Bringing Cooling Home
Despite advancements in cooling technologies, these systems were too large and expensive for homes. Building off refrigeration technology, Frigidaire introduced a new split-system room cooler to the marketplace in 1929 that was small enough for home use and shaped like a radio cabinet. However, the system was heavy, expensive and required a separate, remotely controlled condensing unit. General Electric's Frank Faust improved on this design, developing a self-contained room cooler, and General Electric ended up producing 32 similar prototypes from 1930 to 1931.
Around this same time, Thomas Midgley, Albert Henne and Robert McNary of General Motors synthesized chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) coolants, which became the world's first non-flammable refrigerating fluids, substantially improving the safety of air conditioners. However, the chemicals would be linked to ozone depletion decades later and were eventually phased out by governments all across the globe after the Montreal Protocol in the 1990s. Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which don't destroy the ozone, gain popularity but are eventually linked to climate change. Recent breakthrough research by the Energy Department's Building Techologies Office and Oak Ridge National Laboratory is resulting in new refrigerants and technologies that are less harmful to the planet.
Home cooling systems got smaller after H.H. Schultz and J.Q. Sherman filed a patent for an air conditioning unit that could be placed on a window ledge. The units hit the market in 1932 but were not widely purchased due to their high cost.
Engineer Henry Galson went on to develop a more compact, inexpensive version of the window air conditioner and set up production lines for several manufacturers. By 1947, 43,000 of these systems were sold -- and, for the first time, homeowners could enjoy air conditioning without having to make expensive upgrades. [emphasis added]
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GE portable automatic dishwasher. (8/4/2026)
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GE refrigerator. (7/31/2026).
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