AC/refrigeration is perhaps the greatest invention of modern times

[Urbanredneck]

@Becky2844

We used to sit out on the porch a lot before A/C. Talk. Look at the stars. Watch the kids chase frogs. After…that just petered out. We became sealed inside.

Now that is one of the negatives. People stay inside more.

But really that came along with tv also.

[Urbanredneck]

@Lacunae_Matata

I also fancy myself a bit of a cook. I was lucky enough to grow up in the kitchens of two women who could cook their asses off - my mother and one of my grandmothers. My other grandmother, and the only great-grandmother who lived long enough for me to remember, cooked daily, but not well. In later years, I realized that the difference between those ladies was that two had learned to cook after the advent of home refrigeration, and two before. The Frigidaire was the difference between “cook it until it tastes good” and “cook it until it’s unlikely to kill you.” The difference was amazing, and I’m sure that the health benefits were, too. (But, to give my non-cook Grandma credit: after I learned to read, she let me use her kitchen when and how I wanted to, with obvious safety precautions like letting a grownup put things into the oven and get them out, or not letting me deep fry. I vividly remember making huuuuuuge messes in her kitchen, because she’d let me bake a cake or whatever other concoction I wanted to try, starting when I was about four years old. I suppose that she and my Grandpa figured that my cooking would probably be as good as Grandma’s!)

Also, thank you UrbanRedneck for doing your part for civilization!

Thanks, Plus you mention cooking.

In the old days a stove not only heated your food, but the whole room as well. Before AC people had a “summer kitchen” meaning outdoors. Less well to do people just moved the cookstove outside.

[Becky2844]

@Urbanredneck

Thanks, Plus you mention cooking.

In the old days a stove not only heated your food, but the whole room as well. Before AC people had a “summer kitchen” meaning outdoors. Less well to do people just moved the cookstove outside.

What is this, an endorsement for your line of work? You didn’t even start this thread and it’s in IMHOpinion.

TV came about before A/C. It didn’t cause isolation.

Tagged the wrong quote, but…

[Little_Nemo]

@panache45

Whenever there’s a question about traveling back in time, I always say that I won’t go back to a time before air conditioning. And by the way, it’s true that movie houses had it first. We didn’t have it at home, in schools, in the car or anywhere else, only at the movies.

Originally it was used in factories. There were some industrial processes that were ruined by excessive heat and engineers figured out ways to cool the area.

Then somebody had the idea that people would also like to be cooler during a hot summer and they sold an industrial ac unit to a theater owner.

[SlackerInc]

@Becky2844

I saw Dillinger’s syphilitic penis in a jar at the Smithsonian. Funny what sticks in your head…

My parents got air conditioning in the late '70s, but they lived out in the country so it may have been a “thing” for others before that. Our noo-clear family got it a few years later but I remember us sometimes going to the mall because they had it. But I didn’t like it at home (although now I could probably barely breathe without it.) With the windows shut you never felt a breeze or heard the birds as well. Or—a sure sign of Spring—the first car radio wafting down the street.
We used to sit out on the porch a lot before A/C. Talk. Look at the stars. Watch the kids chase frogs. After…that just petered out. We became sealed inside.

Dillinger’s penis is displayed at the Smithsonian, seriously? Weird.

I have terrible seasonal allergies, so having windows open or sitting on the porch holds no appeal for me. Another reason I’d have been even more miserable, come to think of it, in the pre-AC era.

[voltaire]

@Little_Nemo

Originally it was used in factories. There were some industrial processes that were ruined by excessive heat and engineers figured out ways to cool the area.

Then somebody had the idea that people would also like to be cooler during a hot summer and they sold an industrial ac unit to a theater owner.

That’s true of what we would consider modern mechanical air-conditioning, but to tell the earlier story, where it was indeed invented specifically to cool humans, you have to go back to tell the story of John Gorrie, which is pretty cool (heh), but sad since his mechanical ice-maker was ultimately an invention ahead of its time.

From the wiki on him:

In 1833, John Gorrie moved to Apalachicola, Florida, a port city on the Gulf coast. As well as being resident physician at two hospitals, Gorrie was active in the community. At various times he served as a council member, Postmaster, President of the Bank of Pensacola’s Apalachicola Branch, Secretary of the Masonic Lodge, and was one of the founding vestrymen of Trinity Episcopal Church.

Dr. Gorrie’s medical research involved the study of tropical diseases. At the time the theory that bad air caused diseases was a prevalent hypothesis and based on this theory, he urged draining the swamps and the cooling of sickrooms. For this he cooled rooms with ice in a basin suspended from the ceiling. Cool air, being heavier, flowed down across the patient and through an opening near the floor. Since ice had to be brought by boat from the northern lakes, Gorrie experimented with making artificial ice.

Continuing with the bit on his efforts from the “Air Conditioning” wiki:

In 1842, Florida physician John Gorrie used compressor technology to create ice, which he used to cool air for his patients in his hospital in Apalachicola, Florida. He hoped eventually to use his ice-making machine to regulate the temperature of buildings. He even envisioned centralized air conditioning that could cool entire cities. Though his prototype leaked and performed irregularly, Gorrie was granted a patent in 1851 for his ice-making machine. His hopes for its success vanished soon afterwards when his chief financial backer died; Gorrie did not get the money he needed to develop the machine. According to his biographer, Vivian M. Sherlock, he blamed the “Ice King”, Frederic Tudor*, for his failure, suspecting that Tudor had launched a smear campaign against his invention. Dr. Gorrie died impoverished in 1855, and the idea of air conditioning went away for 50 years.

• Frederic Tudor was known as the Ice King because of his business of harvesting natural New England ice and shipping it south, then to parts of the Caribbean and eventually all over the world as far as India! (I have no idea if Gorrie’s accusations had any merit.)

[SlackerInc]

I live within an hour of the Mississippi River, and I remember learning that they used to store ice in caves next to the river, with sawdust as insulation. It’s wild to me that in the early industrial era they got so good at storing and shipping ice, but had to rely on Mother Nature in northern climates to actually create it. I wonder how much was lost to melting, and if they did anything with the cold water that melted from it, or just let it drain out into the river?

I assume insulation technology stalled or even atrophied once mechanical refrigeration became commonplace. Those bins they store ice in at convenience stores don’t look especially well insulated; I’ve got to think the equivalent bins a century or two ago were much better.

[Urbanredneck]

@Becky2844

What is this, an endorsement for your line of work? You didn’t even start this thread and it’s in IMHOpinion.

TV came about before A/C. It didn’t cause isolation.

Tagged the wrong quote, but…

I’m not sure TV was the same since people only had 3 channels and pretty much gave everyone something to talk about the next day.

[voltaire]

@SlackerInc

I live within an hour of the Mississippi River, and I remember learning that they used to store ice in caves next to the river, with sawdust as insulation. It’s wild to me that in the early industrial era they got so good at storing and shipping ice, but had to rely on Mother Nature in northern climates to actually create it. I wonder how much was lost to melting, and if they did anything with the cold water that melted from it, or just let it drain out into the river?

In the example of the previously mentioned Ice King’s first shipment to India, 180 tons of ice left Boston and 100 tons arrived four months later in Calcutta. I’m sure the ship’s crew enjoyed their cool, refreshing drinks from the melt water the whole way there!

[Little_Nemo]

@voltaire

That’s true of what we would consider modern mechanical air-conditioning, but to tell the earlier story, where it was indeed invented specifically to cool humans, you have to go back to tell the story of John Gorrie, which is pretty cool (heh), but sad since his mechanical ice-maker was ultimately an invention ahead of its time.

I’ll have you know we take our air-conditioning history pretty seriously here in western New York. It was Willis Carrier of Buffalo who invented the first modern air conditioning process in 1902. Which is ironic - who would have associated Buffalo with a need for artificial cooling?

[Ken001]

@Alessan

In fact, I’m pretty sure that current human population levels are not sustainable without refrigeration.

LOL you need to get out more.

Most of the world’s population have never experienced air conditioning and refrigerators are unusual. A fridge is an expensive luxury when your family earns $10/day. Not to mention power blackouts.

Humanity not only survived but thrived long before refrigeration was discovered. Its nice but not crucial.

[voltaire]

@Little_Nemo

I’ll have you know we take our air-conditioning history pretty seriously here in western New York. It was Willis Carrier of Buffalo who invented the first modern air conditioning process in 1902. Which is ironic - who would have associated Buffalo with a need for artificial cooling?

I know, and what I said doesn’t conflict with that.

[Crafter_Man]

In my opinion, the best modern invention is something most people don’t think about, since it remains hidden from view: sanitation/waste processing systems.

In most developed countries, there is a huge network of underground pipes that takes away the waste created by the people, resulting in an almost immeasurable benefit to human health and comfort. Unless you have been to a place that does not have such a system, you probably take it for granted. Given a choice between air conditioning and a modern sanitation system, I will choose the latter.

[Hari_Seldon]

@SlackerInc

Ha, nice. I suppose theatres were some of the first places to have AC.

You got that right. My father told me that until the 30s movie theaters closed all summer. Nothing could get people into that hot stuffy environment. Then they air conditioned and suddenly you could go there on a hot sticky night and get two hours of blessed cooling for a dime. Summer became their busy time.

But the most significant invention. I don’t see it. In Montreal, I still don’t have air conditioning. Refrigeration is important, but I remember until after the war, my grandmother had an ice box.

The integrated circuit was the most important invention of the 20th century. Followed closely by fiber optic cable.

[Tapioca_Dextrin]

@Becky2844

I saw Dillinger’s syphilitic penis in a jar at the Smithsonian. Funny what sticks in your head…

I don’t know what’s sticking in your head, but it isn’t Dillinger’s wang

FACT CHECK: Is John Dillinger's Penis on Display at the Smithsonian?

[SlackerInc]

Thanks, Tapioca. I *thought *that seemed really hard to believe!

@Crafter_Man

Given a choice between air conditioning and a modern sanitation system, I will choose the latter.

Fair enough: I wouldn’t want to live in a city with no modern sanitation. But I’ll take an air conditioned place in the country, with an outhouse and a well you have to hand pump water into a bucket, over an un-air conditioned city apartment with a modern bathroom any day.

[SlackerInc]

BTW, Hari, you live in one of the greatest cities in the world, and maybe I could stand going AC-less there. I was comparing climate graphs, and where I live we have nearly four months with average daily highs over 80 (including about a month averaging over 90); Montreal only has about two weeks in July that average over 80.

And in my experience (having also lived in Duluth, where it is very cool in the summer), it is even worse than the graph shows due to the cumulative effect. The ground gets warmed up, every last recess and northern corner of our living space gets warmed up and keeps getting a huge load of heat every day (even with the trees we have all around our house), and it doesn’t cool down all that much at night. So after a week or two of steady heat and humidity, it is much worse than in cities that get the occasional day or two of 90 degree temps.

[Lacunae_Matata]

@Hari_Seldon

But the most significant invention. I don’t see it. In Montreal, I still don’t have air conditioning. Refrigeration is important, but I remember until after the war, my grandmother had an ice box.

The integrated circuit was the most important invention of the 20th century. Followed closely by fiber optic cable.

Bolding mine, but there you have it: You live in a place where the average high temperature on the hottest day of the year is 79 degrees Fahrenheit, with very rare super-hot events. According to the information I can find, the highest temperature ever recorded in Montreal was 37.6C/about 100F.

I live in coastal Georgia. Our first +90F day is generally in May, and it’s a very rare day in June, July, or August that doesn’t flirt with or soar above 90, with and average relative humidity level about 75%. I remember living without A/C, and it was possible, but not fun. I can’t imagine surviving those days with any type of respiratory problems, like asthma or environmental allergies! (And refrigeration also contributed a huge amount to the health of the average person in this type of climate. Cured meats are no longer de rigueur for most of the year, since it’s possible to safely ship and store fresh meats, for example.)

But I’ll grant the point that the integrated circuit is right up there with air conditioning/refrigeration as the most important inventions of the century!

On preview: Sorta ninja’d by SlackerInc!

[Terr]

@Ken001

LOL you need to get out more.

Most of the world’s population have never experienced air conditioning and refrigerators are unusual. A fridge is an expensive luxury when your family earns $10/day. Not to mention power blackouts.

That’s why I have the whole house standby generator.

[svd678]

Movie theater AC was still an advertising plus in NY state in the '40s. Our 7th car was the first to have AC, and it made a big difference in summer travel, even in the North. Traveling across Iowa in July we stopped in a motel at 1 pm because of the heat. With AC we didn’t carry as much water, and didn’t stop for rest rooms as much.