Who Is Willis Carrier?

You may not realize this, but Willis Carrier is the man to thank when the days get hot and you turn on your air conditioning. Credited with inventing the modern air conditioner, this man not only changed the lives of people with in-home AC but it also changed the way we watched movies.

According to Investors Business Daily, Willis persuaded Paramont Pictures to install air conditioning units in their theaters in 1925. At the time, movie attendance went down during the summer. People simply did not want to sit in a cramped area and sweat while watching a movie on the big screen. Willis felt his invention would help change this, so he persuaded Paramount’s founder, Adolph Zukor, to let him try.

People filed into the theater before the air conditioner was even turned on. Hand fans were flapping everywhere as the people tried to keep cool. Once the air was turned on, though, the fans began to stop moving as the owners set them down. It was a success.

The air conditioner triggered demographic shifts to the Sun Belt — Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix. It also transformed Washington, D.C., which had been a ghost town in the summer as politicians fled the intensity.

The air conditioner migrated from factories to department stores, theaters and homes. “The invention changed the world forever in the way we live, work and play,” John Mandyck, vice president for sustainability and environmental strategies at Carrier Corp., which was acquired by United Technologies (UTX) in 1983, told IBD. “It enabled the southern part of the country to prosper with new buildings and manufacturing locations, and not just in the U.S., but around the world.”

He added: “Air conditioning enabled tremendous advancements in manufacturing and technology. Air conditioning today is known for its comfort benefits, but its heritage was born out of advancing commerce.”

Photo from Wikipedia

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