Making Cold Hot

A new low-cost housing project is rising in Dallas, in which each house is equipped with year-round air conditioning. It is the latest evidence that the young home-air-conditioning industry is rapidly growing up. In the past five years its sales have skyrocketed from $19 million to $91 million, and the 18 companies that make home air conditioning hopefully think of themselves as the "Cinderella industry" of the 19503.

Air-Conditioned Fog. Because most of the companies make other products as well as air conditioners, the industry is shrouded in secrecy and a fog of confusing claims. There are three types of air conditioners: 1) small units that fit in the window and cool only one room, 2) package units which link up with the heating system and serve the whole house, 3) "heat" pumps which cool or heat the house, in season.

Fedders-Quigan Corp., a Long Island company which makes air conditioners for RCA and Crosley, says that it has 20% of the market, that with ample materials it may prove to be the largest maker of single-room coolers this year. This claim is hotly disputed by York Corp.'s President Stewart E. Lauer. Since York not only makes its own but Philco's room-unit as well, York's Boss Lauer thinks he holds first place, claims 40% of the market. Chicago's Mitchell Manufacturing Co. insists that it is second. In the package-unit group, General Electric (which sold the units for the Dallas housing group), Chrysler Corp.'s Airtemp Division and York all claim to be the biggest.

Big & small alike, however, are agreed on one thing: they have barely warmed up the market. Out of 40 million electrified American homes, only 338,000 have air conditioners. One trouble is the price. Room air conditioners cost an average $350, and package units run from $1,200 up. To overcome the high prices, the industry is now embarked on big promotion and advertising campaigns to tell home owners how air conditioning cleans the air as well as cools it, thus cuts down the wear & tear on curtains, upholstery, carpets, etc.

Weatherman. Since the first rickety air conditioners were put on the market* just 20 years ago, great strides have been made. Noise has been virtually eliminated, and the late models can serve up any kind of indoor weather desired--dry, humid, warm or cold. General Electric engineers are trying to bring a still more revolutionary device, the "heat pump," whose workings have long been known to science, down to a popular price. G.E.'s heat pump is little bigger than a large refrigerator; at present, it still costs more than $3,000 installed. Driven by electricity, using no fuel, it works automatically when set to a given temperature. The air-conditioning industry, which is already doing a $1 billion annual business in industrial jobs, hopes to boost this fast with home sales, has other tricks up its sleeve to expand sales. One of them, now being worked on by Fedders-Quigan and one or two others, is a cheap, easily installed air-conditioning unit for cars.

*One of the first recorded air-conditioning sys tems was devised in the 8th century by the Caliph al-Mahdi of Bagdad. He transported snow from the Zagros Mountains via camel trains, packed it in. the double walls of his summer home.

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