Thank you, Mr. Carrier

Two good ol’ boys, with obviously too much time on their hands, were trying to decide what was the greatest thing ever invented. After arguing back and forth, Robert Joseph, aka Bobby Joe, smiled and said, “I’ve got it!”

He continued, “The greatest thing ever invented was the thermos bottle!”

“The thermos bottle?” countered his buddy, shaking his head in disbelief. “All it does is keep hot things hot, and cold things cold.”

“Yeah,” replied Bobby Joe, “but how does it know?”

I’ll have to admit the thermos bottle is pretty neat, but it’s far from the greatest thing ever invented. Starting from the wheel of ancient times to the internet of today, there have been countless number of inventions which have made our lives better. (I’m not certain if the internet will end up making our lives better or not.) But there has been one invention that I know for certain has made our lives better, especially here in the South.

Air conditioning.

In 1902, the modern air conditioner was invented by Willis Carrier. He developed his device he called the Apparatus for Treating Air for the Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing and Publishing Co. in Brooklyn, N.Y. The machine would blow air over cold coils to control room temperature and humidity, keeping paper from wrinkling and ink aligned. Finding that other factories want to get in on the cooling action, Carrier established the Carrier Air Conditioning Company of America.

In 1906, Stuart Cramer, a textile mill engineer here in North Carolina, created a ventilating device that adds water vapor to the air of textile plants. The humidity made yarn easier to spin and less likely to break. He was the first to call this process “air conditioning.”

Today, we take air conditioning for granted, unless the electricity goes out. But most of my generation can remember at least part of our childhood being without it. When I was real young, I played with my toy cars and soldiers on top of the small circular floor fan in the den, trying to keep cool, while watching cartoons or “Lassie.” On hot summer nights, I would sleep at the foot of the bed, hoping to catch any breeze coming in the bedroom window. Part of the attraction of going to the movies in the summer was that the theatre was air conditioned and cool. We got a window air conditioner when I was around twelve years old, which made summers much more bearable.

Think of how much the South and the Sunbelt have grown since the end of World War II. In 1950, only 28 percent of the U.S. population was located in the Sunbelt. By 2000, that total was over 40 percent. Do you think all of those Yankees would have moved down here and lasted more than one summer, if we didn’t have air conditioning?

Last month, Scott Mason, who does those interesting Tar Heel Traveler stories on WRAL-TV, did a story on some folks from near Coats in Harnett County. They have built a small monument in honor of Willis Carrier. Why they did, and why in Coats, I don’t have a clue. But they did, and I suppose it’s time that someone did honor Mr. Carrier.

So, as I sit here finishing this column, cool inside my home while it’s steamy outside, I, too, want to express my appreciation to Mr. Carrier. But I do wonder about some of those Northerners, who have been able to get by down here, and end up staying down here, thanks, in part, to air conditioning. Oh well, thanks anyway, Mr. Carrier.

Mac McPhail, raised in Sampson County, lives in Clinton. McPhail’s book, “Wandering Thoughts from a Wondering Mind,” a collection of his favorite columns, is available for purchase at the Sampson Independent office, online on Amazon, or by contacting McPhail at [email protected].