Vintage Room Air Conditioners

This is the first hermetic compressor design mass manufactured right after World War II for the OEM window/room air conditioner market. Notably used by OEM manufacturers such as Mitchell, US-AIR-CO, Lenco, Welbilt, and many more. This 'Supermetic' compressor line was made in the Evansville, Indiana plant of Servel Inc. It was based on a pre-war design that was refined post-war. It was not made during the war because of material shortages. Photo 2 is a 'Supermetic' condensing unit.

Tadiran of Israel was licensed to manufacture in Israel the room air conditioners of Welbilt Corporation, Maspeth, Queens, New York.

This 1958 Daikin window mounted room air conditioner, made in Japan, was based on General Electric's 'Hi Thinline' series. The rotary compressor was made in Japan licensed by General Electric U.S.A.

Historically this is the first room air conditioner made in Japan. Toshiba manufactured the reciprocating compressor made under license from Tecumseh of the U.S.A.

On display are four 1952 brands, Philco (made by York), Vornado (made by O.A. Sutton), Fedders and Mitchell.

This is a 1952 Mitsubishi "Windair" window mounted room air conditioner. One of the first window air conditioners made in Japan. "Windair" came out in 1952, but it was developed based on American designs to fit windows that open and close vertically. Because of that, the air conditioners didn’t work well with Japanese home architecture, preventing them from becoming common household items. They were used primarily in retail stores and professional offices.

Made in capacities from 3/4 - 1-1/2 ton. Designed to use low pressure refrigerants such as F-12 and Carrene 7 and 4-pole, twin cylinder hermetic compressors. This combination provided high efficiency and high ambient operation for powerful cooling and long life.

Designed to mount all inside the window with no outside projection.

The 1957 York 'Snorkel' room air conditioner designed to mount all inside the window and not extend outside the window.

Alternate finishes available of the York 'Snorkel' series.

Exploded view of the 1956 York 4-pole, twin cylinder hermetic compressor. These were made for room air conditioners, packaged air conditioners, and split system central air conditioners.

Manufactured by Fresh'nd-Aire Company in Chicago.

1/2 ton unit using a Servel hermetic compressor.

Pictured is a 1 1/2 hp model.  Note the Tecumseh ‘B’ compressor.

Uses a Tecumseh ‘B’ twin cylinder, 4 pole compressor.  Note reversing valve in above photo.  12000 BTU/hr cooling / 10000 BTU/hr heat pump.

This unit uses the Tecumseh AR26 2-pole, single cylinder, 1/2 hp pancake compressor (see photo above).  This air conditioner is rated at 3200 BTU/hr.  Manufactured for Emerson-Electric of St. Louis by Gibson.

This was the first line of room air conditioners from Emerson-Electric of St. Louis.  Not to be confused with Emerson Radio (Emerson-Quiet Kool) of New York.  These ‘De Luxe’ models were available in 1/2 hp, 3/4 hp and 1 hp models.