Willis Haviland Carrier (November 26, 1876 – October 7, 1950) was an engineer An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality, safety and cost. The word engineer is derived from and inventor An invention is a new composition, device, or process. An invention may be derived from a pre-existing model or idea, or it could be independently conceived in which case it may be a radical breakthrough. In addition, there is cultural invention, which is an innovative set of useful social behaviors adopted by people and passed on to others, and is known as the man who invented modern air conditioning Air conditioning is the cooling of indoor air for thermal comfort. In a broader sense, the term can refer to any form of cooling, heating, ventilation, or disinfection that modifies the condition of air. An air conditioner is an appliance, system, or machine designed to stabilise the air temperature and humidity within an area (used for cooling as.
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Early life and education
Carrier was born in Angola Angola is a village in Erie County, New York, United States. The population was 2,266 at the 2000 census. The name is reportedly derived from the nation of Angola. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, New York New York City, the most populous city in the United States, is known for its status as a financial, cultural, transportation, and manufacturing center, and for its history as a gateway for immigration to the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, it is also a destination of choice for many foreign visitors. Both state and, and inherited his mother's love for "tinkering", with clocks, sewing machines, and other household devices. He loved mathematics Mathematics is the study of quantity, structure, space, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns, formulate new conjectures, and establish truth by rigorous deduction from appropriately chosen axioms and definitions, and studied it at length. In 1895 he received a scholarship to Cornell University Cornell University is a private Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York and graduated in 1901 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the design, production, and operation of machines and. He then went to work for the Buffalo Forge Company, a maker of heaters, blowers and air exhaust systems, in their heating engineering department designing heating systems to dry lumber and coffee.
Company formation
In Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, behind New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada, Buffalo is the principal city of the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area and the seat of Erie County. The city on July 17, 1902, in response to a quality problem experienced at the Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing & Publishing Company of Brooklyn, Willis Carrier submitted drawings for what became recognized as the world's first modern air conditioning system. The 1902 installation marked the birth of air conditioning because of the addition of humidity control, which led to the recognition by authorities in the field that air conditioning must perform four basic functions: 1.) control temperature; 2.) control humidity; 3.) control air circulation and ventilation; and, 4.) cleanse the air.
After several more years of refinement and field testing, on January 2, 1906, Carrier was granted U.S. patent No. 808897 on his invention, which he called an "Apparatus for Treating Air," the world's first spray-type air conditioning equipment. It was designed to humidify or dehumidify air, heating water for the first and cooling it for the second. The first sale of the "Apparatus" was made to the LaCrosse National Bank in late 1906.
In 1906, Carrier discovered that "constant dew-point depression provided practically constant relative humidity," which later became known among air conditioning engineers as the "law of constant dew-point depression." On this discovery he based the design of an automatic control system, for which he filed a patent claim on May 17, 1907. The patent, No. 1,085,971, was issued on February 3, 1914, thereby recognizing Carrier as the inventor of "dew-point control."
On December 3, 1911 Carrier presented the most significant and epochal document ever prepared on air conditioning -- his "Rational Psychrometric Formulae" -- at the annual meeting of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers The American Society of Mechanical Engineers is a professional body, specifically an engineering society, focused on mechanical engineering. The ASME was founded in 1880 by Alexander Lyman Holley, Henry Rossiter Worthington, John Edison Sweet and Matthias N. Forney in response to numerous steam boiler pressure vessel failures. The organization is. It became known as the "Magna Carta of Psychrometrics." This document tied together the concepts of relative humidity, absolute humidity, and dew-point temperature, thus making it possible to design air-conditioning systems to precisely fit the requirements at hand.
With the onset of World War I World War I was a military conflict that lasted from 1914 to 1918 and involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies and the Central Powers. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilized in one of the largest wars in history. More than 15 million people were in late-1914, the Buffalo Forge Company, for which Carrier had been employed 12 years, decided to confine its activities entirely to manufacturing. The result was that seven young engineers pooled together their life savings of $32,600 to form the Carrier Engineering Corporation in New York New York City, the most populous city in the United States, is known for its status as a financial, cultural, transportation, and manufacturing center, and for its history as a gateway for immigration to the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, it is also a destination of choice for many foreign visitors. Both state and on June 26, 1915. The seven were Carrier, J. Irvine Lyle, Edward T. Murphy, L. Logan Lewis, Ernest T. Lyle, Alfred E. Stacey, Jr., and Edmund P. Heckel. The company eventually settled on Frelinghuysen Avenue in Newark, New Jersey Newark is the largest city in New Jersey, and the county seat of Essex County. Newark has a population of 281,402, making it the largest municipality in New Jersey and the 65th largest city in the U.S. Newark is also home to major corporations, such as Prudential Financial.
Despite the development of the centrifugal refrigeration machine and the commercial growth of air conditioning to cool buildings in the 1920s The 1920s was the decade that started on January 1, 1920 and ended on December 31, 1929. It is sometimes referred to as the Roaring Twenties or the Jazz Age, when speaking about the United States, Canada or the United Kingdom. In Europe the decade is sometimes referred to as the "Golden Twenties" because of the economic boom following, the company ran into financial difficulties, as did many others, as a result of the Wall Street Crash The Wall Street Crash of 1929 , also known as the Great Crash, and the Stock Market Crash of 1929, was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its fallout. The crash began a 10-year economic slump that affected all the Western industrialized countries in October, 1929. In 1930, Carrier Engineering Corp. merged with Brunswick-Kroeschell Company and York Heating & Ventilating Corporation to form the Carrier Corporation The Carrier Corporation is the world’s largest manufacturer and distributor of heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems, and a global leader in the commercial refrigeration and food service equipment industry. A wholly owned subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation, Carrier is a $12.5 billion company with over 43,000 employees, with Willis Carrier named Chairman The chairman is the highest office of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office is typically elected or appointed by the members of the group. The chairman presides over meetings of the assembled group and conducts its business in an orderly fashion. When the group is not in session, the of the Board.
Spread out over four cities in New Jersey The area was inhabited by Native Americans for more than 2,800 years, with historical tribes such as the Lenape along the coast. In the early 17th century, the Dutch and the Swedes made the first European settlements. The English later seized control of the region, naming it the Province of New Jersey. It was granted as a colony to Sir George and Pennsylvania Pennsylvania has 51 miles of coastline along Lake Erie and 57 miles (92 km) of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary, Carrier consolidated and moved his company to Syracuse, New York Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2000 census, the city population was 147,306, and its metropolitan area had a population of 732,117. It is the economic and educational hub of Central New York, a region with over a million inhabitants in 1937, and the company became one of the largest employers in central New York New York City, the most populous city in the United States, is known for its status as a financial, cultural, transportation, and manufacturing center, and for its history as a gateway for immigration to the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, it is also a destination of choice for many foreign visitors. Both state and. In 1930, he started Toyo Carrier and Samsung Applications in Korea Korea (Korean: 한국 Hanguk [hanɡuːk] or 조선 Joseon [tɕosʌn] – South and North Korea, respectively ) is a territory of East Asia that was formerly unified under one state, but now divided into two separate states and a region in northeastern Asia. Located on the Korean Peninsula, it is bordered by China to the northwest, Russia to the and Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is. South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK, Korean: 대한민국, pronounced [tɛːhanminɡuk̚] ) and sometimes referred to simply as Korea, is a state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, and North Korea to the north. Its is now the largest producer for air conditioning in the world.
The Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s. It was the longest, most widespread, and deepest depression of the 20th century. In the 21st slowed residential and commercial use of air conditioning. Willis Carrier's igloo An igloo or snowhouse is a type of shelter built out of snow, originally built by the Inuit. Iglu is the Inuit word for a house or home built out of any material, and is not restricted exclusively to snowhouses, but includes traditional tents, sod houses, homes constructed of driftwood and modern buildings. Outside of Inuit society, however, " in the 1939 New York World's Fair The 1939-40 New York World's Fair, which covered the 1,216 acres of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park , was the largest world's fair of all time. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people attended its exhibits in two seasons. The NYWF of 1939-1940 was the first exposition to be based on the future, with an opening gave visitors a glimpse into the future of air conditioning, but before it became popular, World War II Albania · Australia · Austria · Azerbaijan · Belarus · Belgium · Brazil · Bulgaria · Burma · Cambodia · Canada · Ceylon (Sri Lanka) · Channel Islands · China · Czechoslovakia · Denmark · Dutch East Indies · Egypt · Estonia · Finland · France · Germany · Gibraltar · Greece · Greenland · Hong Kong · Hungary · Iceland · began. During the post-war economic boom of the 1950s, air conditioning began its tremendous growth in popularity.
The company pioneered the design and manufacture of refrigeration machines to cool large spaces. By increasing industrial production in the summer months, air conditioning revolutionized American life. The introduction of residential air conditioning in the 1920s helped start the great migration to the Sunbelt The Sun Belt or Spanish Belt is a region of the United States generally considered to stretch across the South and Southwest . Another rough boundary of the region is the area south of the 37th or 38th parallels, north latitude. The main defining feature of the Sun Belt is its warm-temperate climate with extended summers and brief, relatively mild. The company became a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) in 1980. Carrier remains a world leader in commercial and residential HVAC and refrigeration. In 2007, the Carrier Corporation The Carrier Corporation is the world’s largest manufacturer and distributor of heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems, and a global leader in the commercial refrigeration and food service equipment industry. A wholly owned subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation, Carrier is a $12.5 billion company with over 43,000 employees had sales of more than $15 billion and employed some 45,000 people.
Personal life
Willis Haviland Carrier was born on November 26, 1876 (not 1875) in Angola, N.Y. He was the son of Duane Williams Carrier (1836 - 1908) and Elizabeth R. Haviland (1845 - 1888). Elizabeth (daughter of David Jay Haviland and Ann Elizabeth Button) named him Willis Haviland after her uncle-in-law Willis Hoag Haviland, with whom she lived after the death of her father in 1868 and before her marriage to Duane Carrier. Willis Hoag Haviland was both the husband of her mother's half-sister Hannah Wing Haviland, and her father's 1st cousin once removed.[1][2][3][4][5]
The first Carrier in America was Thomas, who arrived in Massachusetts around 1663. There is historical evidence that Thomas was born in Wales in 1622 and that he was a political refugee who assumed the name "Carrier" upon coming to America (Ingels, Margaret. 1952. "Willis Haviland Carrier: Father of Air Conditioning."). Thomas married Martha Allen, daughter of Andrew Allen, a first settler of Andover, Mass. After standing up against the Andover town fathers in a boundary dispute, she was accused of being a witch. Two of her sons, aged 13 and 10, were hung by their heels until they, too, testified against her. Cotton Mather denounced her as a "rampant hag" whom the Devil had promised "should be the queen of Hell." She was arrested, convicted and, on August 19, 1692, hanged on Salem's Gallows Hill. Later it was recorded that of all the New Englanders charged with witchcraft, "Martha Carrier was the only one, male or female, who did not at some time or other make an admission or confession."
The Carriers lived in New England until 1799 when Willis Carrier's great-grandparents joined an ox-team train of settlers pushing west through the Mohawk Valley. They settled in Madison County, New York and then in 1836 moved west again to Erie County. There they purchased the farm that became the birthplace and childhood home of Willis Carrier. His father, Duane, taught music to the Indians, tried running a general store, and was for a short time a postmaster, then settled down to farming and married Elizabeth Haviland. Her forefathers has settled in New England in the 17th century, and she was a "birthright" Quaker - the first in her family to marry outside her faith. She died in 1887, when Willis was 11 years old.
Carrier and all three of his wives (Claire Seymour, d. 1912; Jennie Martin, d. 1939; Elizabeth Marsh Wise, d. 1964) are buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, behind New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada, Buffalo is the principal city of the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area and the seat of Erie County. The city.[6]
Despite being married three times, Willis Carrier fathered no children of his own. He adopted his second wife, Jennie's, two children.
For his contributions to science and industry, Willis Carrier was awarded an honorary doctor of letters from Alfred (N.Y.) University in 1942, was awarded the Frank P. Brown Medal in 1942, and was inducted posthumously in the National Inventors Hall of Fame (1985) and the Buffalo Science Museum Hall of Fame (2008).
References
- ^ Frost, Josephine C. The Haviland Genealogy - Ancestors and Descendants of William Haviland. New York: The Lyons Genealogical Co., 1914.
- ^ 1860 Federal Census, Queensbury, Warren County, NY, Page 155. Dwelling #1071, Family #1071.
- ^ 1870 Federal Census, Queensbury, Warren County, NY. Page 746. Dwelling #987, Family #1159.
- ^ 1880 Federal Census, Evans, Erie County, NY, Page 367B. Dwelling #400, Family #419.
- ^ Haviland Genealogical Organization
- ^ Ingels, Margaret. 1952. Willis Haviland Carrier : father of air conditioning. Garden City: Country Life Press.
Categories: 1876 births | 1950 deaths | American inventors Categories: Inventors by nationality | American people by occupation | Science and technology in the United States | National Inventors Hall of Fame inductees Categories: Halls of fame inductees | Inventors | American inventors | Science and technology halls of fame | Cornell University alumni Categories: Cornell University people | Alumni by university or college in New York | Ivy League alumni | Mechanical engineers Categories: Mechanical engineering | Engineers by specialty | People from Buffalo, New York This category is for people who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely connected to the city of Buffalo, New York and its surrounding metropolitan area, including Erie County, New York and Niagara County, New York | Burials at Forest Lawn Cemetery
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Fri, 27 Aug 2010 21:04:35 GMT+00:00
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