Very interesting article relating the long technological road to modern air conditioning:

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-39735802​

Air conditioning as we know it began in 1902, but it had nothing to do with human comfort.
New York's Sackett & Wilhelms Lithographing and Printing Company became frustrated with varying humidity levels when trying to print in colour. Sackett & Wilhelms asked a heating company to solve their humidity problem. The same paper had to be printed four times in four colours, and if the humidity changed between print runs, the paper would slightly expand or contract. Even a millimetre's misalignment looked awful.

The printers asked heating company Buffalo Forge to devise a system to control humidity.
A young engineer called Willis Carrier figured out that circulating air over coils that were chilled by compressed ammonia maintained the humidity at a constant 55%. Willis Carrier was quick to see the wider potential of his humidity-controlling invention.

The printers were delighted.

@#12

 

Carrier A/C is still a name around today.
It killed the hand fan market!
Max.

 

Been there, done that. Poser Print Shop, Clearwater, Florida, about 1980. 75 tons of air conditioning.
The main problem there was that they had 5 huge doors for loading semi-trucks, which they kept open most of the time. Florida sauna air flowed freely all day while they complained that the dehumidifying machinery did not work and the electricity cost sky-rocketed.

No walls between the loading docks and the paper storage. Bleeping impossible for me to be effective.

 

Been there, done that. Poser Print Shop, Clearwater, Florida, about 1980. 75 tons of air conditioning.
The main problem there was that they had 5 huge doors for loading semi-trucks, which they kept open most of the time. Florida sauna air flowed freely all day while they complained that the dehumidifying machinery did not work and the electricity cost sky-rocketed.

No walls between the loading docks and the paper storage. Bleeping impossible for me to be effective.

I used to work trade shows and every few years we'd end up in Orlando. During the show the A/C kept things reasonable. When the show ended, and I mean the second the show ended, they'd kill the A/C and open up all the doors for the forklifts to come in for teardown. It was shocking how quickly that huge space would turn into a steamroom. I had to hustle to tear down our (tiny) booth while wearing my suit, before I melted. like the wicked witch.

 

Carrier A/C is still a name around today.
It killed the hand fan market!
Max.

Henry Ford killed the buggy whip market too!!!

 

Henry Ford killed the buggy whip market too!!!

And next I'm supposed to say that IBM killed the abacus? ... or was it Hewlett Packard ... or Texas Instruments???