The history of automotive air conditioning For most parts of the U.S., warm air has arrived and many people are cranking up the air conditioning as soon as they hop in their hot cars. What a great invention, second only to heaters when the weather is not so warm. Early automobiles were not exactly comfortable. Their skinny tires and rugged construction provided for a very rough ride. In winter, passengers bundled up and in the summer, air conditioning was a breeze that resulted from a top speed of 15 mph.
Nothing gets hotter than the interior of a car.
When car companies began closing up the cabs on cars, something had to be done. Vents were put in the floors of cars, but this brought in more dirt and dust than it did cool air. In 1884, William Whiteley had a great idea of placing blocks of ice in a holder under horse carriages and blowing air inside by means of a fan attached to the axle. A bucket of near a floor vent was the automotive equivalent. An evaporative cooling system followed.