A Look At The Evolution Of The Air Conditioner

Today, we take it for granted that by flipping a switch; we can turn on our air conditioner and enjoy its cooling effects. In fact, there are even portable models available that have made it possible to take the AC from one room to another. What is more, these appliances are commonly used in buildings throughout our country and in the rest of the world as well. However, it does pay to understand a little bit more about the history of the air conditioner as then you will realize where it all began and where we are today. In the beginning, the rich and affluent people of Egypt were the first to enjoy the wonderful cooling of aqueduct water that was made to traverse the inside of a buildings walls. However, Egyptians had to pay a high cost for this water which was an expensive commodity in that country and in those days.

Persians also knew how to cool things down and in medieval Persia there were rich Persians that enjoyed the luxury of home air conditioning. However, they made use of wind rather that water.

Soon, their ideas were modified and use of liquefied ammonia which was made to evaporate was used to help to cool the air down. The person credited with this discovery was the British scientist Michael Faraday who made his discovery in 1820. About two decades later, an American called Dr. John Gorrie managed to make an ice maker which could be used to cool down the air and this he demonstrated in a Floridian hospital.

Industrial needs led to the invention of the first air conditioner and this was done by Willis Havilland Carrier whose invention in the year 1902 helped in cooling as well as humidifying the air inside a printers plants. It was a person called Stuart W. Cramer who actually first coined the term air conditioning and it referred to a method of adding moisture to the air in order to cool the atmosphere.

In the earliest air conditioners, toxic gases would be used but it was a person called Thomas Midgley Jr. Who created, in the year 1928 the first Freon refrigerant. Though this was a major discovery at the time, now we realize that Freon is bad for the Ozone layer.

An air conditioner is course used to cool our homes as well as offices. There are however other uses as well including being used to filter out harmful particles from the air and this kind of usage are is widely applied in operation theaters in hospitals.

Air conditioning can also be used to help people overcome allergies. This is because an air conditioner can also help in the removal of pollen and dander as well as dust which are the reasons why people suffer from allergies of different kinds.

There are a few air conditioner models that can also act as dehumidifiers and such models are able to remove the unwanted excessive moisture out of the air and this will make the room much more comfortable. We can certainly thank our lucky stars that some inventive geniuses found out how to air condition our homes and offices!