Sure, they were just awnings, but they fact they worked in an awning for the entire Colosseum is impressive.
It was known as the valerium. It consisted of a canvas-covered, net-like structure made of ropes, with a hole in the center. This roof covered two-thirds of the arena, and sloped down towards the center to catch the wind and provide a breeze for the audience. Sailors, standing on special platforms, manipulated the ropes on command.
So as modern technology moved forward, the process of air conditioning and refrigeration was at its forefront. It may not seem that big of a deal but it affected society in more ways than some may imagine.
Before AC, population in southern cities were scarce. As cooling systems became more prominent, numbers grew in the south and population shift became apparent.
Imagine life without the wonderful cool air that circulates throughout your home. Imagine life without the nice box that keeps your food and allows it to be 'fresh' longer. Society was and would be entirely different without the simple necessities of air conditioning and refrigeration.
Although the process of the cooling system may look simple, it took some great innovative minds to come up with the process. The video below explains the basic process of how AC's work, which is also what generally happens with the refrigerator.
Some important pioneers in Air Conditioning technology:
- Willis Haviland Carrier - probably the most prominent figure in AC tech. He realized air could be dried by saturating it with chilled water to induce condensation and created the Dew Point Control that for the first time, allowed for the precise control of temperature and humidity necessary for sophisticated industrial processes.
- William Durant - while not part of the minds behind the cooling systems, he realized the potential of the products and put the best minds of General Motor's engineers to mass production.
- Thomas Midgley - helped solve the problem of toxic and flammable refrigerators by synthesizing the world's first chlorofluorocarbon
- Frederick McKinley Jones - created a roof-mounted cooling device that refrigerated the inside of a truck. This invention was adapted for trains and ships.
- Clarence Birdseye - invented flash-freezing
The cooling system changed how often families made market trips. There use to milkmen who would drive around everyday and drop off bottles of milk. There would be daily trips to the butcher. Every 1-3 days would be a trip to the grocery store, sometimes even twice a day. Life was very interactive. Nowadays, families make weekly or even monthly market trips. There are self-checkout machines. There are even certain grocery stores where you can do all your grocery shopping online and have it delivered to your home. Even the simple interaction with the human cashier might one day become obsolete. If the simple technology of air conditioning and refrigeration can change society so drastically, with the digital age, what changes are next?
My mom is the sort of person who can't handle being too warm, and so even though we're from the Northwest, she always makes sure to have an air conditioner wherever we are. During our (relatively infrequent) hot summers, people in our neighborhood will sometimes bring their babies over because the house is too hot for the child. I often wonder how people would cope in much warmer areas. Air conditioning is a marvelous blessing :)
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that man found heat, fire, before cold. Does that speak to where we came from? Or simply to the fact that heat is more useful?
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