Temperature Corp.

Two shining stars adorn the family diadem of Walter P. Chrysler. Son-in-law Byron Cecil Foy, who married Mr. Chrysler's eldest daughter Thelma, is, at 40, president of Chrysler-owned De Soto Motor Corp., famed sponsor of its airflow models. Son-in-law Edgar William Garbisch, 32, a burly West Point footballer who married Mr. Chrysler's second daughter Bernice, went to work for J. Stirling Getchell, Inc., Manhattan advertising agency which handles most Chrysler advertising, startled himself and friends by bagging the huge Socony-Vacuum account. Last week Motormaker Chrysler's chunky, art-loving son Walter Jr., 25, was given another chance to become a third star in the family crown.

Walter Jr. once declared that not since he could remember had he ever wanted to do anything except publish books. When he founded Cheshire House, Inc., during his sophomore year at Dartmouth, the first book he published was Samuel Butler's Erewhon because Erewhon showed "that there are other things in life besides machines and tools."

Last week, with Cheshire House dormant, Walter Chrysler Jr. announced his debut into the industrial world as chair-man and president of a new sales corporation to market air conditioners. Its name: Temperature Corp. On its board of directors were Mr. Foy and Mr. Garbisch and Motormaker Chrysler's youngest son Jack. The elder Chrysler had put up most of Temperature Corp.'s $350,000 capital.

Last week Temperature Corp. opened its doors to the public in a sleek, black-walled showroom in Manhattan's Chrysler Building. Banker friends of Walter Chrysler Sr. dropped in the first day to shake hands with his son. Hotel managers popped in to have a look at the little, air-cooling, air-washing, dehumidifying device which Temperature Corp. will sell for $175 plus installation and condensing unit. "Airtemp" will be manufactured in Detroit by Amplex Manufacturing Co., a division of Chrysler Motors. Standing less than three feet high, the cabinet is attached to an ordinary electric base plug and water system, is equipped with a one-eighth h.p. motor which forces air up through water coils into a chamber where it is sprayed, dehumidified, washed under pressure. Water for the coils is cooled by the condensing unit which may be installed in a closet, kitchen or basement. Three cabinets can be operated on one condensing unit which costs about $200. Each cabinet conditions 600 cu. ft. of air per minute, has a refrigeration capacity of one ton, i. e. exudes the same amount of cold as one ton of ice melting evenly for 24 hr. In winter it becomes a heating and humidifying unit, steam or hot water being substituted for cold water in the coils.

In invading the small-unit air conditioning field, Chrysler Motors was following the lead of General Motors whose Frigidaire air conditioner was put on the market eight years ago. Chrysler's plan is to cheapen cost and price by mass production, by simplifying the mechanics of the unit. Today a homeowner or office manager looking for air conditioners has a score or more to choose from. Frigidaire's unit, which has a refrigeration capacity of three-eighths of a ton, sells for $340 including condenser but without installation. This year Frigidaire has an air conditioned house at the Chicago Fair. General Electric 's unit and condenser sell for $450 with installation (in Manhattan). Other well-known small conditioning units: Westinghouse, York Ice Machinery, Carrier Corp., American Radiator.

Air conditioners for home and office are comparatively new. Industrial air conditioning was used during the War when munition makers found it advisable to keep their plants at medium humidity while making powder for shrapnel shells. Rayon manufacturers are heavy users of air conditioning because rayon is highly sensitive to moisture at every stage of manufacture. Big candy makers use conditioners to keep the air dry since chocolate becomes dull and grey, loses its smooth dark lustre when exposed to moisture. Air conditioners for factories, theatres, stores are almost in variably basement installations where the air is cooled and washed in subsurface coils, sent up through the building in pipes.

Many an economic observer firmly believes that air conditioning during the next decade will give U. S. business the same forward thrust that automobiles did from 1922 to 1929, radio from 1925 to 1929.

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