Small but incrementally significant improvements continued as the century unfolded, making refrigeration and air conditioning systems steadily more efficient and more affordable—and increasingly widespread. The range of applications has grown as well, with mechanical refrigeration playing a role in everything from medical research and computer manufacturing to space travel. Without, for example, the controlled, air-conditioned environment in spacecraft and spacesuits, humans would never have made it into space—or walked on the Moon—-even with all the other engineering hurdles overcome. But most of us don't have to go quite so far to appreciate the benefits of keeping cool. They're right there for us, each time we open the refrigerator door and reach for something cold to drink.
Keeping cool has been a human preoccupation for millennia, but until the 20th century most efforts were ineffective. People tried everything from draping saturated mats in doorways to the installation of water-powered fans. Even Leonardo da Vinci designed and built a mechanical ventilating fan, the first of its kind. The modern system—involving the exchange of hot, moist air for cool, dry air by way of a circulating refrigerant—was first used in industrial settings. Indeed, a North Carolina textile engineer named Stuart Cramer, impressed with how the latest system of controlling the heat and humidity in his plant improved the cloth fibers, coined the term "air conditioning" in 1906. Since then comfort of cool is no longer considered a luxury but a fact of modern existence. Keeping cool has been a human preoccupation for millennia, but until the 20th century most efforts were ineffective. People tried everything from draping saturated mats in doorways to the installation of water-powered fans. Even Leonardo da Vinci designed and built a mechanical ventilating fan, the first of its kind. The modern system—involving the exchange of hot, moist air for cool, dry air by way of a circulating refrigerant—was first used in industrial settings. Indeed, a North Carolina textile engineer named Stuart Cramer, impressed with how the latest system of controlling the heat and humidity in his plant improved the cloth fibers, coined the term "air conditioning" in 1906. Since then comfort of cool is no longer considered a luxury but a fact of modern existence. 1902 Comfort cooling system installed at the New York Stock Exchange A 300-ton comfort cooling system designed by Alfred Wolff is installed at the New York Stock Exchange. Using free cooling provided by waste-steam-operated refrigeration systems, Wolff’s system functions successfully for 20 years. 1902 First office building with an air-conditioning system installed The Armour Building in Kansas City, Missouri, becomes the first office building to install an air-conditioning system. Each room is individually controlled with a thermostat that operates dampers in the ductwork, making it also the first office building to incorporate individual "zone" control of separate rooms.
1904 A self-contained mechanical refrigerator is displayed at the St. Louis World's Fair A self-contained mechanical refrigerator is displayed at the St. Louis World's Fair by Brunswick Refrigerating Co., which specializes in designing small refrigerators for residences and butcher shops. The ammonia refrigerating system is mounted on the side of a wooden icebox-type refrigerator. Thousands of attendees at the World's Fair also experience the public debut of air conditioning in the Missouri State Building. The system uses 35,000 cubic feet of air per minute to cool a 1,000- seat auditorium, the rotunda, and various other rooms. 1904 A self-contained mechanical refrigerator is displayed at the St. Louis World's Fair A self-contained mechanical refrigerator is displayed at the St. Louis World's Fair by Brunswick Refrigerating Co., which specializes in designing small refrigerators for residences and butcher shops. The ammonia refrigerating system is mounted on the side of a wooden icebox-type refrigerator. Thousands of attendees at the World's Fair also experience the public debut of air conditioning in the Missouri State Building. The system uses 35,000 cubic feet of air per minute to cool a 1,000- seat auditorium, the rotunda, and various other rooms. 1906 First office building specifically designed for air conditioning. In Chicago, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Larkin Administration Building is the first office building specifically designed for air conditioning. The system uses safe, nonflammable carbon dioxide as a refrigerant. 1906 Patent filed for "dew point control" system Willis Carrier files for a patent on his "dew point control" system. Carrier has studied the science of humidity control after designing a rudimentary air-conditioning system for a Brooklyn printing plant in 1902. This and subsequent designs allow him to devise a precise method of controlling humidity using refrigerated water sprays, thereby allowing the manufacture of air-conditioning systems to be standardized. 1906 First air-conditioned hospital Boston Floating Hospital becomes the first air-conditioned hospital, using a system designed by Edward Williams to maintain the hospital wards at about 70°F with a relative humidity of 50 percent. The hospital’s five wards are individually controlled by thermostats. Williams’s system features "reheat" in which cooled air is heated slightly to lower its humidity. 1907 Air-conditioning equipment installed in dining and meeting rooms at Congress Hotel in Chicago Air-conditioning equipment designed by Frederick Wittenmeier is installed in dining and meeting rooms at Congress Hotel in Chicago. This is one of the first systems designed by Wittenmeier for hotels and movie theaters. His firm, Kroeschell Brothers Ice Machine Company, installs hundreds of cooling plants into the 1930s.
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