Sackett & Wilhelms Lithographing & Printing Co.

While the concept of cooling air has been around for a while (the ancient Egyptians hung water-soaked reeds in the windows), the first air conditioner was born in New York. In 1902 Willis Haviland Carrier created the machine in Buffalo, while looking for a way "to solve an application problem for the Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing and Publishing Company in Brooklyn," who needed to control the humidity in the plant.