A REACTION TO CLIMATE CONTROL
As air conditioning units began appearing in households and commercial structures, the general public quickly became enamored with the technology, extolling the lifestyle benefits of climate control. Despite this, some criticized the use of climate control due to its perceived impact on a person's health. Dr. Clarence Mills, a professor of medicine at the University of Cincinnati, detailed this in his 1936 article The Human Background of Air Conditioning, in which he stated "Wide differences maintained between indoor and outdoor temperatures also seem harmful because of the chilling shock to the respiratory membranes as one passes from warmth to cold.".
The Air Conditioner Grows
Despite the health concerns, the Great Depression, and the Second World War, the presence of air conditioning in North America continued to grow. From 1946 to 1951, sales of room type air conditioners per year increased from 29,825 units to over 250,000. By 1951, the air conditioning industry was so popular that, in a edition of Barron's National Business and Financial Weekly, writer John Perham stated "All things considered, its future seems like a breath of cool and refreshing air amid the uncertainties of today's economic weather".
In the humorously titled They're trying to make summers extinct, published in 1952, the air conditioning mania was further displayed, with the article stating ". In most cities east of the Rockies, room coolers were snapped up early. Dealers formerly had leftover stock at summer's end, but last year in St. Louis they were all gone by June fifteenth."
As the turn of the century approached, air conditioning technology soon fell under scrutiny, particularly concerning its environmental impact.