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At Home Comfort Experts, we take air conditioning very seriously. From AC repair in Mishawaka to furnace repair in Fort Wayne, we’re here for our customers through every season. But every once in a while, we like to have fun too. This week, we’re bringing you some fun facts about air conditioning we bet you didn’t know.

1. They say necessity is the mother of invention. The first air conditioner was invented by Willis Carrier in 1902 because he worked at a publishing company and needed a way to keep his paper from expanding and ink from running. Designed to improve manufacturing process control in a printing plant, Carrier's invention controlled not only temperature but also humidity.

2. In Ancient Rome, water from aqueducts was circulated through the walls of certain houses to cool them.

3. The invention of air conditioning changed architecture - before AC, homes and buildings were designed with keeping cool in mind and included breezeways, high ceilings, and porches where people could cool off.

4. An early type of evaporative cooler, using ice to further lower the temperature, was patented by John Gorrie of Apalachicola, Florida in 1842. He used the device to cool the patients in his malaria hospital.

5. Back in 1903, the New York Stock Exchange building was one of the first to use air conditioning.

6. Air conditioning has helped advance medicine. Some medicines could only be developed and studied in a cool environment.

7. Movie theaters were one of the first public places to have air conditioning. Many movies were released in the summer because everyone wanted to escape the heat. This is where the term “summer blockbuster” originated.

8. Before air conditioners, people would keep things cool with big blocks of ice. When air conditioners were introduced, their output ratings were judged based on how much ice you would need to get the same cooling power. This is much like the way engines are measured in horsepower (comparing it to how many horses would be needed to produce the same amount of power).

9. Air conditioning helped grow populations in southern states. Texas, Florida, Arizona, and Nevada became more hospitable in the 1960s. Before that, the U.S.’s economic powerhouse was in the Northeast.

10. Packard was the first automobile manufacturer to offer air conditioning in their vehicles.

There’s no doubt that air conditioning has changed our world drastically. We all enjoy air conditioning on a blistering hot day. And when our air conditioner isn’t working, we are reminded how much we really rely on it. When you need air conditioner repair, give Home Comfort Experts a call.