A Little AC History -Los Angeles Air Conditioning

Humans having the desire to stay cool and comfortable during the summer heat has been around long before Los Angeles air conditioning was invented to make that happen. Back during the 1830s people started to mess around with the idea of using ice and a machinery to cool the air they lived in. Dr. John Gorrie was an American physician who lived in Florida at the time. He is credited with the first attempt at building an air conditioner.

Basically what Dr. Gorrie designed was an ice making machine. Air was blown over the bucket of ice to create a cooling effect. There were tons of people suffering from yellow fever and malaria during the 1830s and he was searching for a way to cool the hospital rooms that were filling up with sick patients.

Another attempt at air conditioning was involved with a close to death experience. In 1881, President James Garfield needed to be comfortable. A box of clothes that were covered and soaking up melted ice water was made by navy engineers. A fan was set next to it blowing hot air overhead. It actually worked and was able to lower the rooms temperature by about 20 degrees. This was great however, it was not an efficient way to cool the air because it used up about half a million pounds of ice in just two months.

During 1902 we start to see things a little close to modern day Los Angeles air conditioning. Willis Carrier made an "Apparatus for Treating Air." He lived in Brooklyn, New York and worked for Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing and Publishing Co. This machine lowered humidity.

The son of John "Bet a Million" Gates, Charles Gates, had the first house that was ever air conditioned. That sounds like today, los angeles air conditioning is most everywhere in LA county now. This was back in 1914. The first AC's were ridiculous, huge and really expensive. They were incredibly dangerous too because they used toxic ammonia to cool the air!

The Carrier company started the industry in 1922 by using a compressor to make AC's smaller. Movie theaters really made the cooling industry take off. In 1925 air conditioning was on Broadway at the Rivoli! After that air conditioning started being installed everywhere- trains, stores, offices etc. 1928 was a big year for The US House of Representatives. They had an air conditioner installed in the Senate, White House and the Supreme Court!

Los Angeles air conditioning today is a common thing. The technology has advanced a lot over the past 75 years and we are here to provide cooling and comfort all over LA county!