Fun Facts About Air Conditioning History

Submitted by D. McKeon Heating and Air Conditioning

D_MCKEON_The dog days of summer are officially here and for most of us, it’s hard to imagine beating the heat without air conditioning. We move from our air conditioned houses to our air conditioned cars to our air conditioned places of work. In between we go from one air conditioned building to another: stores, places of worship, medical buildings, schools  ect. And most of us take the cool air for granted.
Here are five facts about air conditioning you probably don’t know:
•    The first air conditioner wasn’t designed for comfort. Willis Carrier invented the first modern air conditioner in 1902 for a publishing company in Brooklyn New York. It kept the temperature and humidity low so the paper didn’t expand and contract.  Carrier never intended for his machine to be used merely for comfort.
•     Movie theaters were among the first places most people encountered artificially cooled air. In fact, theaters would advertise their “Refrigerated Air”. Moviemakers released their big pictures during the summer because people sought out the air-conditioned buildings to escape the heat.
•     Your kids should be especially grateful for A/C. Although summer vacation started out as a way to escape the heat, schools kept up the practice even after gaining air conditioning.
•    Even the government would shut down during parts of the summer. Before central air conditioning, the government took a summer vacation along with school. In fact, some historians blame the growth of federal bureaucracy on air-conditioning, since it allowed lawmakers to stay in session longer
•    Vegas wouldn’t be Vegas without A/C.  Before air conditioning, the Northeast was the nation’s economic powerhouse. Population explosions in places like Arizona, Nevada, Florida and Texas can be directly attributed to the introduction of air conditioning.

Pictured above is Chris Kulat with Dennis McKeon.  Chris won the drawing for the free A/C cooling system from D. McKeon Heating and Air Conditioning.  Congratulations.

As we move thru the dog days you can be sure that D. McKeon Heating and Air Conditioning stands ready to take care of all of our community’s air conditioning needs.  You may reach us at 770-425-8779.