WILLIS HAVILAND CARRIER
Name: Willis Haviland Carrier
Born: November 26, 1876
Died: October 7, 1950
Willis Haviland Carrier (November 26, 1876 - October 7, 1950) was an engineer
and inventor, and is known as the man who invented modern air conditioning.
Carrier was born in Angola, New York on the shore of Lake Erie, and inherited
his mother's love for "tinkering", with clocks, sewing machines, and other
household devices. He loved mathematics, and studied it at every chance, when he
wasn't inventing his own devices.
In 1895 he received a scholarship to Cornell University and graduated in 1901
with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Following college, he went to work for
the Buffalo Forge Company, a company which manufactured heaters, blowers and air
exhaust systems, in their heating engineering department designing heating
systems to dry lumber and coffee.
Carrier soon developed a better way to measure the capacity of heating systems
and was named director of the company's experimental engineering department. At
the age of 25, he devised his first important invention, a system to control
heat and humidity for the Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing and Publishing Company
in Brooklyn. The firm had been unable to print reliable colors at times because
of the effects of heat and humidity on paper and ink. In 1906 Carrier received a
patent for his method. He went on to work on other cooling and
Name: Willis Haviland Carrier
Born: November 26, 1876
Died: October 7, 1950
Willis Haviland Carrier (November 26, 1876 - October 7, 1950) was an engineer
and inventor, and is known as the man who invented modern air conditioning.
Carrier was born in Angola, New York on the shore of Lake Erie, and inherited
his mother's love for "tinkering", with clocks, sewing machines, and other
household devices. He loved mathematics, and studied it at every chance, when he
wasn't inventing his own devices.
In 1895 he received a scholarship to Cornell University and graduated in 1901
with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Following college, he went to work for
the Buffalo Forge Company, a company which manufactured heaters, blowers and air
exhaust systems, in their heating engineering department designing heating
systems to dry lumber and coffee.
Carrier soon developed a better way to measure the capacity of heating systems
and was named director of the company's experimental engineering department. At
the age of 25, he devised his first important invention, a system to control
heat and humidity for the Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing and Publishing Company
in Brooklyn. The firm had been unable to print reliable colors at times because
of the effects of heat and humidity on paper and ink. In 1906 Carrier received a
patent for his method. He went on to work on other cooling and