It seems hard to believe that prior to The Great Depression our world never knew what air conditioning was. And as the summer temps continue to rise in Arizona, many of us simply can’t possibly fathom what it would be like to live in the desert without some sort of air conditioning system keeping us cool. Well, there are several things you might be surprised to know about air conditioning being invented in 1932 that might give you a newfound respect for the technology we all take advantage of daily.
The 1932 Invention Of Air Conditioning
First – Some Facts About The Invention Of Air Conditioning
Many historians argue that air conditioning was invented in 1932 based on the fact that American physicist Stewart W. Cramer started using this term during the 1932 calendar year. However, the facts show that Willis Carrier (of the Carrier Air Conditioning Company) actually invented the concept of air conditioning as far back as 1902. This eventually led to production of the first commercial line of AC units in 1914.
But, here is something perhaps you didn’t know.
The ‘concept’ of air-cooling goes back as far as the ancient Egyptians, where reeds were hung in windows and were moistened with trickling water. The evaporation of water-cooled the air blowing through the window made the air more humid, which was very cooling and beneficial in a dry, desert community.
Modern day AC units didn’t actually hit store shelves for residential use until after WWII due to economic constraints during the depression and the World War.
Second – What Else Happened In 1932?
It’s amazing what you find on the Internet these days – isn’t it? Here are a few ‘cool’ facts about other things that happened in 1932.
- Did you know that the average cost of a new home in 1932 was less than $7,000.00? And the average household income was less than $1,650.00 per year? Gasoline would cost you a whopping $0.10 per gallon at the time, a loaf of bread was 7 pennies and a pound of hamburger meat cost the same as a gallon of gasoline.
- Congress enacted The Emergency Relief and Construction Act on July 21st, 1932. This was our country’s first relief legislation and was very important in ending The Great Depression. This major legislation was a big part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s ‘New Deal’ program; however history will always document that it was in fact President Herbert Hoover that enabled this program during his last term in office.
- If you like music, you’ll go nuts to realize who was born in 1932. Some of the 32 babies included music icons, Little Richard, Country stars Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, and Loretta Lynn, world famous DJ Casey Kasem and classical music icon John Williams who wrote the soundtracks and themes to iconic films including Star Wars, ET and Jaws, to name a few.
As you can see, the world has come a long way since air conditioning was invented in 1932. Today’s systems are Wi-Fi capable, can be remotely activated from virtually anywhere in the world and use space age materials to focus on energy efficiency. Regardless of what type of cooling system you have, you can thank a guy named Stewart Cramer for giving this life-saving device such a cool name.
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Read more articles about dependable HVAC contractor in Scottsdale:
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