25 Cool Facts, Trivia, Quips & Quotes about Air Conditioning
It’s official! Summer has arrived, and we are very busy air conditioning specialists in the Tampa Bay area!
Aside from air conditioning, it is recommended people wear light, loose-fitting clothing to stay cooler in extreme heat. So with that in mind, we’ve decided to lighten- and loosen up our blog this month! Let’s kick back, think cool thoughts, and have some summertime fun reading cool facts, trivia, quips, and quotes about air conditioning.
Cool Facts & Trivia
- Florida doctor, John Gorrie, is considered the Father of Air Conditioning because he developed an ice-making machine to help keep his patients cool. Unfortunately, after a patent was issued in 1851 for his AC invention to be manufactured for use in homes and businesses, Dr Gorrie died and it was not produced.
- In the summer of 1881, President James Garfield was shot by an assassin, and a team of Naval engineers developed a way to cool his White House bedroom using massive amounts of ice. Unfortunately, Pres. Garfield did not survive the assassination.
- In 1902, Buffalo Forge Company engineer, Willis Carrier, introduced air conditioning to the world after designing a way to control humidity to prevent magazine paper from expanding and the ink from running at a publishing company in Brooklyn, NY. He eventually left his job at Buffalo Forge and formed Carrier Engineering Corporation.
- In 1903, the first building to use air conditioning was the New York Stock Exchange.
- An Apparatus for Treating the Air was the name on the patent for one of the first air-cooling systems. In 1906, the term Air Conditioning was derived by a textile manufacturer n North Carolina, when he realized cool air improved – or conditioned – the fabrics being manufactured.
- BTU’s are not the original form of measurement for the cooling power of air conditioning. Prior to the advent of AC, people used large blocks of ice to keep cool. After AC was introduced in 1902, the output measurement was called “Ice Power,” expressing how many tons of ice it would take to cool the air.
- In 1931, H.H. Schultz and J.Q. Sherman invented window air conditioning units that only wealthy people could afford. At that time, window a/c units that cooled individual rooms cost upwards of $10,000-$50,000. That conversion today would be $120,000-$600,000!
- In 1939, Packard was the first automobile company to add air conditioning to their luxury cars, although it was not user-friendly. For it to work, drivers had to stop, open the hood and disconnect a compressor belt.
- Movie theaters were among the first public venues to use air conditioning. The name “Summer Blockbusters” came about because people would flock to go see movies as a means of staying cool during the hot summer months.
- “Air temperature is so important to us that 48 percent of all energy consumption in American homes is a result of cooling and heating, according to the Energy Information Administration,” says the US Department of Energy.
Quirky Quips & Quotes
Having played many roles of scientific intellect I do have an empathy for that world. It’s been hard on me because flying the Enterprise for seven years in Star Trek and sitting in Cerebro in X-men has led people to believe that I know what I’m talking about. But I’m still trying to work out how to operate the air conditioning unit on my car.
Patrick Stewart
A true fascist is anyone who wants to take away my air conditioning or force me to ride a bike.
David Harsanyi
Owners of valuable works of art don’t give to institutions that don’t provide good air conditioning and have good shows.
Stanley Marcus
I grew up in a courtroom kind of like the one you saw in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ – big, big courtroom, sometimes it didn’t even have air conditioning.
Nancy Grace
Consumers don’t need to be forced to pay billions for so-called smart technology to know how to reduce their utility bills. We know to turn down the heat or air conditioning and shut off the lights.
Lisa Madigan
I love air conditioning and Starbucks.
Hasan Minhaj
An old theory holds that air conditioning ruined Congress. Members no longer had to flee the Washington heat to spend the summer back home. The long vacation forced them to bond with their constituents.
John Dickerson
Troops fighting for their lives should not have to ask a lawyer sitting in air conditioning 500 miles away for permission to drop a bomb.
Erik Prince
A utility can handle up to 20% of production from solar and that helps the grid because it produces electricity when needed. Solar power peaks in the middle of the day and that’s also when air conditioning is running and businesses are operating, so power production matches usage.
Elon Musk
It was luxuries like air conditioning that brought down the Roman Empire. With air conditioning their windows were shut, they couldn’t hear the barbarians coming.
Garrison Keillor
Scheduled shipping is one of many inventions that has made New York a global capital of innovation and creativity – from Willis Carrier’s invention of air conditioning in Buffalo and George Eastman’s breakthrough film technology in Rochester to the rise of hip-hop in the South Bronx and the world’s first cell phone call in Midtown Manhattan.
Joe Gebbia
My family lived off the land and summer evening meals featured baked stuffed tomatoes, potato salad, corn on the cob, fresh shelled peas, and homemade ice cream with strawberries from our garden. With no air conditioning in those days, the cool porch was the center of our universe after the scorching days.
David Mixner
When air conditioning, escalators, and advertising appeared, shopping expanded its scale, but also limited its spontaneity. And it became much more predictable, almost scientific. What had once been the most surprising became the most manipulated.
Rem Koolhaas
In Mexico, an air conditioner is called a politician because it makes a lot of noise but doesn’t work very well.
Len Deighton
Heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC), are one of the most important components of a home. But homeowners often don’t realize that HVAC is the driving force in delivering comfort and clean air. Now with the 3 C’s of Comfort, consumers have the information they need to prepare their home and their family for a comfortable, healthy, and money-saving (season).
Paul Trotter
We hope you enjoyed this light summer read! If you or someone you know experiences air conditioning issues this hot summer season, the HVAC specialists at Proficient Air can help.
Proficient Air in Palm Harbor offers a variety of high-quality air conditioning systems, as well as routine maintenance contracts, that are specifically tailored to your needs and budget. Contact Proficient Air when it’s time for air conditioning maintenance, air conditioner repairs, or a new air conditioning system installation in the Tampa Bay area.
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