Still appreciating the invention of Willis Carrier

                Musing near the end of summer, I see some gratifying changes within this 87-year-old house, that one person thinks may have been a Sears home. You know, from the Sears catalog, like the Jim Walter homes Dad helped build during part of his career. I’ve actually seen an old catalog, and yes, Sears DID sell homes. I’ll never know whether this house was indeed a Sears home, and I don’t care. What difference would it make if it were?

                With the brick and rock façade it would be difficult to install central heat and air. Six window ACs “live” on the main floor—three in the bedrooms, one in the small back room we originally called the breakfast room, but which now holds a table of African violets, a small round table with matching chairs, a vanity-turned-storage and a west-window AC. The former hallway across from the room itself houses the cat’s necessaries, the shredder and the hamper.

                Before new windows were installed, which meant removing the ACs from the spaces, then replacing them, the sunroom-cum-office AC was moved by the window crew from a south window to an east one, visible from the yard. No problem.

                The living room unit also faces east and protrudes onto the concrete porch about halfway down its length. It’ll soon be time to decorate the protrusion with a large basket of cones, colored corn, dried gourds and silk flowers. But that’ll be AFTER it cools down enough NOT to need the AC. Last night's thunderstorm and rain cooled things down enough that it was pleasant to sit in the swing this morning and continue reading Ciardi's "How Does a Poem Mean."

                With the installation of new windows all around and even upstairs, and with five window ACs running from noon till bedtime, I was surprised at the lower electric bills. Of course, that was one of the reasons for replacing the 87-year-old ones that rattled and rolled in the least bit of wind.

                A smattering of AC history reveals that during 1948, “crude air conditioning systems showed up with . . . hoopla in top-of-the-line Detroit cars.” (Paul Dickson, “From Elvis to E-Mail.”) Reader’s Digest’s “The Origins of Everyday Things” says, “The first true air conditioner, featuring humidity control, powered ventilation, as well as mechanical refrigeration, was patented in 1902 by the American inventor Willis Carrier.” And, “The addition of a dust filter in 1906 to improve the air in textile mills led to the term ‘air conditioning’.”

                Online, I discovered that while most in the U. S. have air conditioning, almost no one in Germany has. At least, not yet. “By letting people in overheated climates concentrate on their work and get a good night’s sleep, air conditioning has played a big part in driving global prosperity and happiness over the past few decades – and that revolution has still barely begun. About half of Chinese households have this modern tool, but of the 1.6 billion people living in India and Indonesia, only 88 million have access to air conditioning at home, Bloomberg New Energy Finance noted in a recent report.” (from Bloomberg News, June, ’19)

                Will climate change affect our need for comfort and our method for achieving it ? We shall see. In the meantime--or at the same time--let's enjoy the changing of the "guard" from summer to autumn.

c 2019, PL dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA