Air conditioners were originally invented for printing presses. - History Facts
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Air conditioners were originally invented for printing presses.
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Willis Carrier with air conditioner he invented
Credit: Science History Images/ Alamy Stock Photo
Author<br>Sarah Anne Lloyd
June 5, 2025
Love it? 7
At the turn of the 20th century, Sackett & Wilhelms Lithographing Company, a printing plant in Brooklyn, New York, had a problem: High humidity was causing its paper to wrinkle, swell, and shrink. As a result, the company was dealing with misaligned prints, jammed equipment, and long drying times. So it called on the heating and fans division of Buffalo Forge Company for a solution.
The task fell to mechanical engineer Willis Carrier, who was head of experimental engineering at Buffalo Forge. Because cold air can hold less water vapor, Carrier focused his efforts on cooling the factory down. Buffalo Forge already manufactured heating coil systems — fans that distribute hot air from steam-filled tubes — to heat buildings, so, Carrier reasoned, why not run cold water through the coils instead?
He installed the first modern air conditioning system in 1902, and his experiment was successful — most home air conditioners function on this same basic principle. But the system didn’t operate on the level that Sackett & Wilhelms needed it to. So Carrier got to work on something that could actually meet the needs of a large factory, and developed the first spray type air conditioner, a large enclosure filled with water nozzles that could cool hot air before sending it back into the factory. The cool air, even though it came from a wet environment, could hold less water, so it successfully reduced the overall humidity.
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By the Numbers
Share of electricity used for air conditioning in U.S. households
12%
Percentage of U.S. households that used air conditioning in 2020
88%
Air conditioning units worldwide
2 billion
Year Johannes Gutenberg invented his printing press
~1440
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Did you know?
The ice lobby almost killed ice machines.
When Florida physician and scientist John Gorrie patented a groundbreaking ice machine in 1851, the ice industry that shipped ice to the Southern United States moved to quash it, attacking Gorrie in the press and sowing distrust of the new technology. The public ultimately embraced the ice machine after the Civil War disrupted traditional ice delivery. But Gorrie, who died before the Civil War started, wasn’t trying to make iced tea — he was trying to keep yellow fever patients comfortable by chilling the air.
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