Hot Town, Summer In The City
It used to be, on hot summer days and nights, in order to cool off we might go to an air-conditioned movie, or our

State of the art office fan ca. 1930

moms and dads would tell us "Turn

off the lights to keep the house cool."

If you were lucky you'd have an electric fan which usually "pulled the hot air out" of a window or door so that cooler air could come in somewhere else. If you had a fan and a block of ice, or a big bag of ice cubes, putting the fan so it would blow across the ice might make you feel cooler. Did you know that Leonardo da Vinci designed and built a mechanical fan?

My mom used to put our bed sheets in the refrigerator until they got cold and then put them on the bed so we could go to sleep comfortably.

Sometimes we'd use a handheld fan or piece of folded paper in an attempt to cool down. Remember being told you would only make yourself hotter if you did?

The history of the handheld fan goes back thousands of years. Some of the earliest known fans have been found in Egyptian tombs and were made out of feathers. When Tutankhamen's tomb was opened fans made from ostrich feathers and gold were found. Chinese fans were made from woven bamboo. In ancient America the Aztec, Maya and South American cultures used various bird feathers to denote their religions while Native American Indians used fans for both practical and ceremonial use. Mostly fans were associated with regal or religious ceremonies.

In the 14th century handheld fans were made from large leaves and fronds. Efficient yes, pretty, no.

The first recorded mechanical fan, the punkah fan, had a canvascovered frame and was hung from the ceiling. Servants could pull a rope in order to make it move and circulate the air. In 1882 Philip H. Diehl, known as the father of the modern electric fan, introduced the electric ceiling fan which led to the now famous Victorian-style ceiling fans which were put to use in the 1970s and have been going strong ever since.

While electric and handheld fans created a breeze they did not lower temperature. They were replaced with air-conditioning in the 20th century.

Air-conditioning, "man-made weather", launched new forms of a r c h i t e c t u r e which resulted in the downfall of front porches, wide eaves, thick walls, attics, cross ventilation and

high ceilings-the old-fashioned way of cooling an office or home which

maximized summer shade and breezes.

In 1902 a comfort cooling system was installed at the New York Stock Exchange and in 1905 Willis Carrier first designed a "room-size" air conditioner. But it wasn't until 1929 that Frigidaire marketed the first "room cooler". In 1911 the general public enjoyed air conditioning in the Folies Bergere Theater in New York City followed by the Central Park

Theater in Chicago,

Illinois. And in 1930

small air-conditioning

units were tested on the Baltimore

& Ohio Railroad. However. It wasn't

untilWorld Ward II that the average

American's home would be air conditioned.

The next time you get your electric bill, the next time you turn on your air conditioner; remember where it came from and what you'd have to do if you didn't have it now.

-Compiled by

hdcnyc.com