Posted on 05/24/2008 1:44:19 PM PDT by pabianice
In 1945, Robert Sherman invented the modern portable, in-window air conditioner (Patent # 2,433,960 granted January 6, 1948). It was subsequently "appropriated" by a large manufacturer who made hundreds of millions of dollars on it. Sherman did not have the resources to fight the big corporation in court (they reportedly promised to "break him" if he tried) and thus never received a dime. He died in 1962. Recognition of his contribution to heating/air conditioning is long overdue.
(Excerpt) Read more at navlog.org ...
The device pictured, while portable, is nothing whatsoever like a “window airconditioner” - it doesn’t sit in the window, for starters, but has a large apparatus “near” the window containing all the mechanicals.
If that’s what he patented, it’s understandable that the “large appliance manufacturer” didn’t feel any obligation to pay him royalties for a true window unit.
We don’t need it yet. We got 2 inches of snow yesterday. brrrrrr lol..
Meanwhile, I’ve got to go mow some grass, and it’s 93 F outside...
“TWENTY DEGREES COOLER INSIDE! C’MON IN, FOLKS!”
;^)
An historical tidbit: when the U.S. first established its embassy in the new Republic of South Vietnam in 1955, it was said that the only window air conditioner in all of Saigon was in the American ambassador’s bedroom.
Looks to me like the current portable air conditioners sold nowadays with the exhaust hose in a window bracket.
“If that’s what he patented, it’s understandable that the “large appliance manufacturer” didn’t feel any obligation to pay him royalties for a true window unit.”
Drawings for Utility Patents frequently don’t resemble the commercial product because such patents are issued on the strict uniqueness of how they work and not on their final appearance. Patents issued on the unique appearance of a devices are called Design Patents (i.e., the shape of a Coke bottle).
Or, you could set outside in your car and watch the TV’s.
Now that I look back on it, how dumb, you couldn’t hear a word, but cars were lined up to get a space.
And all this time, I thought the air conditioner was invented by two guys named Max and Norm.
I remember our first window unit. It was York that my father bought in 1950. There is little or no difference in that old York then in a unit you would buy today.
Only today, they are a bit smaller and lighter.
About 10 years ago, the Building Museum in DC had an exhibit on air conditioning in America. I guess it had never dawned on me, but far from being a luxury, without air conditioning we would not have developed our manufacturing base. Between workers getting too hot to function and chemicals and processes that need a certain temperature, there is a lot that depends on having air conditioning.
I felt like a total nerd for going to the exhibit, but it was very interesting.
Without AC the South would not have developed much.
“And all this time, I thought the air conditioner was invented by two guys named Max and Norm.”
No, it was their brother Hi.
Then I had to do the reverse late in September when the nights got chilly again.
When I was able to afford my own house, I made sure it had central air.
Absolutely. That was brought up in the exhibit as well. I certainly know what it was like living in hot, humid DC w/no air conditioning. We used to sprinkle water on us and lay under the fan. Still sucked.
62 in Vegas today.
That's pretty cool for Vegas this time of year, isn't it? I would gladly have taken it. :o)
Philco-York had a Freon window plug-in unit on the market in 1938.
As someone old enough to remember summers in Texas without airconditioning, I’ve just said a prayer for the soul of Mr. Sherman.
Without a/c there would be no modern Texas.
Air conditioning is very uncommon where I live (Germany). That’s why so many people died in France several years ago when the heat wave hit. It definitely saves money by not using it, but don’t complain when a hot summer comes...
If you looked at it under a microscope you'd see teensy little trees, alligators, villages, aborigines, etc.
<}B^)
I got one that came in an old 52 Chev.PU.It was nothing more than a fan that plugged in the lighter outlet,with a container on the bottom to hold water.It had a hanger built on it that was used to hold it into place when the window was rolled up.The same concept,more or less,as a swamp cooler effect.It is amazing how many people wanted it it and the price they were willing to pay.I still have it and it still works.
In Vietnam, it was hot. Very, very hot. We lived in a plywood barracks on the Navy side of Cam Rahn Bay between flights. The second floor was so hot it was unlivable (140 degree range). So the Navy, which had no money, asked the Air Force, which had its own mint, to install A/C for the barracks. Boy, did they. Our barracks was a two-story plywood thing with 48 rooms. The USAF installed an A/C that was almost as big as the entire building and had no thermostat. It just ran full-bore 24 hours a day with a wind speed out the vents of about 25 knots. The entire barracks immediately plunged down to about 40 degrees F. We huddled, shivering, under our one lousy Navy gray horse hair blanket and tried to get crew rest. By the second week we were all hacking-up phlegm and wiping away the steady stream of snot that ran from our noses. You’d step out of a 40 degree room into the blazing 130 degree Sun and back again. We flew most of our missions as one big head cold. All you could hear on the ICS was hacking, spitting, and swearing. The flight surgeon threw up his hands.
And yet it wasn't particularly hot. They were mostly old and ill who couldn't take much stress at all.
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