| Thank God for Willis H. Carrier ... amen |
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By: By MIKE WEST
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Hammerhead finds himself thinking kind thoughts of ol’ Willis H. Carrier.
While you might be able to guess it from his last name, Carrier, is the man who invented modern air conditioning.
Tis a bit ironic, that air conditioning was invented by a resident of Buffalo, N.Y., a city known for its cold winters and not its hot winters.
“You would have thought AC would have been invented by someone living in Savannah, Ga. or New Orleans, but I am grateful all the same,” the H-man confessed.
Despite Tennessee’s steamy temperatures, air conditioning wasn’t all that common during Hammerhead’s younger days. Back in the day, the air-conditioned climes of the Princess Theater was the coldest place in town besides Womack’s Ice House.
Even houses in the deluxe Mitchell-Neilson area of town relied on windows, fans and lots of ice water to stay cool. A nice breeze, even a hot one, was welcome on those blistering days when nothing seemed to stir.
The search for a nice, cool spot was a constant quest during the summer time. Businesses, especially restaurants, who had air conditioning, touted that service in their advertising.
It was a miracle when the city of Murfreesboro first opened Oaklands pool, which was the first large public pool in town. On a hot day in the early 1960s that pool would be wall-to-wall kids with pitiful little space left for swimming.
The H-man took swimming lessons at the old Central High School pool, which dated back to Tennessee College for Women days.
But we digress.
Nights were particularly miserable back in those days. If no wind was stirring, it was horrible trying to sleep covered with sweat. Hammerhead would try to wile away the hours with a little transistor radio listening to WLS in Chicago.
There was no relief at school either. Air circulated through open windows and that was it. The early fall and late spring were hot, hot, hot.
Then some kindly soul invented the window air conditioner and suddenly life was so much better in the South.
The National Academy of Engineering rated air conditioning and refrigeration No. 10 on the list of the top 20 inventions of the 20th century. It ranked ahead of highways, the Internet, spacecraft, lasers and household appliances.
That Fedders AC was big and noisy and produced the coldest air going. It was better than standing in front of an open refrigerator.
The window air conditioner begat the air-conditioned car at the Hammerhead household. The family got its first one in the mid 1960s. It was fabulous. No more cross-country trips in an un-air conditioned car. Travel became at instant pleasure. Even the back seat bickering between siblings decreased.
There was nothing worse than being caught in traffic in a car with vinyl seats and no air conditioning. Pre-interstate, even a summer day trip to Nashville was miserable, but rides in the open country with the windows down weren’t so bad especially in the late afternoon. You could almost get chilly.
Finally, central heat and air filtered its way into Tennessee and Hammerhead was permanently spoiled. It was the birth of a real couch potato.
T-t-t-t-t-hat’s r-r-r-r-r-r-ight.
Mike West can be reached at 869-0803 or at mwest@murfreesboropost.com
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