cooling, dehumidification, and air circulation system that 257 00:14:49,880 --> 00:14:53,560 Speaker 1: maintained a temperature of seventy degrees fahrenheit in winter or 258 00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:56,640 Speaker 1: eighty degrees in summer, and a relative humidity that was 259 00:14:56,680 --> 00:15:02,440 Speaker 1: a consistent This Wasrier's first attempt at indoor climate control, 260 00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:05,720 Speaker 1: and he went on to be awarded numerous patents within 261 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:08,720 Speaker 1: the field. The first one was issued in nineteen o six. 262 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:11,280 Speaker 1: That was US Patent number eight oh eight eight ninety 263 00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:16,000 Speaker 1: seven Apparatus for Treating Air. It described a process for 264 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:18,640 Speaker 1: forcing air through a spray of water and then through 265 00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:21,080 Speaker 1: a set of baffles to remove any kind of pollutants 266 00:15:21,160 --> 00:15:24,280 Speaker 1: or impurities, before then heating or cooling it and adding 267 00:15:24,360 --> 00:15:28,720 Speaker 1: or removing humidity. In late nineteen o seven, Buffalo Forge 268 00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:33,680 Speaker 1: Company established Carrier Air Conditioning Company of America as a subsidy. 269 00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:37,480 Speaker 1: Willis Carrier was vice president and chief engineer. Among the 270 00:15:37,520 --> 00:15:41,480 Speaker 1: first clients were Flour Mills and Gillette. Too much humidity 271 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:45,120 Speaker 1: was causing the razor blades to rust. In nineteen eleven, 272 00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:49,440 Speaker 1: Carrier gave an address on his rational psychometric formulae at 273 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:53,120 Speaker 1: the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. This was also published 274 00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:56,080 Speaker 1: in the Society's journal, and the printed version started quote. 275 00:15:56,400 --> 00:16:01,000 Speaker 1: A specialized engineering field has recently developed, technically known as 276 00:16:01,160 --> 00:16:05,880 Speaker 1: air conditioning or the artificial regulation of atmospheric moisture. The 277 00:16:05,920 --> 00:16:09,400 Speaker 1: application of this new art too many varied industries has 278 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:13,840 Speaker 1: been demonstrated to be of greatest economic importance when applied 279 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:16,760 Speaker 1: to the blast furnace, that has increased the net profit 280 00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:20,080 Speaker 1: in the production of pig iron from fifty cents to 281 00:16:20,200 --> 00:16:23,120 Speaker 1: seventy cents per ton, and in the textile mill it 282 00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:26,720 Speaker 1: has increased the output from five to at the same 283 00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:30,440 Speaker 1: time greatly improving the quality and the hygienic conditions surrounding 284 00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:35,200 Speaker 1: the operative. And many other industries such as lithographing, the 285 00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:39,720 Speaker 1: manufacture of candy, bread, high explosives and photographic films, and 286 00:16:39,920 --> 00:16:44,000 Speaker 1: the drawing and preparing of delicate hygroscopic materials such as 287 00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:49,720 Speaker 1: macaroni and tobacco. The question of humidity is equally important. 288 00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:53,960 Speaker 1: While air conditioning has never been properly applied to coal mines, 289 00:16:54,520 --> 00:16:57,800 Speaker 1: the author is convinced that if this were made compulsory, 290 00:16:57,920 --> 00:17:02,680 Speaker 1: the greater number of mine explosions would be prevented. The 291 00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:06,639 Speaker 1: paper goes on to detail all kinds of formulas about temperature, 292 00:17:07,040 --> 00:17:10,439 Speaker 1: humidity and dew point, how they're inter related, how they 293 00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:14,000 Speaker 1: can be adjusted, and what the effect of those adjustments 294 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:16,639 Speaker 1: would be. So that introduction to the paper and the 295 00:17:16,680 --> 00:17:19,959 Speaker 1: paper itself highlight a couple of things. One is that 296 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:23,479 Speaker 1: initially air conditioning had a slightly different meaning than it 297 00:17:23,520 --> 00:17:27,280 Speaker 1: does today. Today, we most associate air conditioning with keeping 298 00:17:27,320 --> 00:17:31,440 Speaker 1: things cool and not too humid. Another is that, almost 299 00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:37,320 Speaker 1: without exception, it was not about the workers comfort. It 300 00:17:37,359 --> 00:17:40,119 Speaker 1: was about the products they were making and the temperature 301 00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:42,480 Speaker 1: and humidity needs of the materials and equipment that we're 302 00:17:42,520 --> 00:17:45,199 Speaker 1: working with in order to make them more productive and 303 00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:48,160 Speaker 1: to make the business more profitable. You can be hot 304 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:52,440 Speaker 1: and sweaty, but the paper cannot correct. We're going to 305 00:17:52,520 --> 00:17:56,119 Speaker 1: get into how air conditioning finally became a household commodity 306 00:17:56,160 --> 00:18:05,080 Speaker 1: after we first pause for a little sponsor break in 307 00:18:05,119 --> 00:18:08,760 Speaker 1: the early nineteen hundreds, the general public didn't get to 308 00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:12,320 Speaker 1: experience much air conditioning in the United States unless it 309 00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:15,159 Speaker 1: was something that was being employed at their work to 310 00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:18,480 Speaker 1: make their work more profitable. The St. Louis World's Fair 311 00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:21,639 Speaker 1: used mechanical cooling at the Missouri State Building in nineteen 312 00:18:21,640 --> 00:18:25,240 Speaker 1: o four. Roughly twenty million people attended the fair, and 313 00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:27,359 Speaker 1: for a lot of them this was the first ever 314 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:31,119 Speaker 1: experience they had with air conditioning. Home air conditioning was 315 00:18:31,160 --> 00:18:34,720 Speaker 1: still way out of reach. The first home air conditioner 316 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:38,160 Speaker 1: was installed in nineteen fourteen at the Charles Gates Mansion 317 00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:41,399 Speaker 1: in Minneapolis, and it's not clear whether or not that 318 00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:43,879 Speaker 1: air conditioner was ever actually used because no one was 319 00:18:43,960 --> 00:18:46,920 Speaker 1: living in the mansion at the time. That same year, 320 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:49,480 Speaker 1: Buffalo Forge Company decided to pull out of the air 321 00:18:49,520 --> 00:18:53,040 Speaker 1: conditioning business. Willis Carrier and some of his colleagues founded 322 00:18:53,080 --> 00:18:58,160 Speaker 1: Carrier Engineering Corporation the following year, with Carrier as its president. Still, 323 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:01,320 Speaker 1: at this point, air conditioning was only focused on industry, 324 00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:04,840 Speaker 1: not comfort, and the availability of air conditioning meant that 325 00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:07,680 Speaker 1: factories were being open in places where the climate had 326 00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:11,640 Speaker 1: not been very conducive to it before that. Industrial systems 327 00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:14,320 Speaker 1: did sometimes have a side effect of making things more 328 00:19:14,359 --> 00:19:17,760 Speaker 1: comfortable for workers, though. For example, the use of air 329 00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:20,960 Speaker 1: conditioning in tobacco processing kept the tobacco leaves at the 330 00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:23,879 Speaker 1: right humidity level, but it also really cut down on 331 00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:26,320 Speaker 1: the amount of dust that the workers were subjected to. 332 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:28,720 Speaker 1: There are, also, of course, other cases where it was 333 00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:33,600 Speaker 1: the opposite, where this new air conditioning system would make 334 00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:36,119 Speaker 1: it feel to employees like it was cold and damp, 335 00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:37,959 Speaker 1: and they would want to open the windows, and if 336 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:40,400 Speaker 1: they opened the windows, that would ruin the entire point 337 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:42,720 Speaker 1: of having had this air conditioning in the first place. 338 00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:46,600 Speaker 1: It was in the nineteen twenties that people started experiencing 339 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:49,600 Speaker 1: air conditioning that was specifically installed to make them more 340 00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:54,679 Speaker 1: comfortable while also still peeking all about UH profitability because 341 00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:58,440 Speaker 1: this was at movie theaters. There had been theater cooling 342 00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:01,280 Speaker 1: systems that combined ice, ba box and fans before this, 343 00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:04,359 Speaker 1: but they often weren't all that effective. They might wind 344 00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:06,600 Speaker 1: up with some parts of the theater being cold and 345 00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:10,760 Speaker 1: damp while others were hot and damp. Carrier Engineering Corporation 346 00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:14,680 Speaker 1: installed the first modern air conditioning system at a movie 347 00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:19,280 Speaker 1: theater at Metropolitan Theater in Los Angeles in nineteen twenty two, 348 00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:23,960 Speaker 1: and this was the start of three huge trends. Number one, 349 00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:29,240 Speaker 1: air conditioned movie theaters. Number two movie theaters heavily advertising 350 00:20:29,240 --> 00:20:32,880 Speaker 1: their air conditioning, and Number three, big movies coming out 351 00:20:32,920 --> 00:20:35,080 Speaker 1: in the summer when everybody would be going to the 352 00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:37,640 Speaker 1: movies to get out of the heat. By the start 353 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:40,320 Speaker 1: of World War Two, most of the movie theaters in 354 00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:43,760 Speaker 1: the southern United States had air conditioning. In the US 355 00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:46,280 Speaker 1: isn't the only place where movie theaters were The first 356 00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:49,439 Speaker 1: public buildings to be air conditioned. The first public building 357 00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:52,280 Speaker 1: to be air conditioned in Hong Kong was King Cinema 358 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:56,400 Speaker 1: that happened in ninety one. After movie theaters, the next 359 00:20:56,440 --> 00:20:59,240 Speaker 1: public buildings to be air conditioned in the United States 360 00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:03,640 Speaker 1: were mostly large department stores, especially in the South. Smaller 361 00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:06,760 Speaker 1: stores followed, and then came office buildings, with the first 362 00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 1: air conditioned offices often being banks. The United States government 363 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:14,280 Speaker 1: started air conditioning some of its buildings in the late 364 00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:18,240 Speaker 1: nineteen twenties. The House of Representatives chamber was air conditioned 365 00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:21,560 Speaker 1: in nineteen eight, and then the Senate in ninety nine, 366 00:21:21,640 --> 00:21:24,520 Speaker 1: and then the White House and Executive Building in nineteen thirty. 367 00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:27,879 Speaker 1: The Supreme Court was air conditioned in nineteen thirty one. 368 00:21:28,200 --> 00:21:30,800 Speaker 1: There had been some debate about whether these systems should 369 00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:35,040 Speaker 1: be installed, even though Washington, d c. Summers are famously 370 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:38,080 Speaker 1: punishing in terms of the heat and humidity. There were 371 00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:41,800 Speaker 1: worries that people would see legislators and Supreme Court justices 372 00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:44,800 Speaker 1: as weak if they were going to work in comfortable 373 00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:49,280 Speaker 1: air conditioned buildings. Over these same years, Carrier and other 374 00:21:49,320 --> 00:21:53,920 Speaker 1: engineers were continuing to refine air conditioning technology. This included 375 00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:58,240 Speaker 1: more efficient compressors for the refrigerants and refrigerants themselves that 376 00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:01,920 Speaker 1: were safer to use that impressed. Ammonia that was being 377 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:06,040 Speaker 1: used in the earliest air conditioners was extremely toxic. What 378 00:22:06,280 --> 00:22:10,600 Speaker 1: breathing ammonia air isn't good for me? Even so, by 379 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:13,880 Speaker 1: the nineteen twenties, home air conditioning was still pretty rare, 380 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:16,760 Speaker 1: unless a person was perhaps so wealthy that they could 381 00:22:16,760 --> 00:22:20,640 Speaker 1: afford to install one at their unoccupied mansion in Minnesota. 382 00:22:20,760 --> 00:22:23,880 Speaker 1: But that started to change as corporations started to develop 383 00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:28,080 Speaker 1: more compact and affordable models. Bridget Air debut a room 384 00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:33,800 Speaker 1: cooler in nine h H. Schultz and J. Q. Sherman 385 00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:37,040 Speaker 1: launched an early version of the window air conditioner that 386 00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:40,960 Speaker 1: was too expensive to actually be workable. The Thorn room 387 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:44,400 Speaker 1: air conditioner came out in nineteen thirty two, and most 388 00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:48,560 Speaker 1: of today's window air conditioners still look a lot like it. Yeah, 389 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:52,919 Speaker 1: the window air conditioning technology has not changed all that 390 00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:59,040 Speaker 1: much since this happened. Hotels had started installing air conditioning 391 00:22:59,119 --> 00:23:01,679 Speaker 1: not long after movie theaters did, but at first it 392 00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:04,760 Speaker 1: was only in the lobbies and the public spaces. The 393 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:08,320 Speaker 1: first hotel with air conditioned guest rooms was the Detroit 394 00:23:08,359 --> 00:23:12,280 Speaker 1: Statler in nineteen thirty four. Even though window air conditioners 395 00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:15,160 Speaker 1: were starting to become a lot more affordable. The Great 396 00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:18,760 Speaker 1: Depression took a toll on the whole industry. One exception 397 00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:21,679 Speaker 1: was in the American Southwest, which was also struck by 398 00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:24,720 Speaker 1: the dust Bowl. At about the same time, people who 399 00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:27,600 Speaker 1: could find the money to do so installed air conditioners 400 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:30,440 Speaker 1: to try to keep their relentless dust out of their homes. 401 00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:33,760 Speaker 1: In nine the Carrier Company went to the New York 402 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:38,080 Speaker 1: World's Fair with its Igloo of Tomorrow, which both demonstrated 403 00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:41,840 Speaker 1: and educated people about air conditioning. That same year, Packard 404 00:23:42,040 --> 00:23:45,200 Speaker 1: debuted the first air conditioned car, but that was pretty 405 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:48,840 Speaker 1: slow to be adopted. Only ten percent of cars sold 406 00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:51,680 Speaker 1: in the United States had air conditioning in nineteen sixty six, 407 00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:56,480 Speaker 1: but by two thousand it was Also in the nineteen thirties, 408 00:23:56,680 --> 00:23:59,760 Speaker 1: swamp coolers started to be manufactured to cool the air 409 00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:03,240 Speaker 1: in dry environments. Unlike most of the systems we've been 410 00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:06,040 Speaker 1: talking about, which used coils filled with some kind of 411 00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:10,680 Speaker 1: refrigerant to cool and dehumidify the air, swamp coolers cool 412 00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:14,880 Speaker 1: the air by adding moisture. Greyhound started air conditioning its 413 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:17,919 Speaker 1: buses in nineteen forty, and in nineteen forty two, power 414 00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:21,080 Speaker 1: plants and the United States started implementing summer peaking to 415 00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:24,919 Speaker 1: handle the increased electricity demand caused by all this air conditioning. 416 00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:28,560 Speaker 1: The first really affordable window units hit the market in 417 00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:31,800 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty one, which put air conditioning on the way 418 00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:35,720 Speaker 1: to becoming almost ubiquitous in the United States. Even though 419 00:24:35,840 --> 00:24:39,040 Speaker 1: John Gory's first attempt at creating a cooling system was 420 00:24:39,119 --> 00:24:42,560 Speaker 1: all about patients in a hospital, hospitals were slow to 421 00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:46,679 Speaker 1: adopt air conditioning. By nineteen sixty two, only fifteen percent 422 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:50,119 Speaker 1: of hospital patient rooms in the United States were air conditioned. 423 00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:53,960 Speaker 1: That same year, a Federal Housing Administration official was quoted 424 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:56,800 Speaker 1: as saying, quote, within a few years, any house that 425 00:24:56,920 --> 00:25:00,520 Speaker 1: is not air conditioned will probably be obsolescent. I couldn't 426 00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:03,880 Speaker 1: find data about public schools, but just as a side note, 427 00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:09,120 Speaker 1: I was in public school in North Carolina from I 428 00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:12,320 Speaker 1: was almost never in an air conditioned classroom, Nor was 429 00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:15,960 Speaker 1: my college dorm air conditioned. I'm a few years ahead 430 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:18,000 Speaker 1: of you, but by that point I was in Florida 431 00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:21,880 Speaker 1: and everything was air conditioned. So yeah, So the only 432 00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:25,240 Speaker 1: classrooms I remember being air conditioned were in one case, 433 00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:28,920 Speaker 1: being in a newly constructed part of the school that 434 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:31,119 Speaker 1: was like brand new. We also had these things that 435 00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:35,680 Speaker 1: were called portable classroom units really trailers. The trailers were 436 00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:37,639 Speaker 1: air conditioned most of the time with like a little 437 00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:43,439 Speaker 1: window unit. Um, and that was really it. So we 438 00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:45,399 Speaker 1: had this whole system of if it was going to 439 00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:47,919 Speaker 1: be too hot for it to be safe in the classroom, 440 00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:54,480 Speaker 1: we had an hour early dismissal. Huh yeah, so uh, 441 00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:57,360 Speaker 1: that's the story of how hot it was. There would 442 00:25:57,440 --> 00:26:00,160 Speaker 1: usually be an oscillating fan mounted up on the wall, 443 00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:02,960 Speaker 1: and just the kids in the classroom seats would just 444 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:05,000 Speaker 1: sort of sway back and forth trying to catch the 445 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:11,440 Speaker 1: air from the oscillating fan for as long as possible. Meanwhile, 446 00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:13,760 Speaker 1: I was like the weirdy kid, like, can I stand outside, 447 00:26:13,760 --> 00:26:17,440 Speaker 1: it's cold here. Um. Central air conditioning debuted in the 448 00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:20,440 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies that was also in the middle of an 449 00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:24,240 Speaker 1: energy crisis. This prompted the US federal government to put 450 00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:28,240 Speaker 1: together its first federal energy efficiency standard for air conditioning. 451 00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:31,280 Speaker 1: So to be clear, when central air conditioning debut, there 452 00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:33,920 Speaker 1: were plenty of places that were having the whole building 453 00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:37,760 Speaker 1: air conditioned, but this was like a custom designed system 454 00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:41,080 Speaker 1: most of the time, rather than having a model for 455 00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:44,400 Speaker 1: central air conditioning that could be applied to a lot 456 00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:47,919 Speaker 1: of different homes. Like we said earlier, air conditioning was 457 00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:50,520 Speaker 1: adopted much faster in the United States than in the 458 00:26:50,560 --> 00:26:54,000 Speaker 1: rest of the world. In nineteen eighty, half of the 459 00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:57,520 Speaker 1: world's air conditioning was installed in the United States. This 460 00:26:57,640 --> 00:26:59,639 Speaker 1: means that the United States has also been using a 461 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:02,600 Speaker 1: lot more electricity on air conditioning than the rest of 462 00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:05,760 Speaker 1: the world has, even as other nations have started adopting 463 00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:08,440 Speaker 1: air conditioning a lot more rapidly. In more recent years, 464 00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:13,120 Speaker 1: in the United States was using more electricity for air 465 00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:16,560 Speaker 1: conditioning than the entire rest of the world was, and 466 00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:19,879 Speaker 1: was using more electricity just for a c than the 467 00:27:20,119 --> 00:27:23,440 Speaker 1: entire continent of Africa was using for any purpose at all. 468 00:27:23,840 --> 00:27:28,320 Speaker 1: According to the Energy Information Administration's Residential Energy Consumption Survey 469 00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:32,320 Speaker 1: that was released in twenty eleven, seven percent of households 470 00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:35,120 Speaker 1: in the United States have an air conditioner or central air. 471 00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:39,800 Speaker 1: By comparison, eleven percent of households in Brazil and two 472 00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:42,440 Speaker 1: percent of households in India had air conditioning at the 473 00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:46,200 Speaker 1: same time. However, the popularity of air conditioning is spreading, 474 00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:49,480 Speaker 1: and it's already approached the saturation point in some other countries, 475 00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:54,760 Speaker 1: including China, South Korea and Japan. Fifty million air conditioning 476 00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:58,280 Speaker 1: units were sold in China alone. This has of course 477 00:27:58,359 --> 00:28:01,840 Speaker 1: led to environmental cons earns as a global adoption of 478 00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:04,680 Speaker 1: air conditioning starts to align with what already happened in 479 00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:08,959 Speaker 1: the United States. According to some estimates, electricity demand for 480 00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:12,760 Speaker 1: air conditioning could increase tenfold by the year twenty fifty. 481 00:28:13,160 --> 00:28:16,160 Speaker 1: That is on top of concerns about refrigerants and their 482 00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:18,880 Speaker 1: effects on the environment. Listeners of a certain age will 483 00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:22,560 Speaker 1: probably remember concerns about the chlorofluoro carbons like free on, 484 00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:24,720 Speaker 1: which were banned in the late nineteen eighties because of 485 00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:28,000 Speaker 1: their role in depleting the planet's ozone layer. And then 486 00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:31,200 Speaker 1: there's the fact that air conditioners pump hot air out 487 00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:34,720 Speaker 1: and cool air in, so the air just gets hotter 488 00:28:34,840 --> 00:28:37,640 Speaker 1: around any building where air conditioning is used, which then 489 00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:41,720 Speaker 1: requires more air conditioning. So in some places architects and 490 00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:44,360 Speaker 1: designers are looking at ways to incorporate some of those 491 00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:48,280 Speaker 1: elements of vernacular architecture so that it doesn't take quite 492 00:28:48,360 --> 00:28:51,400 Speaker 1: so much electricity and mechanical air conditioning to cool the 493 00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:55,720 Speaker 1: place off. The existence of air conditioning has also had 494 00:28:55,760 --> 00:28:59,920 Speaker 1: a huge impact on so many things, including arc at 495 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:05,120 Speaker 1: extra human behavior and demographics, everything from fewer premature deaths 496 00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:09,080 Speaker 1: during heat waves to the existence of computers since their 497 00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:12,600 Speaker 1: components can't really be manufactured without temperature and dust control. 498 00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:16,200 Speaker 1: The advent of air conditioning has been credited with people 499 00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:20,320 Speaker 1: retiring to the South, particularly to Florida. It's also been 500 00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:24,520 Speaker 1: credited with leading to more industrialization and urbanizing parts of 501 00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:28,600 Speaker 1: the American South. There is still some debate about correlation 502 00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:32,360 Speaker 1: versus causation, but in general, air conditioning has been cited 503 00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:36,440 Speaker 1: as one element in a massive Southern population boom in 504 00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:39,880 Speaker 1: the last fifty years. As one example that ties all 505 00:29:39,880 --> 00:29:43,400 Speaker 1: of this together, during the post World War two Baby Boom, 506 00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:47,000 Speaker 1: huge numbers of white, middle class Americans were buying houses 507 00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:50,400 Speaker 1: in the suburbs. Many of those newly designed houses were 508 00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:54,360 Speaker 1: built to be cooled through air conditioning. Particularly popular in 509 00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:56,440 Speaker 1: the region of the southern US that's known as the 510 00:29:56,480 --> 00:30:00,520 Speaker 1: Sun Belt was the ranch house, one story flat, often 511 00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:03,040 Speaker 1: with a large picture window in the living room but small, 512 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:06,840 Speaker 1: narrow windows elsewhere. It had none of the vernacular design 513 00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:09,160 Speaker 1: elements that we talked about earlier meant to help a 514 00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:12,120 Speaker 1: building stay cool, because it was meant to be cooled 515 00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:15,240 Speaker 1: with a C. And then there's another trend that wraps 516 00:30:15,320 --> 00:30:19,560 Speaker 1: back around how air conditioning really started out to help industries. 517 00:30:19,960 --> 00:30:23,840 Speaker 1: According to research by economist William Nordhouse, around the world, 518 00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:27,600 Speaker 1: as a general trend, the hotter the average temperature, the 519 00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:31,320 Speaker 1: less productive people are. In the past, this trend has 520 00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:34,640 Speaker 1: been used to prop up racist stereotypes about people from 521 00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:38,120 Speaker 1: the hottest parts of the world, But really there's just 522 00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:41,240 Speaker 1: a lot of data that being hot makes it harder 523 00:30:41,280 --> 00:30:46,840 Speaker 1: to be productive. Just as one example, this summer that 524 00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:50,000 Speaker 1: we're recording this podcast, the Harvard th H. Chan School 525 00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:52,840 Speaker 1: of Public Health published a study about how students who 526 00:30:52,880 --> 00:30:57,120 Speaker 1: lived in non air conditioned buildings in Boston performed more 527 00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:01,840 Speaker 1: poorly on cognitive tests than their peer who had air conditioning. So, 528 00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:05,440 Speaker 1: at least in theory, air conditioning or some method of 529 00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:09,240 Speaker 1: cooling makes countries with a really hot climate more productive 530 00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:11,880 Speaker 1: than they could be without it. So it's still about 531 00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:15,920 Speaker 1: productivity and profitability as much as it's about people's comfort. 532 00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:21,719 Speaker 1: The two are kind of um inseparable, really part of 533 00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:25,480 Speaker 1: how it all works. Um, do you have icy cold? Listener? Mail? 534 00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:28,680 Speaker 1: Kind of I got h It's a very brief mail 535 00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:31,760 Speaker 1: that we got from Nina. Nina says, thought you might 536 00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:35,160 Speaker 1: be interested to read this update on Ann Lister as 537 00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:38,160 Speaker 1: she's recently been honored. She's got that in quotes with 538 00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:41,360 Speaker 1: a blue plaque in Yorkshire and there is a link 539 00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:43,280 Speaker 1: to an article from the BBC. So this is a 540 00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:46,760 Speaker 1: plaque that was unveiled at Holy Trinity Church on July. 541 00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:50,880 Speaker 1: That is the church where Ann Lister and and Walker 542 00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:55,120 Speaker 1: went to church on Easter and had a communion together 543 00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:57,240 Speaker 1: and like that was a symbol of their marriage to 544 00:31:57,320 --> 00:32:02,120 Speaker 1: each other. This plaque describes this as a quote gender 545 00:32:02,200 --> 00:32:07,200 Speaker 1: nonconforming entrepreneur celebrated marital commitment without legal recognition to a 546 00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:11,000 Speaker 1: walker in this church established an eighteen thirty four. So 547 00:32:11,080 --> 00:32:14,080 Speaker 1: this has led to a furro or about the fact 548 00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:18,680 Speaker 1: that the plaque describes and Lister as gender nonconforming but 549 00:32:18,800 --> 00:32:21,000 Speaker 1: not as a lesbian. And one of the things that 550 00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:23,040 Speaker 1: we talked about in that episode is that like the 551 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:27,160 Speaker 1: word lesbian wasn't really being used in that sense, but 552 00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:29,920 Speaker 1: the way she wrote about her own experience is clearly 553 00:32:29,960 --> 00:32:33,560 Speaker 1: something we would describe as a lesbian today and a 554 00:32:33,560 --> 00:32:36,600 Speaker 1: lot of times she's noted as the first modern lesbian. 555 00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:41,000 Speaker 1: So the trust that established this plaque released an apology 556 00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:44,400 Speaker 1: afterwards saying we recognize that this has hurt people and 557 00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:49,040 Speaker 1: we apologize. UM. So there is a commemorative plaque now there, 558 00:32:49,160 --> 00:32:53,240 Speaker 1: but the commemorative plaque is controversial. If you would like 559 00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:56,000 Speaker 1: to write to us about this or any other podcast, 560 00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:59,520 Speaker 1: where a history podcast at how stuff works dot com. 561 00:32:59,760 --> 00:33:02,840 Speaker 1: We are also all over social media at the name 562 00:33:02,880 --> 00:33:05,040 Speaker 1: missed in History. That's where you'll find your our Facebook 563 00:33:05,160 --> 00:33:08,640 Speaker 1: or Twitter or Instagram, and our Pinterest. You can come 564 00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:11,720 Speaker 1: to our website, which is missed in History dot com, 565 00:33:11,720 --> 00:33:13,440 Speaker 1: where you will find show notes of all the episodes 566 00:33:13,480 --> 00:33:15,400 Speaker 1: that Holly and I have done together, a searchable archive 567 00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:17,920 Speaker 1: of every podcast every You will also find a link 568 00:33:17,960 --> 00:33:22,120 Speaker 1: to our brand new te public t Shirts store, where 569 00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:25,720 Speaker 1: you can find shirts that have little uh some of 570 00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:29,080 Speaker 1: them inside jokes about some of our favorite episodes. Some 571 00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:31,240 Speaker 1: of them are shirts with our logo on. Also other 572 00:33:31,320 --> 00:33:36,840 Speaker 1: products like mugs and notebooks, et cetera. So you can 573 00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:39,080 Speaker 1: come to our website at missing history dot com to 574 00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:40,720 Speaker 1: do all that, and you can subscribe to our show 575 00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:43,320 Speaker 1: on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, and wherever else you want 576 00:33:43,320 --> 00:33:50,760 Speaker 1: to get a podcast for more on this and thousands 577 00:33:50,760 --> 00:33:59,080 Speaker 1: of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com.