[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 97 (Wednesday, July 17, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6959-S6960]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  STATEMENTS ON SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 128--HONORING THE INVENTION OF MODERN AIR 
  CONDITIONING BY DR. WILLIS H. CARRIER ON THE OCCASION OF ITS 100TH 
                              ANNIVERSARY

  Mr. DOOD (for himself and Mr. Liberman) submitted the following 
concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the 
Judiciary:

                            S. Con. Res. 128

       Whereas on July 17, 1902, Dr. Willis H. Carrier submitted 
     designs to a printing plant in Brooklyn, New York, for 
     equipment to control temperature, humidity, ventilation, and 
     air quality, marking the birth of modern air conditioning;
       Whereas air conditioning has become an integral technology 
     enabling the advancement of society through improvements to 
     the Nation's health and well-being, manufacturing processes, 
     building capacities, research, medical capabilities, food 
     preservation, art and historical conservation, and general 
     productivity and indoor comfort;
       Whereas Dr. Carrier debuted air conditioning technology for 
     legislative activity in the House of Representatives Chamber 
     in 1928, and the Senate Chamber in 1929;
       Whereas the air conditioning industry now totals 
     $36,000,000,000 on a global basis and employs more than 
     700,000 people in the United States; and
       Whereas the year 2002 marks the 100th anniversary of modern 
     air conditioning: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That Congress honors the invention of modern air 
     conditioning by Dr. Willis H. Carrier on the occasion of its 
     100th anniversary.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise today to mark the 100th anniversary 
of the modern air conditioner, which was invented by Dr. Willis H. 
Carrier in 1902. I join with my colleague Senator Lieberman to submit a 
Resolution honoring this achievement.
  It was 100 years ago today that a 25 year old engineer named Willis 
Carrier, while trying to address a printing problem caused by heat and 
humidity at the Sackett-Williams Lithographing

[[Page S6960]]

and Publishing Company of Brooklyn, developed a cooling solution which 
ended up revolutionalizing the world we live in.
  Dr. Carrier had grown up an only child, surrounded by a large 
extended family on a farm in Angola, NY. He worked three jobs during 
his college years at Cornell to pay for his room and board, and showed 
a work ethic and tirelessness that carried over into his career as a 
mechanical engineer. His first job after graduation was with the 
Buffalo Forge Company planning heating mechanisms for the drying of 
coffee and lumber. It was soon after a promotion to head of the Forge 
Company's department of experimental engineering that he made his 
breakthrough with the control of heat and humidity for the Sackett-
Williams Company that led to modern air conditioning.
  Several years later, he and six friends formed their own company in 
Syracuse, NY, Carrier, that now has current annual revenues of $9 
billion and clients in 170 countries. Indeed, not only has this company 
grown over the past century, but the expanding role and impact of 
modern air conditioning has been nothing short of tremendous. Air 
conditioning has afforded us such a dramatic improvement in quality of 
life that it is difficult now to conceive of its absence. It has 
increased our economic productivity and output, our comfort and our 
mood, and in some cases, our general health and welfare. Some have 
suggested that air conditioning is even responsible for keeping 
Washington as our Nation's capital, when long, unbearable summer months 
not only shortened the legislative session, but threatened to send 
politicians looking for a more climatically hospitable city to conduct 
their business in. Dr. Carrier brought air-conditioning to the House 
Chamber in 1928 and the Senate Chamber in 1929.
  Indeed, on a 93 degree day such as today, I think we all see the 
special value of Dr. Carrier's life's work, and I ask my colleagues to 
join me remembering him today, and giving our thanks for modern air 
conditioner.

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