1 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:09,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Invention, a production of I Heart Radio. Hey, 2 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:12,480 Speaker 1: welcome to Invention. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm 3 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:15,120 Speaker 1: Joe McCormick, and we're back with part two of our 4 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:18,560 Speaker 1: exploration of the invention of air conditioning. Now, in the 5 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:21,840 Speaker 1: last episode, we focused on a lot of ancient techniques 6 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:25,239 Speaker 1: for versions of passive cooling, and some of these involved 7 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:29,760 Speaker 1: like fans, circulation of air on the body, or designing 8 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:34,600 Speaker 1: buildings to increase circulation of air. Some involved chilling air 9 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:38,520 Speaker 1: by passing it through like underground channels of cold water 10 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:43,120 Speaker 1: to particularly ingenious solution information persia. But today we're going 11 00:00:43,159 --> 00:00:46,800 Speaker 1: to be getting into the modern science and chemistry of 12 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:50,000 Speaker 1: air conditioning. Yeah, because, as we discussed in the last episode, 13 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:53,000 Speaker 1: all these various techniques of the past, they were they 14 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 1: all ranged from like mild to moderate in their effects, 15 00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:00,360 Speaker 1: and when used together, you know, they could imp prove 16 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:03,880 Speaker 1: the quality of life for the individuals that we're living 17 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:08,560 Speaker 1: with them. But modern air conditioning, as we'll explore, was 18 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:11,440 Speaker 1: a huge game changer. Yeah. Now, this is going to 19 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:13,640 Speaker 1: be one of those episodes where we can't name a 20 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:18,600 Speaker 1: single person as the undisputed inventor of modern air conditioning. Instead, 21 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:20,200 Speaker 1: I think what we see is a lot of different 22 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:23,600 Speaker 1: engineers and inventors at different times coming up with new 23 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:27,880 Speaker 1: versions and variations of cooling and refrigeration technology. So it's 24 00:01:27,880 --> 00:01:29,440 Speaker 1: going to be inevitable that we're not going to be 25 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:32,320 Speaker 1: able to talk about all of the people who contributed 26 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:35,800 Speaker 1: some important early experiment or design that led to modern 27 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:38,679 Speaker 1: refrigeration and air conditioning. Instead, we're going to be focusing 28 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:42,000 Speaker 1: on a few highlights we found interesting, and likewise, we 29 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:44,480 Speaker 1: tend we're going to discuss some things that are more 30 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:49,720 Speaker 1: refrigeration based in the technology, but where we're focusing mostly 31 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:53,600 Speaker 1: on air conditioning. And yet at the same time, the 32 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:56,840 Speaker 1: history of these technologies is kind of in they're kind 33 00:01:56,840 --> 00:02:00,560 Speaker 1: of interwoven with one another because they're they're both attempting 34 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:02,280 Speaker 1: to do a very similar thing, and that is to 35 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:06,960 Speaker 1: take a warm substance, be it uh, some water or 36 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:10,400 Speaker 1: a certain body of air and making them cooler or 37 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:14,160 Speaker 1: making them absolutely cold. And in many cases, modern air 38 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:17,360 Speaker 1: conditioners and modern refrigerators work on the same principles. Not 39 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:20,040 Speaker 1: in every case, but in a lot of cases they do. Uh. 40 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:21,800 Speaker 1: And so the more I thought about this, the more 41 00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:24,760 Speaker 1: I thought it would make sense to start with a brief, 42 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:29,000 Speaker 1: simplified explanation of how modern air conditioning generally works, and 43 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:31,120 Speaker 1: then we can after that go back in time and 44 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:32,560 Speaker 1: work our way up to it with some of these 45 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:36,040 Speaker 1: interesting stories about early stabs at it. So, as we 46 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:38,600 Speaker 1: mentioned in the last episode, there are multiple ways to 47 00:02:38,639 --> 00:02:40,640 Speaker 1: cool the air in a room or cool the people 48 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:44,360 Speaker 1: in a room, but the most common method today uses 49 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:48,799 Speaker 1: a system of hollow coils filled with a fluid called 50 00:02:48,840 --> 00:02:52,200 Speaker 1: a refrigerant, which is usually something chosen because as a 51 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:55,200 Speaker 1: low boiling point, meaning it changes from a liquid to 52 00:02:55,240 --> 00:02:58,720 Speaker 1: a gas at a low temperature, and the fluid in 53 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:02,919 Speaker 1: this coil system flows constantly in a circuit that takes 54 00:03:02,919 --> 00:03:06,160 Speaker 1: it back and forth between the inside and the outside 55 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:08,720 Speaker 1: of your house or whatever building or space you're trying 56 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:12,280 Speaker 1: to cool, converting back and forth between a liquid and 57 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:15,519 Speaker 1: a gas and carrying heat with it one way as 58 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:19,160 Speaker 1: it goes. So so the whole way and air conditioner works. 59 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:22,720 Speaker 1: The simple version is is just using this refrigerant to 60 00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:25,520 Speaker 1: absorb heat from the air in your house and then 61 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:28,119 Speaker 1: dump it outside. And I'm not going to get into 62 00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:31,720 Speaker 1: super technical chemistry or anything like that. We're just giving 63 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:34,320 Speaker 1: you the cliffs notes version here, so the cliffs notes 64 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:37,119 Speaker 1: version is when when you got this fluid the refrigerant, 65 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:40,640 Speaker 1: it's in a cold liquid form. It flows through this 66 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:42,880 Speaker 1: coil on the inside of your house known as the 67 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:46,440 Speaker 1: evaporator coil, and these coils get they get that there's 68 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:49,600 Speaker 1: a blower motor that blows the air over them really fast, 69 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:53,520 Speaker 1: and this causes these cold coils to absorb heat from 70 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:56,400 Speaker 1: the warm air inside your house and cool that air off. 71 00:03:56,400 --> 00:03:58,360 Speaker 1: In the process, the heat from the air is going 72 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:01,320 Speaker 1: into the coils and then the nice cold air of 73 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:03,839 Speaker 1: course that the results from this blows out your ace 74 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:06,440 Speaker 1: events and it's just it's just now the indoor air 75 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:09,040 Speaker 1: that has been nice and dehumidified and cooled off by 76 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:11,920 Speaker 1: passing over these coils. The heat from the warm air 77 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:14,680 Speaker 1: inside your house heats up this fluid inside the coils 78 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:17,640 Speaker 1: and converts it from a liquid into a gas. And 79 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:19,360 Speaker 1: the air in your house can do this because of 80 00:04:19,400 --> 00:04:21,880 Speaker 1: the refrigerant. Again, it's got a really low boiling point, 81 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:24,919 Speaker 1: so it's very easy to convert this liquid into a gas. 82 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:28,800 Speaker 1: This is something we see commonly in many early experiments 83 00:04:28,839 --> 00:04:32,320 Speaker 1: with with refrigeration and with air conditioning is they find 84 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:35,880 Speaker 1: some kind of chemical like ether like alcohol that has 85 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:39,560 Speaker 1: a low boiling point, so it's easy to cause this evaporation. 86 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:43,320 Speaker 1: As we know from the last episode, evaporation sucks energy 87 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:46,640 Speaker 1: out of the surroundings. It's an energy hungry process and 88 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:49,520 Speaker 1: so it cools off everything around it. But now you've 89 00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:52,279 Speaker 1: had these coils full of refrigerants that have absorbed the 90 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:54,160 Speaker 1: heat energy from the air in your house, and that 91 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:57,120 Speaker 1: heat energy has to go somewhere, right, It can't just disappear. 92 00:04:57,160 --> 00:05:00,320 Speaker 1: It's got to be dumped. So the fluid then blows 93 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:03,360 Speaker 1: outside and somewhere along the way here. Often, if you've 94 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:06,479 Speaker 1: got like a you know, an outdoor unit, uh, it 95 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:09,000 Speaker 1: will go through a compressor, and that compressor will be 96 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:11,680 Speaker 1: in the outdoor unit, and the compressor is powered by 97 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:15,880 Speaker 1: a mechanical device that forcibly smashes that vapor and increases 98 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:19,800 Speaker 1: its pressure by using electrically powered components to reduce the volume, 99 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:24,000 Speaker 1: smashes it down, and then this pressurized refrigerant flows through 100 00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:27,559 Speaker 1: condenser coils. These are in the unit outside the house 101 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:30,080 Speaker 1: or in the part of the air conditioner that's sticking outside, 102 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:33,599 Speaker 1: which are another set of coils exposed to the outside air. 103 00:05:33,960 --> 00:05:36,520 Speaker 1: And this of course, it has another fan that rapidly 104 00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:40,200 Speaker 1: blows the outside air over these coils, so the outside 105 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:44,760 Speaker 1: air rapidly absorbs the heat from the hot compressed refrigerant 106 00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:47,560 Speaker 1: inside the coils. The heat gets just dumped out into 107 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:50,719 Speaker 1: the air outside, and this allows the refrigerant to cool 108 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:53,720 Speaker 1: off and condense back down into a liquid. And then finally, 109 00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:57,360 Speaker 1: before the refrigerant can go through the evaporator coils inside again, 110 00:05:57,400 --> 00:06:00,520 Speaker 1: it passes through a device called an expansion valve, which 111 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:03,880 Speaker 1: lowers the pressure that the compressor forced into it. So 112 00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:06,159 Speaker 1: now you're back to what you started with. You've got 113 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:09,360 Speaker 1: this low boiling point liquid that can again be exposed 114 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:11,599 Speaker 1: to the air inside your house. Blowing that air over 115 00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:14,159 Speaker 1: it really fast with a fan and it cools the 116 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:17,400 Speaker 1: air down and removes humidity from it in the process. Yeah, 117 00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:19,039 Speaker 1: when you lay it all out, it it's a it's 118 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:22,200 Speaker 1: the celaborate process. I mean, we see again it's easy 119 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:25,880 Speaker 1: to take air conditioning for granted when it is working. Um, 120 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:27,839 Speaker 1: but it does remind me how when when I was 121 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:30,919 Speaker 1: a kid, we would go to my my grandfather's house 122 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:35,400 Speaker 1: and he he had window units in you know, the 123 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:38,840 Speaker 1: major rooms of the of the house. And when one 124 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:43,320 Speaker 1: was not was was not functioning. He was a superhanded guy, 125 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:45,279 Speaker 1: so he would take it out of the window and 126 00:06:45,320 --> 00:06:48,000 Speaker 1: he would take it apart and repair it and tinker 127 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 1: with it. And I remember at the time just marveling 128 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:52,920 Speaker 1: at all the things that seemed to be going on 129 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:56,200 Speaker 1: inside of that air conditioning um and he was able 130 00:06:56,240 --> 00:06:58,240 Speaker 1: to patch it up and get it back on the 131 00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:01,640 Speaker 1: window and functioning again. Yeah, it is weird. I tried, 132 00:07:02,200 --> 00:07:04,800 Speaker 1: Like it's hard. I remember when I was younger not 133 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:08,520 Speaker 1: understanding how air conditioning worked and being kind of amazed 134 00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:11,560 Speaker 1: by it, and and I even remember having it explained 135 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:13,720 Speaker 1: to me and like just in not clicking. And I 136 00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:16,520 Speaker 1: gotta admit, when we were preparing for this episode, I 137 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:19,200 Speaker 1: spent a long time like looking at the diagrams and 138 00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:21,400 Speaker 1: trying to hack at it and make sure, like, okay, am, 139 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:24,960 Speaker 1: I sure I'm understanding this right, because it's not very intuitive, 140 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:28,160 Speaker 1: right it's And the thing is, it's household. Peers are 141 00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:30,480 Speaker 1: rather into it. It's like a hot water heater. It's 142 00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:32,480 Speaker 1: rather simple. You know, you don't have to do much 143 00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:35,040 Speaker 1: tinkering with it to understand it. I just explained to 144 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:38,080 Speaker 1: my son how one works that the day because I neglected, 145 00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:39,760 Speaker 1: I think, to ever, like tell him where the hot 146 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:41,880 Speaker 1: water came from. So I was like, oh, let's talk 147 00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:45,760 Speaker 1: about where all the hot water went. Just now. Likewise, 148 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:49,480 Speaker 1: you know, the furnace, I feels a lot more. It's 149 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:52,080 Speaker 1: a lot easier to understand Washington seeing a dry or 150 00:07:52,080 --> 00:07:55,560 Speaker 1: an oven. But yeah, the air conditioning requires a few 151 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:58,120 Speaker 1: more steps of understanding and really grasp what it's doing well, 152 00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:01,600 Speaker 1: I think, especially because it involves chemistry and phase changes 153 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:04,600 Speaker 1: having to do with like phase changes between liquid and 154 00:08:04,640 --> 00:08:08,520 Speaker 1: gas and gas and liquid and compression and condensation and 155 00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:10,880 Speaker 1: all that. So these things I think are less intuitive 156 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:13,800 Speaker 1: to us than just putting heat into something. But another 157 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:16,440 Speaker 1: way you can think about an air conditioner is that 158 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:20,960 Speaker 1: it's a heater for outside. An air conditioner is just 159 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:24,080 Speaker 1: a heater from outside, and the heat energy that it 160 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:26,840 Speaker 1: draws to heat the outside comes from the air in 161 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:30,640 Speaker 1: your house. And of course it accesses that heat energy 162 00:08:30,760 --> 00:08:34,760 Speaker 1: very rapidly by by having this this low boiling point 163 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:37,959 Speaker 1: liquid and blowing air over it really fast. All right, 164 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:41,000 Speaker 1: So we're going to talk about how we got to 165 00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:44,280 Speaker 1: this modern technological marvel that is the air conditioning unit. 166 00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:46,920 Speaker 1: But before we get there, I want to talk to 167 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:49,760 Speaker 1: us a little bit about but we want to basically 168 00:08:49,840 --> 00:08:52,320 Speaker 1: drop in on a favorite invention and stuff to blow 169 00:08:52,360 --> 00:08:56,000 Speaker 1: your mind historical figure, and that is, of course Benjamin Franklin. 170 00:08:56,160 --> 00:08:59,040 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, so he actually did some early air conditioning 171 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:02,560 Speaker 1: style experiments. Yes, Now to be clear, Ben Franklin did 172 00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:07,120 Speaker 1: not invent air conditioning. And I it's interesting you see 173 00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:11,000 Speaker 1: this tippit about Benjamin Franklin, either correctly attributed or sometimes 174 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:13,640 Speaker 1: incorrectly attributed, show up on a lot of different air 175 00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:16,560 Speaker 1: conditioning company websites. I don't know if it's about just 176 00:09:16,679 --> 00:09:19,679 Speaker 1: you know, adding engaging content on the website. So it's 177 00:09:19,679 --> 00:09:21,679 Speaker 1: about you know, you know, ranking and search and so 178 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:24,559 Speaker 1: they just put some some some fun content on there, 179 00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:29,040 Speaker 1: getting some of that founding father Mojoe. But if you've 180 00:09:29,080 --> 00:09:32,520 Speaker 1: read anywhere that Ben Franklin invented air conditioning, uh, he 181 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:35,080 Speaker 1: did not, I want to be clear on that. But 182 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:38,960 Speaker 1: he did experiment with the refrigerating effects of various liquids 183 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:42,920 Speaker 1: and the role evaporation plays in the process. He experimented 184 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:46,959 Speaker 1: with Cambridge professor John Hadley using ether and a bellows 185 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:49,960 Speaker 1: to cool a mercury thermometer down to twenty five below freezing. 186 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:52,720 Speaker 1: And this makes sense because while this is not exactly 187 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:55,480 Speaker 1: an air conditioning unit, it is basically taking from the 188 00:09:55,520 --> 00:09:57,480 Speaker 1: same principles that will be employed in the kind of 189 00:09:57,520 --> 00:10:00,720 Speaker 1: air conditioning unit we just described, having something with a 190 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:03,920 Speaker 1: low boiling point, like while water boils at two hundred 191 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:06,560 Speaker 1: and twelve degrees fahrenheit or a hundred degrees celsius, the 192 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:09,360 Speaker 1: boiling point of ether, I think diethyl ether is around 193 00:10:09,480 --> 00:10:12,560 Speaker 1: ninety four degrees fahrenhydro thirty five degrees celsius, so it 194 00:10:12,559 --> 00:10:16,439 Speaker 1: boils much more easily. Blowing air rapidly over a massive 195 00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:19,240 Speaker 1: ether is kind of like the blower in a modern 196 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:23,040 Speaker 1: AC unit blowing air over an evaporator coil full of refrigerant. 197 00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:27,080 Speaker 1: It rapidly evaporates, and it steals energy from the surrounding air, 198 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:30,920 Speaker 1: thus cooling the air. So Franklin wrote about all this 199 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:33,840 Speaker 1: uh and about sort of the general knowledge of cooling 200 00:10:33,840 --> 00:10:36,640 Speaker 1: technology to do is aware of in a seventeen fifty 201 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:40,000 Speaker 1: eight letter to John Lenning and UH. And this this 202 00:10:40,080 --> 00:10:43,480 Speaker 1: letter is available online, and I want to read read 203 00:10:43,480 --> 00:10:46,840 Speaker 1: a portion of it here, referring to the experiment that 204 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:50,080 Speaker 1: we just mentioned. Quote from this experiment, one may see 205 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:52,720 Speaker 1: the possibility of freezing a man to death on a 206 00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:55,400 Speaker 1: warm summer's day if you were to stand in a 207 00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:58,840 Speaker 1: passage through which the wind blew briskly, and to be 208 00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:03,040 Speaker 1: wet frequently with ether, a spirit that is more inflammable 209 00:11:03,040 --> 00:11:08,360 Speaker 1: than brandy or common spirits of wine. Okay, Franklin maybe 210 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:11,400 Speaker 1: knew something about brandy and wine. No, no, I don't 211 00:11:11,400 --> 00:11:14,360 Speaker 1: mean to. I imagine he did. I believe he did. 212 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:17,960 Speaker 1: But yeah, so he's talking about the evaporation principle. Then again, 213 00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:20,520 Speaker 1: especially if you have something with a very low boiling point, 214 00:11:20,559 --> 00:11:23,200 Speaker 1: you like put alcohol or ether or something all over 215 00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:26,160 Speaker 1: a person because it evaporates very readily, and then you 216 00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:28,880 Speaker 1: blow a fan on them, it will chill them even 217 00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:31,120 Speaker 1: more than blowing a fan on like a person wet 218 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:33,760 Speaker 1: with water. Right now, this first part of the letter 219 00:11:34,040 --> 00:11:36,800 Speaker 1: about freezing a man to death on a warm summer's day, 220 00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:39,520 Speaker 1: you see that thrown around a lot, and it does 221 00:11:39,559 --> 00:11:42,240 Speaker 1: show up on a number of air conditioning websites out there. 222 00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:44,800 Speaker 1: But the rest of the weather the letter is really 223 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:46,640 Speaker 1: cool too, So I want to read the next passage 224 00:11:46,640 --> 00:11:48,560 Speaker 1: of it. It's a bit longer, where he just talks 225 00:11:48,559 --> 00:11:53,080 Speaker 1: about refrigeration technology in general. Quote. It is but within 226 00:11:53,160 --> 00:11:56,240 Speaker 1: these few years that the European philosophers seem to have 227 00:11:56,360 --> 00:11:59,800 Speaker 1: known this power in nature of cooling bodies by evaporation. 228 00:12:00,320 --> 00:12:02,679 Speaker 1: But in the Yeast they have long been acquainted with it. 229 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:05,319 Speaker 1: A friend tells me there is a passage in Bernis 230 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:09,520 Speaker 1: travels through Indostan, ridden near one hundred years ago, that 231 00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:13,040 Speaker 1: mentions it as a practice, in traveling over dry deserts 232 00:12:13,080 --> 00:12:16,520 Speaker 1: in that hot climate, to carry water in flasks wrapped 233 00:12:16,679 --> 00:12:20,120 Speaker 1: in wet woolen cloths and hung on the shady side 234 00:12:20,120 --> 00:12:22,800 Speaker 1: of the camel or carriage. But in the free air, 235 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:27,280 Speaker 1: whereby as the cloths gradually grow drier, the water contained 236 00:12:27,280 --> 00:12:30,520 Speaker 1: in the flask is made cooler. They have likewise a 237 00:12:30,600 --> 00:12:34,640 Speaker 1: kind of earthen pots, unglazed, which let the water gradually 238 00:12:34,679 --> 00:12:37,480 Speaker 1: and slowly ooze through their pores, so as to keep 239 00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:42,760 Speaker 1: the outside a little wet, notwithstanding the continual evaporation which 240 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:46,200 Speaker 1: gives great coldness to the vessel and the water contained 241 00:12:46,240 --> 00:12:49,280 Speaker 1: in it. Even our common sailors seem to have had 242 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:52,240 Speaker 1: some notion of this property. For I remember that, being 243 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:54,679 Speaker 1: at sea when I was a youth, I observed one 244 00:12:54,679 --> 00:12:57,400 Speaker 1: of the sailors during a calm in the night, often 245 00:12:57,440 --> 00:13:00,160 Speaker 1: wetting his finger in his mouth and in holding it 246 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:02,960 Speaker 1: up in the air to discover, as he said, if 247 00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:06,120 Speaker 1: the air had any motion, and from which side it came. 248 00:13:06,480 --> 00:13:09,240 Speaker 1: And this he expected to do by finding one side 249 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:12,480 Speaker 1: of his finger grows suddenly cold, and from that side 250 00:13:12,679 --> 00:13:15,000 Speaker 1: he should look for the next wind, which I then 251 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:19,839 Speaker 1: laughed at as a fancy what. Some people didn't like 252 00:13:20,160 --> 00:13:23,120 Speaker 1: Ben Franklin at the time would not have accepted that 253 00:13:23,480 --> 00:13:25,480 Speaker 1: the cold side of a wet finger is where the 254 00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:30,439 Speaker 1: wind is coming from. His youth him. Yeah. So this 255 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:32,840 Speaker 1: letter and and various other documents can be found at 256 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:37,760 Speaker 1: founders dot archives dot gov. Um Uh, there's a number 257 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:41,480 Speaker 1: of writings from figures like Ben Franklin there. Ben Franklin's 258 00:13:41,520 --> 00:13:44,240 Speaker 1: writings are are are typically worth checking out. A lot 259 00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:46,480 Speaker 1: of his letters are just fantastic. There was one we 260 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:48,719 Speaker 1: quoted at length in a couple of stuff to Blow 261 00:13:48,760 --> 00:13:50,840 Speaker 1: your Mind episodes we did about the early days of 262 00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:55,880 Speaker 1: electricity experiments, where Benjamin Franklin describes his attempts to uh 263 00:13:55,880 --> 00:13:58,760 Speaker 1: to kill and roast a turkey for a big party 264 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:03,680 Speaker 1: using laden jars. Yeah, Franklin is an interesting figure. It 265 00:14:03,720 --> 00:14:05,800 Speaker 1: would be kind of potentially interesting to come back and 266 00:14:05,840 --> 00:14:08,679 Speaker 1: look at him in greater detail in a future episode 267 00:14:08,679 --> 00:14:11,120 Speaker 1: of one of these, uh these shows, because he did 268 00:14:11,120 --> 00:14:13,040 Speaker 1: have his hand in a lot of science. You know, 269 00:14:13,080 --> 00:14:17,720 Speaker 1: he's a true Enlightenment character. Um. You tend not to 270 00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:22,640 Speaker 1: see individuals involved in American politics so involved in the 271 00:14:22,720 --> 00:14:26,960 Speaker 1: sciences these days. Right now, before we get onto the 272 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:31,240 Speaker 1: more recent notable attempts to actually create some kind of 273 00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:34,240 Speaker 1: air conditioner for rooms, I guess we could briefly mention 274 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:37,000 Speaker 1: one other important figure around the same time in early 275 00:14:37,160 --> 00:14:40,440 Speaker 1: refrigeration and cooling research, and that would be the Scottish 276 00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:44,200 Speaker 1: physician and inventor William Cullen who lived seventeen ten to 277 00:14:44,240 --> 00:14:48,400 Speaker 1: seventeen ninety, who invented a process for evaporative cooling in 278 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:51,320 Speaker 1: the seventeen fifties, which he described in an essay from 279 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:55,240 Speaker 1: the mid seventeen hundreds with a hilariously bad title quote 280 00:14:55,680 --> 00:14:59,320 Speaker 1: of the cold produced by evaporating fluids and of some 281 00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:02,880 Speaker 1: other means of producing cold. Well, it's not that that. 282 00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:08,200 Speaker 1: Basically he got ethyl ether to boil by creating a 283 00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:11,000 Speaker 1: partial vacuum. So you put ethel ether, which has a 284 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:14,520 Speaker 1: low boiling point in a chamber, and then you you 285 00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:17,600 Speaker 1: lower the pressure in the chamber, which causes the liquid 286 00:15:17,680 --> 00:15:21,080 Speaker 1: to boil at an even lower temperature, and the evaporation 287 00:15:21,240 --> 00:15:24,120 Speaker 1: that that causes, of course again sucks energy from the 288 00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:27,480 Speaker 1: surroundings and has a rapid cooling effect on on whatever's 289 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:30,880 Speaker 1: around this chamber. But we're gonna find maybe our first 290 00:15:30,960 --> 00:15:35,160 Speaker 1: real attempt at creating an air conditioner for a room, 291 00:15:35,200 --> 00:15:39,360 Speaker 1: not in Scotland, not not in Ben Franklin's labs or 292 00:15:39,640 --> 00:15:42,440 Speaker 1: in his experiments at Cambridge or wherever. We're gonna go 293 00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:46,000 Speaker 1: somewhere else that's right, and you'll find out right after this. 294 00:15:46,160 --> 00:15:54,120 Speaker 1: Great alright, we're back. So I'm not saying it doesn't 295 00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:57,720 Speaker 1: get hot in Scotland, but I know a place where 296 00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:01,240 Speaker 1: it definitely gets hot here in the United States, and 297 00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:04,320 Speaker 1: that is, of course, the Panhandle of Florida. Did you 298 00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:07,360 Speaker 1: ever live in Florida? No, but it's I've always, well 299 00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:10,000 Speaker 1: not always, but I've much of my life has been 300 00:16:10,040 --> 00:16:12,280 Speaker 1: lived in the American South, So Florida has always been 301 00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:16,640 Speaker 1: a place to go for vacations and so so generally 302 00:16:16,680 --> 00:16:19,760 Speaker 1: in summer months when it is it is sweltering. Right, 303 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:22,520 Speaker 1: So we're going to be turning to a figure a 304 00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:28,280 Speaker 1: Florida man named John B. Gory. Yes, so, John B. 305 00:16:28,440 --> 00:16:31,680 Speaker 1: Gory lived eighteen oh three through eighteen fifty five was 306 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:34,800 Speaker 1: an American physician. Born in the West Indies, raised in 307 00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:37,760 Speaker 1: South Carolina, educated in New York, and then he moved 308 00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:42,360 Speaker 1: to Appalachicola, Florida in eighteen thirty three. And Appalachicola is 309 00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:46,200 Speaker 1: a small coastal town in the Panhandle of Florida. It's 310 00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:49,720 Speaker 1: near St. George's Island. I think, which at some point 311 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:51,040 Speaker 1: in my life, I think I actually went on a 312 00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:54,120 Speaker 1: vacation too. Yeah, I mean I've been to Appalachicola, and 313 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:57,200 Speaker 1: I did not realize it's significance in history. I mean, 314 00:16:57,680 --> 00:16:59,160 Speaker 1: obviously I didn't spend a lot of time or I 315 00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:00,680 Speaker 1: might have seen a statue too of the man we're 316 00:17:00,720 --> 00:17:04,080 Speaker 1: talking about now. But of course you might imagine Florida 317 00:17:04,200 --> 00:17:06,040 Speaker 1: in the eighteen hundreds, there's going to be a good 318 00:17:06,080 --> 00:17:08,320 Speaker 1: amount of disease going around. This is going to be 319 00:17:08,359 --> 00:17:11,800 Speaker 1: basically a tropical disease environment. Yeah. So while he was 320 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:15,080 Speaker 1: in Appletrico, he practiced medicine, but he also studied these 321 00:17:15,119 --> 00:17:19,960 Speaker 1: tropical diseases, especially yellow fever and as miasma. Theory was 322 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:23,120 Speaker 1: still in fashion at the time. He considered bad air 323 00:17:23,280 --> 00:17:26,320 Speaker 1: to be the key factor in these illnesses. Now, we've 324 00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:29,159 Speaker 1: discussed miasma theory before. I know, we discussed it and 325 00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:30,720 Speaker 1: stuff to build your mind. I can't remember if it 326 00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:33,480 Speaker 1: came up on invention or not, I'm not sure, But basically, 327 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:37,240 Speaker 1: miasma theory was the idea that diseases it was. It 328 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:40,639 Speaker 1: was a pre germ theory hypothesis on the origins of 329 00:17:40,680 --> 00:17:45,160 Speaker 1: disease that postulated that diseases were spread by bad air 330 00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:50,200 Speaker 1: or bad vapors, often associated with bad smelling things like carrion, 331 00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:53,760 Speaker 1: or like swamps or marshes. But then there were also 332 00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:56,520 Speaker 1: more supernatural versions of it that believe that like bad 333 00:17:56,600 --> 00:18:00,280 Speaker 1: vapors would come down off of the planets or something. Yeah, yeah, 334 00:18:00,280 --> 00:18:04,520 Speaker 1: I remember the discussing those the planets, Uh, in the 335 00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:09,520 Speaker 1: planets in graveyards, for instance, certainly, you know, not places 336 00:18:09,520 --> 00:18:12,159 Speaker 1: you're gonna catch a supernatural illness like this. But of 337 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:14,640 Speaker 1: course you can see where the correlation comes in when 338 00:18:14,680 --> 00:18:18,960 Speaker 1: you're dealing with unburied corpses or swamp lands that are 339 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:22,600 Speaker 1: loaded with say mosquitoes that are of course, uh, you know, 340 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:25,840 Speaker 1: carrying potential human diseases exactly right. Yeah, I think the 341 00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:29,639 Speaker 1: swamp lands thing being a really important, uh point of comparison. 342 00:18:29,800 --> 00:18:32,240 Speaker 1: There were these ideas of like night vapors coming off 343 00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:34,600 Speaker 1: of the marsh or the swamp, where the real problem 344 00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:37,080 Speaker 1: is that you've got a mosquito giving you malaria or 345 00:18:37,080 --> 00:18:39,640 Speaker 1: giving you yellow fever. But I also want to say 346 00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:42,280 Speaker 1: that I think it wasn't just a belief in miasma 347 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:44,240 Speaker 1: theory that led to a desire to cool the air 348 00:18:44,280 --> 00:18:48,160 Speaker 1: and hospital rooms for patients suffering from diseases like yellow 349 00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:50,400 Speaker 1: fever and malaria. I think part of it was also 350 00:18:50,520 --> 00:18:53,240 Speaker 1: just the idea of the comfort of the patients. But 351 00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:55,680 Speaker 1: something this did make me think about was that it's 352 00:18:55,720 --> 00:18:58,520 Speaker 1: interesting that it seems like we have a I was 353 00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:00,680 Speaker 1: gonna say natural association. I don't know if it's a 354 00:19:00,760 --> 00:19:04,800 Speaker 1: natural instinctual association or if it's learned, but this association 355 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:10,879 Speaker 1: between cold fluids and cleanliness and warm fluids with uncleanliness, Like, 356 00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:12,439 Speaker 1: I don't think that's just me. I think that's a 357 00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:16,960 Speaker 1: common cultural association, like cold air and cold water automatically 358 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:21,760 Speaker 1: feel clean, while stagnant warm air and tepid water feel dirty. 359 00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:24,600 Speaker 1: And I don't. Do you think that's like something you 360 00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:27,440 Speaker 1: know from deep in our brains and our primate ancestors, 361 00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:30,000 Speaker 1: or is that just something we learn in life through culture. 362 00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:33,200 Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know. I've never really thought about 363 00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:35,080 Speaker 1: it much. I mean, obviously, if you're in a hot room, 364 00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:39,280 Speaker 1: you're likely to be sweaty. And if you're sweaty over time, 365 00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:42,119 Speaker 1: that can produce a certain odor and you can feel, 366 00:19:42,760 --> 00:19:45,800 Speaker 1: you know, dirtier because of it, I guess, and we 367 00:19:46,119 --> 00:19:48,800 Speaker 1: and and certainly in the air conditioning age, you come 368 00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:52,199 Speaker 1: to associate the outdoors is a place where you sweat, 369 00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:56,720 Speaker 1: and sweat being the product of toiling. Uh. And then 370 00:19:56,760 --> 00:19:59,399 Speaker 1: inside you're gonna have access to air conditioning. This is 371 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:01,800 Speaker 1: going to be a play. So you know, generally you 372 00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:05,800 Speaker 1: know of of more relaxation uh and uh and maybe 373 00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:10,240 Speaker 1: cleaner activities. You're not getting his dirty. But at any rate, 374 00:20:10,920 --> 00:20:15,359 Speaker 1: Gory definitely was responding to the idea that a hospital 375 00:20:15,600 --> 00:20:18,800 Speaker 1: should be cool in part because of the you know, 376 00:20:18,840 --> 00:20:21,560 Speaker 1: the of the maasthma theory that you need some you 377 00:20:21,600 --> 00:20:23,399 Speaker 1: need some good air in there, which means you need 378 00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:27,960 Speaker 1: some cold air cool it down, especially for those feverish patients. Yes, 379 00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:31,440 Speaker 1: uh and you know, there's still some truth to this today. 380 00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:33,399 Speaker 1: I mean, you go into a hospital now, not because 381 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:36,320 Speaker 1: of miasthma theory, but hospitals now tend to be pretty 382 00:20:36,359 --> 00:20:40,000 Speaker 1: chilly places. I would say, yeah, yeah, absolutely, of course 383 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:42,240 Speaker 1: that's really come to be the case of most like 384 00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:47,000 Speaker 1: large you know, buildings of like schools, libraries like these 385 00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:49,639 Speaker 1: are these are places that are refuges of of the 386 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:53,680 Speaker 1: cool in hot climates. Usually, So Gory wanted to cool 387 00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:57,520 Speaker 1: down the hospital, and his first approach to this simply 388 00:20:57,600 --> 00:21:01,000 Speaker 1: involved hanging tubs of ice from the ceiling, which is 389 00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:05,240 Speaker 1: actually a pretty solid idea given that that that cool 390 00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:09,159 Speaker 1: air is going to descend, right. But of course this 391 00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:12,520 Speaker 1: brings us back to the historic Roman problem. Uh and 392 00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:16,080 Speaker 1: uh and also I suppose the the Aztec problem as well, 393 00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:19,080 Speaker 1: of of how to transport that ice. You know, if 394 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:22,159 Speaker 1: you're getting that ice from somewhere, uh, you've got to 395 00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:24,040 Speaker 1: transport it all the way to your hospital and then 396 00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:26,479 Speaker 1: hanging up in the ceiling. Yeah. And so at this 397 00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:29,200 Speaker 1: time we talked in the last episode about, of course, yeah, 398 00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:32,400 Speaker 1: this Roman problem, like bringing snow down from the mountaintops, 399 00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:35,800 Speaker 1: snow or ice. In ancient Rome, there were people who 400 00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:37,520 Speaker 1: sold it, but it seems like it was something of 401 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:39,800 Speaker 1: a luxury. Right. It's gonna take a lot of work 402 00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:43,160 Speaker 1: to bring snow down, and someone's gonna melt on the way. 403 00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:47,040 Speaker 1: Uh So, yeah, it's an expensive proposition. The large scale 404 00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:50,680 Speaker 1: transport of ice had actually only recently become a big 405 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:53,880 Speaker 1: business in in Gorey's time here, so in the eighteen 406 00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:57,600 Speaker 1: thirties or forties, due in large part to the efforts 407 00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:02,200 Speaker 1: of a single ambitious business man from Boston named Frederick 408 00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:06,520 Speaker 1: the Ice King Tutor. Like an Adventure Time, Yes, Oh wait, 409 00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:08,760 Speaker 1: I didn't know, is there? Yeah, there's an ice king 410 00:22:08,800 --> 00:22:11,399 Speaker 1: on Adventure Time. He's you know, he's a king, an 411 00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:14,359 Speaker 1: evil king with with ice based powers, but he is 412 00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:16,600 Speaker 1: the Ice King. Okay, well maybe you be. I haven't 413 00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:18,600 Speaker 1: seen this, so you'll be the judge of how well 414 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:21,880 Speaker 1: this fits with Frederick the Ice King Tutor. So, Tutor's 415 00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:25,320 Speaker 1: shipments of block ice traveled not only to customers in 416 00:22:25,359 --> 00:22:27,800 Speaker 1: the American South, of course, they went to New Orleans 417 00:22:27,880 --> 00:22:30,240 Speaker 1: and to Charleston and all over the place, but also 418 00:22:30,359 --> 00:22:33,920 Speaker 1: all over the Caribbean, from Havana to Martinique. They even 419 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:36,840 Speaker 1: went around the world to Brazil, into Europe, into India 420 00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:40,800 Speaker 1: and India. Apparently his ice was hugely popular, and the 421 00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:43,520 Speaker 1: story of Frederick Tutor's ice business, I think is in 422 00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:48,320 Speaker 1: itself pretty fascinating. Basically, Tutor developed a process for mass 423 00:22:48,359 --> 00:22:52,800 Speaker 1: harvesting of ice from frozen lakes and ponds in and 424 00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:55,640 Speaker 1: I think rivers too in the winter in New England, 425 00:22:56,040 --> 00:22:59,040 Speaker 1: and then taking that ice harvested from these bodies of 426 00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:03,160 Speaker 1: fresh water two warmer destinations down south, where the ice 427 00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:07,440 Speaker 1: was sold for various refreshing purposes, often for cooling drinks, 428 00:23:08,080 --> 00:23:11,520 Speaker 1: but at least occasionally for cooling rooms. Alla gory. And 429 00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:14,040 Speaker 1: this would have been to most people a very new 430 00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:17,000 Speaker 1: thing at the time. Like can you imagine how magical 431 00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:19,320 Speaker 1: it must have seemed living your whole life in a 432 00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:22,520 Speaker 1: tropical climate and then one day, for the first time ever, 433 00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:26,160 Speaker 1: being served a cold drink with ice floating in it. Yeah, 434 00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:28,760 Speaker 1: I mean it must have been magical. You know this? 435 00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:32,720 Speaker 1: This reminds me of the film The Mosquito Coast. Did 436 00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:34,879 Speaker 1: you ever see this with the Harrison Ford? No, I 437 00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:36,760 Speaker 1: haven't seen it, but I know about it. Yeah, you 438 00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:39,960 Speaker 1: know the plot, The central plot involves this. This character 439 00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:42,240 Speaker 1: played the Harrison Ford is like a brilliant inventor and 440 00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:47,480 Speaker 1: kind of eccentric and very opinionated and strong willed individual. Uh. 441 00:23:47,480 --> 00:23:50,280 Speaker 1: And he and they traveled to I can't remember if 442 00:23:50,280 --> 00:23:53,280 Speaker 1: it's Belize or Costa Rica or it was filmed in 443 00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:55,040 Speaker 1: one of the two, one of the two. It's a 444 00:23:56,119 --> 00:23:59,080 Speaker 1: travels down there with the idea of constructing this ice 445 00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:03,040 Speaker 1: generating machine, sheen and bringing bringing ice to the people. 446 00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:08,760 Speaker 1: And so there's this wonderful scene where they've they've they've 447 00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:11,639 Speaker 1: created the ice in the machine, and they've they've transported 448 00:24:11,680 --> 00:24:15,040 Speaker 1: it wrapped in leaves to to preserve it, to show 449 00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:17,359 Speaker 1: it to some native peoples. And by the time they 450 00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:19,840 Speaker 1: get there, they're unwrapping the leaves trying to find this 451 00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:23,359 Speaker 1: tiny bit of remaining ice and like that there's and 452 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:27,040 Speaker 1: it's just, you know, virtually all melted away at the core. Well, 453 00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:29,280 Speaker 1: it also makes me think about the opening of the 454 00:24:29,440 --> 00:24:33,199 Speaker 1: novel One Years of Solitude by Gabrielle Garcia Marquez, and 455 00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:36,199 Speaker 1: in the first chapter of that there's this, you know, 456 00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:39,120 Speaker 1: the mythical history of this family, and there's a story 457 00:24:39,160 --> 00:24:42,919 Speaker 1: about the patriarch taking his children to see Uh. I 458 00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:45,919 Speaker 1: think a traveler brings a chest that has ice in it. 459 00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:48,720 Speaker 1: None of them have ever seen ice before? Oh well, yeah, 460 00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:50,399 Speaker 1: I mean it would have. It would have been a 461 00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:54,560 Speaker 1: magical occurrence. Again. Uh, one of the marvelous privileges of 462 00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:56,960 Speaker 1: the modern age that most of us take for granted. 463 00:24:57,280 --> 00:25:00,119 Speaker 1: And how I mean, I don't want to like it 464 00:25:00,160 --> 00:25:02,919 Speaker 1: seems absurd now that you would harvest ice from a 465 00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:06,399 Speaker 1: cold climate, put it in a ship, and ship it 466 00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:08,800 Speaker 1: to another part of the world. But this turned into 467 00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:11,640 Speaker 1: a huge business. No. The Ice King, I should say, 468 00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:14,520 Speaker 1: had a lot of early failures in like the first 469 00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:17,280 Speaker 1: decade of the eighteen hundreds. For example, some of his 470 00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:20,520 Speaker 1: early shipment's just melted at their port of arrival before 471 00:25:20,520 --> 00:25:22,560 Speaker 1: they could be sold and used, because there were no 472 00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:25,960 Speaker 1: ice houses to keep the ice insulated after it showed up. 473 00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:29,560 Speaker 1: But over the years Tutor improved the feasibility and the 474 00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:32,040 Speaker 1: efficiency of his business in quite a few different ways. 475 00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:35,159 Speaker 1: A few interesting examples I was reading about. One was, 476 00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:37,800 Speaker 1: of course, establishing ice houses right to store the ice 477 00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:41,040 Speaker 1: when it arrived in the warmer climates. Another was this 478 00:25:41,359 --> 00:25:44,879 Speaker 1: quest to find better insulating packing material to keep the 479 00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:48,240 Speaker 1: ice cold while it was being shipped. Originally he used straw, 480 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:52,600 Speaker 1: but experimented with stuff like rice and even cold us, 481 00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:55,800 Speaker 1: but later he found that pine sawdust worked best of 482 00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:58,840 Speaker 1: all to keep the ice cold. And then later he 483 00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:03,399 Speaker 1: partnered with an ventor named Nathaniel Jarvis Wyath, who yep 484 00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:07,080 Speaker 1: related to the painter Andrew Wyath. Uh and nat Wyath 485 00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:09,560 Speaker 1: came up with lots of improved methods and tools for 486 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:14,040 Speaker 1: tutors business, including designs for insulated, double walled above ground 487 00:26:14,040 --> 00:26:17,879 Speaker 1: ice houses, and crucially for a horse drawn ice cutter 488 00:26:18,320 --> 00:26:20,520 Speaker 1: that works kind of like a furrow plow. It would 489 00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:23,800 Speaker 1: saw out ice blocks in a grid pattern as it 490 00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:26,840 Speaker 1: was dragged behind the horse, and then these ice blocks 491 00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:29,080 Speaker 1: that were sought out could be easily broken apart from 492 00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:32,080 Speaker 1: one another and floated down to a retrieval site. And 493 00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:36,439 Speaker 1: this apparently greatly streamlined the harvesting process and decrease the 494 00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:38,520 Speaker 1: cost device. And I've got a picture here, Robert, you 495 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:41,879 Speaker 1: can see of what this horse drawn ice cutter looks like. 496 00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:45,439 Speaker 1: But it's kind of it's surreal watching these people standing 497 00:26:45,440 --> 00:26:47,840 Speaker 1: on the surface of a frozen lake that's just cut 498 00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:50,960 Speaker 1: into a grid. It looks like graph paper. Wow. Yeah, 499 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:53,399 Speaker 1: they just ditting it up to ship it out. And 500 00:26:53,440 --> 00:26:56,639 Speaker 1: in fact, I found this historical connection too good to miss. 501 00:26:57,040 --> 00:27:01,480 Speaker 1: The American writer Henry David throw encountered commercial ice harvesters 502 00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:04,760 Speaker 1: at work in Walden Pond, and he wrote about them 503 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:06,800 Speaker 1: in his book Walden. Do you mind if I read 504 00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:11,040 Speaker 1: part of this quote here? Robert Okay, so a thorough rights. Thus, 505 00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:13,960 Speaker 1: for sixteen days I saw from my window a hundred 506 00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:17,560 Speaker 1: men at work, like busy husbandman, with teams and horses, 507 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:21,040 Speaker 1: and apparently all the implements of farming, such a picture 508 00:27:21,119 --> 00:27:23,720 Speaker 1: as we see on the first page of the almanac. 509 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:26,359 Speaker 1: And as often as I looked out, I was reminded 510 00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:29,359 Speaker 1: of the fable of the lark and the reapers, or 511 00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:32,200 Speaker 1: the parable of the sower and the like. And now 512 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:35,080 Speaker 1: they're all gone. And in thirty days more probably I 513 00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:37,320 Speaker 1: shall look from the same window on the pure sea 514 00:27:37,359 --> 00:27:40,879 Speaker 1: green Walden water, there reflecting the clouds and the trees, 515 00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:44,680 Speaker 1: and sending up its evaporations in solitude, and no traces 516 00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:47,600 Speaker 1: will appear that a man has ever stood there. Perhaps 517 00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:50,360 Speaker 1: I shall hear a solitary loon laugh as he dives 518 00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:53,240 Speaker 1: and plumes himself, or she'll see a lonely fisher in 519 00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:56,960 Speaker 1: his boat like a floating leaf, beholding his form reflected 520 00:27:56,960 --> 00:28:00,359 Speaker 1: in the waves where lately a hundred men securely a bird. 521 00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:03,920 Speaker 1: Thus it appears that the sweltering inhabitants of Charleston and 522 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:07,879 Speaker 1: New Orleans, of Madras and Bombay and Calcutta drink at 523 00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:10,720 Speaker 1: my well. Oh and he he also goes on to 524 00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:13,600 Speaker 1: to contemplate his his fascination with the philosophy of the 525 00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:17,800 Speaker 1: Baga Bodhida uh and eventually concludes by saying that, uh, 526 00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:20,960 Speaker 1: that the pure Walden water is mingled with the sacred 527 00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:23,720 Speaker 1: water of the Ganji's And I guess in mind there 528 00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:25,560 Speaker 1: he just has the fact that the ice from his 529 00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:28,359 Speaker 1: pond is maybe going to end up in India in 530 00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:31,159 Speaker 1: somebody's drink. Oh yeah, it's kind of the reverse of 531 00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:34,040 Speaker 1: the the the argument ever before that all water has 532 00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:37,400 Speaker 1: been dinosaur p You know, it's true, all water has 533 00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:42,520 Speaker 1: been Henry David Throw's bathwater that like all every every 534 00:28:42,600 --> 00:28:45,560 Speaker 1: chunk of ice in every drink you've ever had, Henry 535 00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:49,000 Speaker 1: David Thorreau washed his butt with. It's probably true. It's 536 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:52,280 Speaker 1: statistically it's true. Yeah. Well, you know this this brings 537 00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:56,520 Speaker 1: this boy the the whole question of water purification. The 538 00:28:56,520 --> 00:29:01,800 Speaker 1: process of water purification is interesting because um, you know, 539 00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:04,080 Speaker 1: we could easily do a whole well, we could easily 540 00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:06,840 Speaker 1: do a whole episode on just technology involved in purifying water, 541 00:29:07,080 --> 00:29:11,080 Speaker 1: but also the psychology of water purification, Like what how 542 00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:14,880 Speaker 1: many steps need to be there, organic or industrial before 543 00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:17,720 Speaker 1: we will accept that we are drinking something that was 544 00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:22,200 Speaker 1: once potentially urine or bath water, that was essentially gray 545 00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:25,400 Speaker 1: or or worse water at some point is now our 546 00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:29,320 Speaker 1: drinking water. Um, it's it's it's quite fascinating we start 547 00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:31,520 Speaker 1: breaking down the psychology. Yeah, well, I mean H two 548 00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:34,320 Speaker 1: O molecules or H two O molecules. It's like, just 549 00:29:34,360 --> 00:29:37,960 Speaker 1: because H two O was once part of poop, or 550 00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:40,440 Speaker 1: was once part of blood, or was once you know, 551 00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:43,480 Speaker 1: something else, now it's not anymore. Yeah, Like, why don't 552 00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:46,640 Speaker 1: we That's that's gross. But we're okay with having been stardust, 553 00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:49,480 Speaker 1: you know, that's right. I mean we kind of pick 554 00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:51,680 Speaker 1: and choose, don't we. I Mean, it doesn't bring the 555 00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:55,440 Speaker 1: poop with it unless it does. But we still want 556 00:29:55,480 --> 00:29:57,120 Speaker 1: to think that, right, We still we still want to 557 00:29:57,160 --> 00:29:58,920 Speaker 1: think that it is still in some way poop in 558 00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:02,440 Speaker 1: the same way that we might we might listen to 559 00:30:02,560 --> 00:30:04,800 Speaker 1: the song would Stock and think, yeah, there is a 560 00:30:04,800 --> 00:30:07,360 Speaker 1: piece of a star inside me, and it's burning bright 561 00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:09,800 Speaker 1: with the you know, with the power of of an 562 00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:13,480 Speaker 1: entire solar system. That's a good connection, Robert. That's also 563 00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:16,280 Speaker 1: it's a bit of that thorough energy. And I know 564 00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:19,080 Speaker 1: some people actually did I think Thorow is kind of boring, 565 00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:22,920 Speaker 1: but I found that passage rather beautiful. Uh So, Anyway, 566 00:30:23,560 --> 00:30:26,560 Speaker 1: by the middle of the nineteenth century, shipped ice was 567 00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:30,280 Speaker 1: this huge business, and as you might imagine, it could 568 00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:33,760 Speaker 1: also be fickle, right, because it's ice, it's not the 569 00:30:33,760 --> 00:30:37,719 Speaker 1: most stable of commodities. Like slight variations in the weather 570 00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:41,800 Speaker 1: patterns elsewhere in the world could potentially mess with supply 571 00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:44,520 Speaker 1: and demand for ice in a major way, leading to 572 00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:48,880 Speaker 1: the dreaded ice shortage. So now you're living somewhere hot 573 00:30:48,920 --> 00:30:51,240 Speaker 1: and you've got a taste for ice, but maybe sometimes 574 00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:54,760 Speaker 1: the ice market could get mighty tight, right. And it's 575 00:30:54,800 --> 00:30:57,239 Speaker 1: one thing if you're just you're looking for ways to uh, 576 00:30:57,640 --> 00:31:00,200 Speaker 1: you know, to to cool your drink down. But if 577 00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:03,240 Speaker 1: you're looking at like Gory was, at a hospital, a 578 00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:06,440 Speaker 1: situation where you believe that there is a there's a 579 00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:11,160 Speaker 1: there's a strong advantage and having a cooled down hospital room, uh, 580 00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:13,520 Speaker 1: then you're gonna want to have some way to produce 581 00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:18,200 Speaker 1: ice uh locally. So he began became increasingly obsessed with 582 00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:21,480 Speaker 1: the problem of artificial ice production, so much so that 583 00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:25,000 Speaker 1: in eighteen forty five he gave up medicine to look 584 00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:28,480 Speaker 1: into this full time. And UH he actually acquired patents 585 00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:31,120 Speaker 1: and UH he had acquired patents in eighteen thirties and 586 00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:33,640 Speaker 1: the eighteen thirties for an ice machine that employed cooling 587 00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:37,680 Speaker 1: caused by rapid gas expansion. It used pumps to compress 588 00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:42,120 Speaker 1: air by injecting uh it with water. Compressed air was 589 00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:45,560 Speaker 1: then submerged in coils within a bath of cooling water. 590 00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:49,440 Speaker 1: The interjected water condensed out in a holding tank. Then 591 00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:51,720 Speaker 1: the compressed air was released into a tank of lower 592 00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:55,080 Speaker 1: pressure brine, bringing the brine tank down to twenty six 593 00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:58,080 Speaker 1: degrees or less. Metal containers of water were lowered in, 594 00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:02,000 Speaker 1: becoming bricks of ice, which could than be withdrawn. So 595 00:32:02,080 --> 00:32:03,320 Speaker 1: and then he could then he could have, you know, 596 00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:07,400 Speaker 1: hang them or position them in the hospital rooms, or 597 00:32:07,440 --> 00:32:10,160 Speaker 1: they could be used as such to then cool them down. Right, 598 00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:14,120 Speaker 1: So he's using compression and expansion of these substances. The 599 00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:17,680 Speaker 1: rapid expansion cools everything around it. He's using that to 600 00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:21,160 Speaker 1: cool water and create ice. Now, one question is why 601 00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:24,960 Speaker 1: is this often considered a predecessor, an early step in 602 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:28,440 Speaker 1: the creation of air conditioning when it is really refrigeration. 603 00:32:28,480 --> 00:32:31,360 Speaker 1: It's a refrigeration process. I mean, air conditioning is a 604 00:32:31,400 --> 00:32:34,800 Speaker 1: refrigeration process. But he was creating ice. I think it's 605 00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:37,840 Speaker 1: probably because Gory planned to use the blocks of ice 606 00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:40,880 Speaker 1: to cool hospital rooms. Right. Yeah, that was an initial 607 00:32:41,120 --> 00:32:46,640 Speaker 1: um entry into the world of refrigeration. So today he's 608 00:32:46,720 --> 00:32:50,040 Speaker 1: he's recognized a lot more, especially in Appalachicola. Uh. You 609 00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:53,760 Speaker 1: can find a statue of him there. Uh. And thus, 610 00:32:53,880 --> 00:32:56,200 Speaker 1: but at the at the time, he had problems with 611 00:32:56,280 --> 00:32:59,680 Speaker 1: his invention, and Jacob Perkins beat him out for the 612 00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:02,840 Speaker 1: tide of Father of the Refrigerator in eighteen thirty five. 613 00:33:03,440 --> 00:33:07,040 Speaker 1: And Uh, Gory's continued efforts to get his own invention 614 00:33:07,080 --> 00:33:09,880 Speaker 1: off the ground failed for a few different reasons, and 615 00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:13,480 Speaker 1: he died without achieving his his goal of becoming the 616 00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:17,280 Speaker 1: master refrigeration in eighteen fifty five. Yeah. For some reason, 617 00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:21,640 Speaker 1: Gory faced a lot of harsh opposition and ridicule, especially 618 00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:23,960 Speaker 1: in the press. I was reading a paper by the 619 00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:27,720 Speaker 1: American historian Raymond Arsenal about the impact of air conditioning 620 00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:30,720 Speaker 1: on the culture of the American South, and Arsenal just 621 00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:35,120 Speaker 1: notes that most of Gory's contemporaries were dismissive of his achievements, 622 00:33:35,320 --> 00:33:37,600 Speaker 1: and as an example, one journalist I think, writing for 623 00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:41,680 Speaker 1: the New York Globe at some point described Gory by saying, quote, 624 00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:44,720 Speaker 1: a crankdown in Florida thinks he can make ice as 625 00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:51,640 Speaker 1: good as Almighty God. Well, you know it's it's that 626 00:33:51,760 --> 00:33:55,760 Speaker 1: is ridiculous and and clearly, um, you know, shows some 627 00:33:55,760 --> 00:34:00,720 Speaker 1: some anti Floridian bias. Uh. However, you know that that 628 00:34:00,800 --> 00:34:02,840 Speaker 1: kind of headline wouldn't be completely out of out of 629 00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:05,040 Speaker 1: line today. I mean you still see a lot of 630 00:34:05,080 --> 00:34:08,040 Speaker 1: headlines about about Florida and kind of like you know, 631 00:34:08,160 --> 00:34:11,680 Speaker 1: this stigmatization of of Florida. And so you can imagine 632 00:34:11,719 --> 00:34:15,200 Speaker 1: stories today about a craze doctor who's quit his medical 633 00:34:15,239 --> 00:34:18,719 Speaker 1: practice to try and make the perfect ice, to play 634 00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:21,239 Speaker 1: God by creating ice, right, And you know, the same 635 00:34:21,239 --> 00:34:24,320 Speaker 1: people might if the story we're taking place and say Brooklyn, 636 00:34:24,320 --> 00:34:26,600 Speaker 1: it might be something different like, oh, this doctor he 637 00:34:26,640 --> 00:34:28,640 Speaker 1: gave up his nine to five so he could pursue 638 00:34:28,680 --> 00:34:32,400 Speaker 1: making the perfect cube of ice for your for you know, 639 00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:36,640 Speaker 1: for your cocktails or your your scotch um. But anyway, 640 00:34:36,680 --> 00:34:39,000 Speaker 1: I mean, it is always sad on this show when 641 00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:40,840 Speaker 1: we have to look at an inventor and see that 642 00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:43,239 Speaker 1: they you know, they if they died penniless, or they 643 00:34:43,280 --> 00:34:47,000 Speaker 1: died without finding finding the recognition that they sought in life, 644 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:49,960 Speaker 1: only achieving it after death. I'm I'm always gonna end 645 00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:54,759 Speaker 1: up um as much as possible, like siding with those individuals. Yeah, 646 00:34:54,760 --> 00:34:57,799 Speaker 1: I guess. I mean, well, so it's possibly because of 647 00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:01,400 Speaker 1: this mercy merciless ridicule that Gorey failed to attain or 648 00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:04,520 Speaker 1: retain investors for his invention. I think he had one 649 00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:08,239 Speaker 1: major investor, but then that investor died, and then he 650 00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:12,239 Speaker 1: had trouble getting other investors. Uh. And so what did 651 00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:15,319 Speaker 1: Gory himself attribute the failure of his invention too? Well, 652 00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:18,839 Speaker 1: to some extent, he blamed guess who the ice king? Well, 653 00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:22,040 Speaker 1: he's up against big ice, right exactly? He blamed He 654 00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:26,239 Speaker 1: suspected that Frederick the Ice King Tutor had arranged or 655 00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:31,000 Speaker 1: financed a campaign of smears and disparagement against him in 656 00:35:31,120 --> 00:35:36,040 Speaker 1: order to protect Tutor's own ice shipping business from competition. Now, 657 00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:39,480 Speaker 1: was Gory correct in his suspicions. I don't know, but 658 00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:42,239 Speaker 1: if so, it certainly wouldn't be the first or the 659 00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:45,120 Speaker 1: only time that somebody used dirty tricks to protect an 660 00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:49,400 Speaker 1: obsolete business model from legitimate competition. Oh. Absolutely, yeah. You 661 00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:52,000 Speaker 1: don't have to put on a tinfoil hat to imagine 662 00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:55,840 Speaker 1: a major industry of corporation doing this. They are still 663 00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:58,040 Speaker 1: doing this sort of thing now. Towards the end of 664 00:35:58,080 --> 00:36:02,160 Speaker 1: his life, Gory seemed to resign. Apparently he wrote that 665 00:36:02,480 --> 00:36:06,319 Speaker 1: he thought America was simply not ready for refrigeration, but 666 00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:09,879 Speaker 1: maybe maybe America was ready for refrigeration, because beginning around 667 00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:13,200 Speaker 1: the eighteen fifties, there did begin to be some commercial 668 00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:18,080 Speaker 1: applications for refrigeration uh, developed by some other inventors and engineers, 669 00:36:18,480 --> 00:36:22,200 Speaker 1: including in food and the food and beverage industries, particularly, 670 00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:25,680 Speaker 1: I believe in meat packing and meat shipping. Yeah, it 671 00:36:25,719 --> 00:36:27,759 Speaker 1: comes down to the necessity, right, Like, where are the 672 00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:33,799 Speaker 1: areas where there is a definite uh necessity for refrigeration technology? Right? 673 00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:35,759 Speaker 1: All right, on that note, we're gonna take a quick break, 674 00:36:35,800 --> 00:36:38,320 Speaker 1: and when we come back, we will meet the father 675 00:36:38,400 --> 00:36:46,799 Speaker 1: of air condition Alright, we're back. So here we come 676 00:36:46,840 --> 00:36:50,040 Speaker 1: to a figure sometimes called the father of air conditioning. 677 00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:53,120 Speaker 1: I don't know if that title is actually deserved, but it, 678 00:36:53,520 --> 00:36:55,399 Speaker 1: you know, it's what a lot of people have said. 679 00:36:55,480 --> 00:36:58,120 Speaker 1: So I don't think there's a way to argue that 680 00:36:58,160 --> 00:36:59,880 Speaker 1: the guy were about to talk about was really the 681 00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:02,960 Speaker 1: first person to create a cooling and humidity control system. 682 00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:06,640 Speaker 1: But because of his important role in the history of 683 00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:09,880 Speaker 1: this technology, credit for the invention of the first modern 684 00:37:09,920 --> 00:37:13,560 Speaker 1: air conditioning system is often given to an American engineer 685 00:37:13,640 --> 00:37:17,960 Speaker 1: named Willis Haviland Carrier, who designed an air conditioning system 686 00:37:17,960 --> 00:37:21,080 Speaker 1: while working for a company called Buffalo Forge in nineteen 687 00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:25,520 Speaker 1: o two. Now Willis Carrier was born on November eighteen, 688 00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:28,080 Speaker 1: seventy six in Angola, New York, and he grew up 689 00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:31,080 Speaker 1: on a farm. And one story that I found interesting 690 00:37:31,160 --> 00:37:34,080 Speaker 1: was that apparently as a child, Carrier had difficulties with 691 00:37:34,200 --> 00:37:36,040 Speaker 1: math in school, even though we would go on to 692 00:37:36,080 --> 00:37:40,000 Speaker 1: become a successful engineer. And we we do have to 693 00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:42,400 Speaker 1: consider the source here, but there was a biography of 694 00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:45,000 Speaker 1: Willis Carrier written in the late nineteen forties by E. 695 00:37:45,160 --> 00:37:49,520 Speaker 1: Cloud Wombler, who was the chairman of the Carrier Corporation. 696 00:37:50,160 --> 00:37:53,120 Speaker 1: Wampler died in nineteen seventy three, but to the extent 697 00:37:53,160 --> 00:37:55,840 Speaker 1: that we can believe this story. It is, as Wampler 698 00:37:55,920 --> 00:37:58,719 Speaker 1: tells it, that when Carrier was nine years old, he 699 00:37:58,800 --> 00:38:01,600 Speaker 1: had an experience that he believed to be the turning 700 00:38:01,680 --> 00:38:04,040 Speaker 1: point in his life and in and it was that 701 00:38:04,120 --> 00:38:07,319 Speaker 1: in school he was learning about fractions and he was 702 00:38:07,360 --> 00:38:10,600 Speaker 1: just completely stumped, like, could not understand what was going 703 00:38:10,600 --> 00:38:13,120 Speaker 1: on with fractions. How can you have part of a number? 704 00:38:13,560 --> 00:38:16,200 Speaker 1: It doesn't make sense. So his mother came up with 705 00:38:16,200 --> 00:38:18,640 Speaker 1: a plan to help him. She sent him down into 706 00:38:18,640 --> 00:38:21,640 Speaker 1: the seller to get some apples, and to quote from 707 00:38:21,680 --> 00:38:26,279 Speaker 1: Wampler quote, then he was instructed to cut these into halves, quarters, 708 00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:29,680 Speaker 1: and eights, and to add and subtract the portions. So 709 00:38:29,760 --> 00:38:32,560 Speaker 1: fractions took on a meaning for him. In addition, he 710 00:38:32,600 --> 00:38:36,319 Speaker 1: made a discovery that most problems which appear difficult can 711 00:38:36,320 --> 00:38:39,920 Speaker 1: be worked down into something quite understandable. Well, I mean 712 00:38:39,960 --> 00:38:42,960 Speaker 1: that's quite reasonable. You know that you see more and 713 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:47,919 Speaker 1: more of that I'm finding with mathematical education today. Uh 714 00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:51,960 Speaker 1: you know, I went to some information sessions about how 715 00:38:51,960 --> 00:38:54,880 Speaker 1: they're teaching mathematics at my son's school, and there's a 716 00:38:54,920 --> 00:38:58,360 Speaker 1: lot more dependency on using uh you know, not apples, 717 00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:03,440 Speaker 1: but like physical repert sentations of various values and creating 718 00:39:03,680 --> 00:39:06,439 Speaker 1: this this physical idea of the numbers you're talking about, 719 00:39:06,440 --> 00:39:09,000 Speaker 1: so that you have you have a grasp of what 720 00:39:09,040 --> 00:39:11,520 Speaker 1: the numbers are and not just like a paper sense 721 00:39:11,560 --> 00:39:14,840 Speaker 1: of the numbers. Yeah. So again, you know, we often 722 00:39:14,880 --> 00:39:18,479 Speaker 1: on the show express skepticism about like foundational stories, about 723 00:39:18,520 --> 00:39:21,160 Speaker 1: the people who created companies and stuff like that, because 724 00:39:21,160 --> 00:39:23,600 Speaker 1: you always wonder like, is this really a true story 725 00:39:23,719 --> 00:39:26,640 Speaker 1: or is this being told for marketing purposes? But you know, 726 00:39:26,760 --> 00:39:29,120 Speaker 1: if we just accept Okay, well, let's let's say we 727 00:39:29,160 --> 00:39:32,080 Speaker 1: think this is a true story, I can certainly see 728 00:39:32,160 --> 00:39:34,840 Speaker 1: things like this. I don't know, I see stuff like 729 00:39:34,880 --> 00:39:37,040 Speaker 1: this happening in real life. Like you're talking about that, 730 00:39:37,160 --> 00:39:40,600 Speaker 1: like maybe math just doesn't make sense to a kid 731 00:39:40,719 --> 00:39:44,040 Speaker 1: until they have a kind of like key visual metaphor moment. 732 00:39:44,640 --> 00:39:47,960 Speaker 1: And there there are I do think these kinds of breakthroughs, 733 00:39:48,040 --> 00:39:50,759 Speaker 1: and and it makes you wonder about, like, I mean, 734 00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:53,160 Speaker 1: how how many kids are there out there who actually 735 00:39:53,280 --> 00:39:55,600 Speaker 1: could have, you know, have the potential to have really 736 00:39:55,640 --> 00:39:58,920 Speaker 1: great math based careers and a lot of success in mathematics, 737 00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:02,239 Speaker 1: but they just never had the right teaching approach or 738 00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:06,239 Speaker 1: never like had that moment where suddenly it all clicked. Yeah. Absolutely, 739 00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:11,120 Speaker 1: So on the believability scale of corporate biographies, i'd give 740 00:40:11,160 --> 00:40:12,759 Speaker 1: this one. This one was like an eight or not. 741 00:40:13,040 --> 00:40:14,640 Speaker 1: You know, it's not like he was visited by the 742 00:40:14,680 --> 00:40:18,080 Speaker 1: Angel of refrigeration with a coiled halo or anything. We're 743 00:40:18,120 --> 00:40:20,120 Speaker 1: also going to get a Eureka brain story that's coming 744 00:40:20,160 --> 00:40:23,560 Speaker 1: in a second. So he studied engineering at Cornell University, 745 00:40:23,600 --> 00:40:26,600 Speaker 1: graduating in nineteen o one. So here's the Eureka brain 746 00:40:26,680 --> 00:40:30,799 Speaker 1: story as told by the Carrier Corporation. Uh, they say 747 00:40:30,800 --> 00:40:34,440 Speaker 1: that genius can strike anywhere. For Willis Carrier, it was 748 00:40:34,480 --> 00:40:38,840 Speaker 1: a foggy Pittsburgh train platform in nineteen o two. Carrier 749 00:40:38,960 --> 00:40:41,680 Speaker 1: stared through the mist and realized that he could dry 750 00:40:41,960 --> 00:40:46,799 Speaker 1: air by passing it through water to create fog. Doing 751 00:40:46,880 --> 00:40:49,960 Speaker 1: so would make it possible to manufacture air with specific 752 00:40:49,960 --> 00:40:53,560 Speaker 1: amounts of moisture in it. Within a year, he completed 753 00:40:53,600 --> 00:40:57,239 Speaker 1: his invention to control humidity, the fundamental building block for 754 00:40:57,400 --> 00:41:00,759 Speaker 1: modern air conditioning. Now, whether or not the Eureka brain 755 00:41:00,920 --> 00:41:03,560 Speaker 1: scene actually happened, that he was actually standing at the 756 00:41:03,600 --> 00:41:06,680 Speaker 1: train station when he had his breakthrough vision, it does 757 00:41:06,760 --> 00:41:09,600 Speaker 1: point to the importance of humidity in the creation of 758 00:41:09,640 --> 00:41:14,200 Speaker 1: Carriers first air conditioning system. Carriers air conditioner was not 759 00:41:14,440 --> 00:41:17,840 Speaker 1: primarily for the purpose of lowering the temperature of a 760 00:41:17,920 --> 00:41:21,560 Speaker 1: room for human comfort, but for the industrial purpose of 761 00:41:21,600 --> 00:41:25,960 Speaker 1: removing excess humidity from the air which could prevent uh. 762 00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:29,160 Speaker 1: In the idea was they wanted to prevent humidity from 763 00:41:29,200 --> 00:41:32,240 Speaker 1: affecting the properties of ink and paper in a print 764 00:41:32,280 --> 00:41:38,120 Speaker 1: shop environment. Yeah. Carrier was working at Sackett Wilhelms Lithographing 765 00:41:38,160 --> 00:41:41,799 Speaker 1: and Publishing company in Brooklyn at the time. And UH, 766 00:41:42,040 --> 00:41:45,480 Speaker 1: and you know this is this is certainly a reality 767 00:41:45,520 --> 00:41:48,640 Speaker 1: that that that I can relate to, uh, the idea 768 00:41:48,640 --> 00:41:52,239 Speaker 1: of like humidity destroying books and uh and uh and 769 00:41:52,320 --> 00:41:55,120 Speaker 1: messing with your ink because there was it was like 770 00:41:55,160 --> 00:41:57,359 Speaker 1: a not last summer and it was the summer before 771 00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:01,319 Speaker 1: playing Dungeons and Dragons, uh on a back porch in 772 00:42:01,400 --> 00:42:03,400 Speaker 1: like late summer, and it was you know, we're expecting 773 00:42:03,440 --> 00:42:05,600 Speaker 1: things to cool down, but things had not really cooled down. 774 00:42:05,640 --> 00:42:09,279 Speaker 1: It was hot, sweltering. It was so sweltering that we 775 00:42:09,320 --> 00:42:11,920 Speaker 1: had a marker board to h like line out the 776 00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:16,160 Speaker 1: dungeon and the the erasable markers that they ink from 777 00:42:16,200 --> 00:42:19,440 Speaker 1: them was just like beating up and when was just 778 00:42:19,560 --> 00:42:22,480 Speaker 1: turning into a wet mess. And the players handbook that 779 00:42:22,520 --> 00:42:25,040 Speaker 1: I was using at the time, like it just completely 780 00:42:25,080 --> 00:42:29,240 Speaker 1: fell apart, like the binding everything got he got moist 781 00:42:29,280 --> 00:42:31,760 Speaker 1: from the humidity, and it just became just a stack 782 00:42:31,800 --> 00:42:34,799 Speaker 1: of wet papers. That's horrible. I mean, it wasn't enough 783 00:42:34,840 --> 00:42:37,759 Speaker 1: to drive us inside with the air conditioning. But you know, 784 00:42:37,800 --> 00:42:40,080 Speaker 1: there's one thing I don't understand. I've got a really 785 00:42:40,080 --> 00:42:43,400 Speaker 1: good friend who works in uh she works for the 786 00:42:43,440 --> 00:42:45,880 Speaker 1: park service, and she works in the desert, you know, 787 00:42:46,440 --> 00:42:51,000 Speaker 1: out in a big Bin National Park, and she came 788 00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:53,239 Speaker 1: to stay at our house recently, and she was talking 789 00:42:53,239 --> 00:42:57,279 Speaker 1: about how much she loved the humidity sitting in our backyard, 790 00:42:57,400 --> 00:42:59,960 Speaker 1: and I just thought that was the most what George 791 00:43:00,040 --> 00:43:02,480 Speaker 1: gen is like, I just love it when it's swampy 792 00:43:02,520 --> 00:43:06,680 Speaker 1: out Like we travel out out west and we we 793 00:43:06,760 --> 00:43:10,560 Speaker 1: admire the dry heat, right, Yeah, I kind of forget 794 00:43:10,600 --> 00:43:16,400 Speaker 1: that one could potentially uh you know, pine after the moist, thick, humid, 795 00:43:16,480 --> 00:43:19,600 Speaker 1: swimmable heat of the Georgian summer. And there's a reason 796 00:43:19,680 --> 00:43:22,680 Speaker 1: related to the air conditioning technology that we've been talking about. 797 00:43:22,719 --> 00:43:25,160 Speaker 1: There's a reason that so many people prefer the dry heat, 798 00:43:25,160 --> 00:43:27,800 Speaker 1: which is that in the dry heat, the lower humidity 799 00:43:27,840 --> 00:43:30,400 Speaker 1: content of the air aids and the evaporation of sweat 800 00:43:30,440 --> 00:43:33,239 Speaker 1: from your skin. Right, the lower the moisture in the air, 801 00:43:33,400 --> 00:43:36,719 Speaker 1: the faster your skin evaporates, which helps keep your body cool. 802 00:43:37,080 --> 00:43:40,080 Speaker 1: That's why when the humidity is high, heat tends to 803 00:43:40,239 --> 00:43:42,920 Speaker 1: feel worse. It's like you can't sweat to get the 804 00:43:42,920 --> 00:43:45,160 Speaker 1: heat out of you, or you can sweat. I mean 805 00:43:45,160 --> 00:43:47,400 Speaker 1: you will sweat, but the sweating is not as efficient 806 00:43:47,480 --> 00:43:50,560 Speaker 1: in rising up as gas off of your skin. But anyway, 807 00:43:50,719 --> 00:43:53,360 Speaker 1: so I guess we should briefly just mentioned how Carrier 808 00:43:53,480 --> 00:43:57,760 Speaker 1: system worked. His method of air conditioning involved blowing air 809 00:43:57,920 --> 00:44:01,560 Speaker 1: over what would what were riginally heating coils, which you know, 810 00:44:01,640 --> 00:44:04,120 Speaker 1: steam would go through to help heat room. They were 811 00:44:04,120 --> 00:44:07,000 Speaker 1: originally hollow heating coils, but instead they were filled with 812 00:44:07,120 --> 00:44:11,040 Speaker 1: chilled water from a deep artisanal well instead of steam, 813 00:44:11,080 --> 00:44:15,239 Speaker 1: and this cold water caused condensation of moisture from the 814 00:44:15,280 --> 00:44:18,160 Speaker 1: surrounding air as that air was blown over the coils, 815 00:44:18,480 --> 00:44:21,600 Speaker 1: removing the humidity and drying the air in the process, 816 00:44:22,120 --> 00:44:24,920 Speaker 1: and the plane chilled water system was later upgraded I 817 00:44:24,920 --> 00:44:29,000 Speaker 1: think the following year to include an ammonia compressor, which 818 00:44:29,120 --> 00:44:31,440 Speaker 1: that's especially good because that will work during the summer 819 00:44:31,480 --> 00:44:34,600 Speaker 1: because now you're taking advantage of the lower boiling point 820 00:44:34,600 --> 00:44:38,360 Speaker 1: refrigerant which can be expanded and compressed. And while the 821 00:44:38,400 --> 00:44:41,600 Speaker 1: original air conditioner was just for this industrial purpose of 822 00:44:41,640 --> 00:44:45,360 Speaker 1: controlling humidity, Carrier did see the potential if it didn't 823 00:44:45,640 --> 00:44:50,200 Speaker 1: just remove humidity but also cooled the indoor air. There 824 00:44:50,239 --> 00:44:54,080 Speaker 1: could be major non industrial markets for this system adding 825 00:44:54,400 --> 00:44:58,800 Speaker 1: comfort to human occupied buildings. Yes, absolutely, And so really, 826 00:44:58,840 --> 00:45:02,200 Speaker 1: out of this the the age of refrigeration, the age 827 00:45:02,200 --> 00:45:05,759 Speaker 1: of air conditioning is born, and it makes its way 828 00:45:05,800 --> 00:45:09,120 Speaker 1: into industrial buildings, into hospitals first, but then it begins 829 00:45:09,160 --> 00:45:12,880 Speaker 1: to find its way into other spaces and eventually homes 830 00:45:12,920 --> 00:45:16,880 Speaker 1: as well. And this is the point where we would generally, 831 00:45:16,920 --> 00:45:19,640 Speaker 1: you know, briefly discuss the legacy of a particular invention, 832 00:45:19,719 --> 00:45:21,640 Speaker 1: but we are going to have to call it and 833 00:45:21,680 --> 00:45:25,160 Speaker 1: come back and do an entire episode on the legacy 834 00:45:25,320 --> 00:45:28,200 Speaker 1: of air conditioning because because I mean, there are some 835 00:45:28,280 --> 00:45:35,000 Speaker 1: obvious areas where it's it's impactful, but it really changed 836 00:45:35,120 --> 00:45:39,400 Speaker 1: the landscape of certainly American life, and uh, you know, 837 00:45:39,480 --> 00:45:42,520 Speaker 1: in in ways that you might not even instantly think 838 00:45:42,560 --> 00:45:45,000 Speaker 1: of and so, yeah, we're going to come back in 839 00:45:45,080 --> 00:45:48,360 Speaker 1: a third air conditioning episode to just talk about how 840 00:45:48,400 --> 00:45:51,520 Speaker 1: air conditioning change the world. Yeah, I'm really excited about 841 00:45:51,520 --> 00:45:54,319 Speaker 1: that one. In the meantime, you can check out other 842 00:45:54,320 --> 00:45:57,360 Speaker 1: episodes of Invention and Invention bod dot com. Uh, you 843 00:45:57,400 --> 00:45:58,960 Speaker 1: can check out our other show Stuff to Blow your 844 00:45:58,960 --> 00:46:01,120 Speaker 1: Mind at Stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. You 845 00:46:01,160 --> 00:46:05,800 Speaker 1: can find both podcasts wherever you get your podcasts these days, 846 00:46:05,840 --> 00:46:08,680 Speaker 1: and if you do, wherever that happens to be. We 847 00:46:08,719 --> 00:46:11,520 Speaker 1: would just ask that you subscribe to our shows that 848 00:46:11,600 --> 00:46:13,520 Speaker 1: you rate and review us if you have the power 849 00:46:13,560 --> 00:46:16,759 Speaker 1: to do so, leave a nice remark and recommend us 850 00:46:16,800 --> 00:46:20,399 Speaker 1: to your friends. Share some of the wisdom that we 851 00:46:20,480 --> 00:46:23,600 Speaker 1: have unearthed for you with the people that you know, 852 00:46:23,960 --> 00:46:26,160 Speaker 1: and certainly if you have anything that you would like 853 00:46:26,200 --> 00:46:28,880 Speaker 1: to add about air conditioning, the history of air conditioning, 854 00:46:29,280 --> 00:46:32,880 Speaker 1: you're like, personal or family history with air conditioning, we 855 00:46:32,920 --> 00:46:35,800 Speaker 1: would love to hear from you. Huge thanks as always 856 00:46:35,800 --> 00:46:39,920 Speaker 1: to our excellent audio producers Maya Cole and Seth Nicholas Johnson. 857 00:46:40,239 --> 00:46:41,839 Speaker 1: If you would like to get in touch with us 858 00:46:41,840 --> 00:46:44,440 Speaker 1: with feedback on this episode or any other to suggest 859 00:46:44,440 --> 00:46:46,760 Speaker 1: a topic, for the future, or just to say hello. 860 00:46:46,840 --> 00:46:54,600 Speaker 1: You can email us at contact at invention pod dot com. 861 00:46:54,600 --> 00:46:57,879 Speaker 1: Invention is production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts from 862 00:46:57,880 --> 00:47:00,600 Speaker 1: my heart Radio, because the iHeart Radio app app podcasts, 863 00:47:00,640 --> 00:47:03,040 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. M