Automotive air conditioning

Automotive air conditioning systems use air conditioning to cool the air in a vehicle. A company in New York City in the United States first offered the installation of air conditioning for cars in 1933. Most of their customers operated limousines and luxury cars. On 7 October 1935, Ralph Peo of Houde Engineering, Buffalo, New York, applied for a patent for an "Air Cooling Unit for Automobiles". , was granted on 16 November 1937. In 1939, Packard became the first automobile manufacturer to offer an optional air conditioning unit in its 1940 model year cars. These bulky units were manufactured by Bishop and Babcock (B&B), of Cleveland, Ohio and were ordered on approximately 2,000 cars. The "Bishop and Babcock Weather Conditioner" also incorporated a heater. Cars ordered with this option were shipped from Packard's East Grand Boulevard facility to the B&B factory where the installation was performed. Once complete, the car was shipped to a local dealer for delivery to customers. Packard warranted and supported this conversion. However, it was not commercially successful because: The main evaporator and blower system took up half of the trunk space (though this became less of a problem as trunks became larger in the post-war period). It was superseded by more efficient systems in the post-war years. It had no temperature thermostat or shut-off mechanism other than switching the blower off. (Cold air would still sometimes enter the car with any movement as the drive belt was continuously connected to the compressor—later systems would use electrically operated clutches to avoid this) The several feet of plumbing going back and forth between the engine compartment and trunk proved unreliable in service. The price, at $274 (US$ in dollars), was unaffordable to most people in depression/pre-war America. The option was discontinued after 1941. The 1953 Chrysler Imperial was one of the first production cars in twelve years to offer modern automobile air conditioning as an option, following tentative experiments by Packard in 1940 and Cadillac in 1941.