Featured Image Caption: Black and Grey Living Room with AC
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Air conditioners are one of the most treasured modern innovations for fighting off the summer heat. That having been said, there is more to this invention than “make the heat bearable.” This article intends to highlight five points you may not have known about air conditioner units.
Air Conditioners Were a Big Pull for Movie Theaters
Air conditioning was a novelty in its early days and novelties are rarely cost-efficient. Back in the earliest days of air conditioning, in the 1920s, only one type of facility was regularly known to offer its patrons refrigerated air, movie theaters. Because the theaters were a good spot for fighting off the blazing summer heat, they were able to draw in far more crowds than their featured presentations might draw on their own. This relationship between hotter external temperatures and the initial monopoly on air conditioning is also why the big blockbuster films tend to release during the summer months.
Air Conditioning is a Rarity in the United Kingdom
While there are plenty of search results for the best air conditioner Canada can offer its citizenry, air conditioning is only present within about 5% of all homes in the United Kingdom. In contrast, roughly 60% of Canadian homes have air conditioning as a feature. One of the major reasons for this disparity would likely be a result of how homes are constructed; most UK homes that could manage to incorporate air conditioning systems would have to pay a premium as they have little to no open space to fit the equipment.
The First Air Conditioners Used Actual Blocks of Ice
Rather than circulating any sort of chemical reactions throughout space in a room, the earliest forms of air conditioners were nothing more than a reservoir for blocks of ice and compressed air pumps to send the ice’s chill over coils and out into the room. In addition to keeping a room nice and cool, the water that would inevitably trickle out could be collected in molds for later use as ice cubes. These “ice machines” were invented back in 1851 but their inventor, Dr. John Gorrie, was unable to bring them to market due to the loss of a chief investor and partner in the business.
The Initial Reason for Modern Air Conditioning Had Nothing to Do With Humans
While no one will deny that the air conditioner is a godsend for staying cool, the modern air conditioner’s primary purpose was more useful to the print industry. It seems that the ink used for printing texts had a rather difficult time reaching a completely dry state due to an excessive level of humidity in the area; undried ink tends to smear around and this smearing can completely mar whatever text was supposed to be present, potentially rendering it illegible. In the early 20th Century, the “apparatus for treating air” was invented as a means of controlling the humidity of a room, thus allowing printing houses to keep a room dry enough to let their freshly inked pages dry to completion.
Asia is a Leading Continent for Air Conditioner Sales
Given the size of its populace and the fact that some of its major cities can reach up to 40ºC in the hottest months of the year, China is the most demanding nation on the planet for air conditioners. When considering the nations that have most adapted to air conditioners to keep their citizens cool, Japan leads the list with a whopping 91% user base with Indian homes trailing closely behind. When looking at southeastern Asia, air conditioning units are present in around 80% of Malaysian and Singaporean buildings.
Cooling Off
So that covers five notable facts about the precious and mighty air conditioner. While three out of every five Canadian homes makes use of at least one air conditioner, more than 90% of all Japanese homes and less than 5% of all UK homes use one. The ability to tweak a room’s humidity is why modern air conditioning came exists. The first air conditioners used ice and the cinematic “summer blockbuster” exists because theaters were the initial source of air conditioning.
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