A History of Air Conditioning

1902 Willis Carrier builds first air conditioner to control humidity inside a printing company.

1906 Willis Carrier patents his invention calling it an “Apparatus for Treating Air”.

1906 Stuart W. Cramer coins the term “Air Conditioning”.

1917 The New Empire Theatre in Montgomery, Alabama is the first theatre to offer air conditioning to its patrons.

1925 Madison Square Gardens in New York city installs first refrigerated ice surface.

1947 Air conditioning becomes a bargaining issue in the North Carolina textile workers strike due to stressful heat and humidity in the workplace.

1953 Room air conditioner sales exceed the one million units mark.

1955 Mass marketing of frozen dinners begins with “TV Dinners” ads.

1987 The United Nations Montreal Protocol for the protection of the earth’s ozone layer is signed. The protocol establishes a phase out time table for ozone depleting substances including chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) used in refrigeration and air conditioning.

1991 Honeywell develops new efficient refrigerant assigned the generic name of R-410a (Puron) to replace the existing R-22 CFC (Freon) refrigerants.

2005 At present all manufacturers voluntarily adopt the new R-410a refrigerant.

2010 All manufacturing of Freon 22 air conditioners is prohibited.