35 New Jersey Firsts – #21 – First Air Conditioner

by Alice Magdziak • June 23, 2014 • Third State • Comments (0) • 1765

Summer officially begins tomorrow and what better way to mark the beginning of the hot part of the year than to note New Jersey’s history in air conditioning!

New Jersey officially recognizes 1664 as the year the state was founded when land owned by the Duke of York was given to Sir George Carteret and John Lord Berkeley. That transaction record proclaimed that “said Tract of Land is hereafter to be called by the name or names of New Cesarea or New Jersey.” That makes this year New Jersey’s 350th Anniversary! To celebrate this major milestone, we’ve undertaken a project we’re calling 35 New Jersey Firsts where we highlight 35 things that first came to life in New Jersey.

photo credit: williscarrier.com

Willis Carrier sold the first unit air conditioner in Newark on May 15, 1928. The smaller air conditioning unit was designed for retail shops and offices. The first one was sold to Merchants Refrigerating Company for its egg storage room in Newark. Previously, air conditioning units were large machines that were only useable in whole buildings or on trains. This marked the first time that the tenant of a building could install air conditioning in his own part of the building without major construction and without conditioning the air of the entire building. This unit air conditioner premiered only two years after the first home air conditioner was installed.

The photo above picture a room air conditioner in Dr. Carrier’s office in 1933.

[via carrier.com]