A Modest Proposal

As much of the country swelters in high heat and humidity I'd like to advance a modest proposal. I propose that we discard Columbus Day, MLK Day, Presidents' Day, etc. and replace them all with a national holiday in honor of Willis Carrier. Carrier invented air conditioning in 1902 and thereby made life more endurable for more people than all the other folks we celebrate with our national holidays combined.

Willis H. Carrier was Chief Engineer of the Buffalo Forge Company from 1902 to 1915. The company was subsequently acquired by Howden in 1993. The following is a paraphrase of an article at chartindustries.com:

Willis H. Carrier

Carrier was assigned the task of improving the manufacturing process in a printing plant that suffered from excessive humidity, which wreaked havoc on the inks used to print.

To remedy this Carrier submitted drawings of a system that would control temperature, control humidity, control the air circulation and ventilation, and cleanse the air - not bad for a 25 year old fresh out of college.

Using his knowledge of heating objects with steam, he simply reversed the process. Instead of sending air through hot coils, he sent it through coils filled with cold water instead. As the air cooled, moisture in the air condensed on the coils, decreasing both the temperature and the humidity in the room.

Thus was the modern air conditioner born.

In 1906 while exploring ways to add moisture to the air in his textile mill, Stuart Cramer invented a ventilating device that combined moisture with ventilation that “conditioned” the air in his factories. By adding water vapor to the air he was able to control the humidity making the textiles easier to work with.

He called this process “air conditioning” and Wills Carrier liked the term so much he adopted it and even incorporated it into the name of his company.

So, try to imagine what these last couple of weeks would've been like before Carrier's invention, especially if you live in the American southwest, where temperatures have been in triple digits, and see if you don't agree that the failure to give Carrier a national holiday has been a grievous oversight.