Wednesday Open Line


On these blistering hot summer days when we walk from the heat into a cool office, business, or home, we can thank a man many of us have never heard of — Willis Carrier. He patented what he called an “apparatus for treating air” in 1906. His idea has fundamentally changed the way most Americans live, work and play. Air-conditioning did not come into widespread use until following World War II. Even by 1960, only 12 percent of homes in the U.S. were equipped. Today, two-thirds of houses in the U.S. have central air- conditioning and another one-fifth have window units. Profile America is produced by the U.S. Census Bureau: Measuring America–People, Places, and Our Economy.


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