Time Progression to Temperature Comfort Over the Years - Time Out #446

Let's start with a shout out to our youngest child, Mr. Robbie, who captures 41 today. HBD, former Stillwater Pioneer footballer #95!  

     Since we are now officially into spring, our weather occasionally has the goofy tendency to be too cold or too warm. 

     So, what do we do about that unwanted strange temperature variation? 

     We merely adjust our trusty thermostats, and, poof, out comes the requested air temperature to satisfy our desires, no matter what the weather conditions are outside.

     Folks, I am here to tell you, it has not always been that simple to dial up your indoor personal comfort!  

     Rewind to the good ol' days of the 1950's and early 60's, dearest readers in Our Town and far beyond. Peering backward in my time capsule, what were the options way back then, ordering up more indoor temperature comfort?   

     Let's remember cooling efforts first.  For our homes, there were all sizes of portable fans, some  rotating, some stationary.  In addition, we had large water coolers (slang-term, swamp coolers) we placed in our windows, practically occupying the entire opening.  These large devices were noisy, and sometime blew water droplets inside the room, causing people with respiratory allergies to have increased sneezing and coughing. At night, we opened our home windows, and turned on our attic fans to bring cooler outside air inside, along with all the increased nighttime pollen (more allergy issues!). That was the sum total of our cooling methods, until "refrigerated air" (today's air  conditioning) arrived locally in the 1950's. I vividly remember the movies being very popular then, because they offered this modern  "refrigerated air". As a youth, I absolutely loved sitting in our movies on a HOT summer day! Soon, the a/c window units were available, and widely purchased for individual homes.  Soon thereafter, central a/c became available, both in businesses and residences. 

     Now, remembering heating methods. In the 1950's, there were gas floor furnaces and gas/electric wall heaters,  I remember our first rental home at 1521 West 4th Avenue having small, open-flame gas stoves in several rooms, dangerous if they were knocked over, or items got too close to the flame.  When central units for homes became available, then both central heat and air conditioning became more commonly seen. 

     All 1950's vehicles had heat, basically the vehicle's engine heat, available to the passengers. Interestingly, the progression of vehicle a/c closely followed, timewise, the development of home a/c systems.   

     So, now, each time I turn my home or vehicle thermostat up or down, my mind's eye takes me back to the distant past when that choice was not available or barely available. I then quickly tell myself, I love progress!