Florida Air Conditioning Inventor

Modern air conditioning is born.

Florida air conditioning inventor. He made the ice maker and led the way to that remarkable creation called air conditioning. Gorrie invented the ice making machine and is considered the father of air conditioning and refrigeration. John gorrie builds an ice making machine that uses compression to make buckets of ice and then blows air over them. Flickr scott wilson although gorrie passed away before finding the proper funding for his invention the historic city of apalachicola still honors him to this day with monuments and a museum.

In the 1800s in the charming town of apalachicola florida a man named john gorrie invented the very first air conditioning machine. In 1820 english scientist and inventor michael faraday discovered that compressing and liquefying ammonia could chill air when the liquefied ammonia was allowed to evaporate. John gorrie of florida proposed the idea of cooling cities to relieve residents of the evils of high temperatures. Several decades after faraday made his discovery with ammonia a florida physician named john gorrie developed a machine to keep yellow fever patients cool.

Gorrie s invention began with an attempt to cure yellow fever during an outbreak in apalachicola in 1841. Florida caught its first glimpse of modern air conditioning in the 1830s when dr. He was also a physician scientist inventor and humanitarian. John gorrie is considered the father of air conditioning and refrigeration.

Get caught up on the stories you ve missed. Gorrie represents florida with his statue placed in the national statuary hall in washington d. He patents the idea in 1851. John gorrie suspended basins of natural ice above the heads of fever patients to cool the air and alleviate discomfort.

Convinced that cold was a healer he advocated the use of ice to cool sickrooms and reduce fever. What did gorrie do. In 1842 florida physician john gorrie used compressor technology to create ice which he used to cool air for his patients in his hospital in apalachicola florida. Scroll through our interactive timeline above and read on to learn about some of the key milestones in air conditioning history.

In 1835 patents for apparatus and means for producing ice and in cooling fluids had been granted in england and scotland to american born inventor jacob perkins who became known as the father of the refrigerator. Impoverished gorrie sought to raise money to manufacture his machine but the venture failed when his partner died.