The nation’s average hottest day of the year is due this week, sufficient reason for the Census Bureau to dig into its trove of data to tell us everything we may–or may not–need to know about air conditioning. As this sounds vaguely familiar to us, we suspect it has done this before. But acknowledging Willis Carrier, who in the depths of winter in 1906 received a patent for what he called an “apparatus for treating air,” is a worthy exercise. Carrier launched his own company 102 years ago this month, and the Carrier name is still prominent among air-conditioning manufacturers. The invention did not come into widespread use until after World War II. Even by 1965, only 10 percent of homes in the United States were equipped, and just 2.8 million window air conditioners were manufactured that year. Today, 93 percent of all new, single-family houses in the United States are air-conditioned. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at .
Sources:
Average warmest day/accessed 5/2/2017: http://raycomnbc.worldnow.com/story/29625815/national-climatic-data-center-calls-july-24-hottest-day-of-the-year
Carrier’s patent/accessed 5/2/2017: www.freepatentsonline.com/0808897.pdf
Carrier company founded/accessed 5/2/2017: www.williscarrier.com/about.php
1965 air conditioning/accessed 5/2/2017: www.ipwatchdog.com/2014/06/20/the-evolution-of-air-conditioning-technology/id=50138/
1965 window air conditioners: Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970, p. 694: www2.census.gov/library/publications/1975/compendia/hist_stats_colonial-1970/hist_stats_colonial-1970p2-chP.pdf
New housing and air conditioning:
www.census.gov/construction/chars/pdf/aircond.pdf
