The Green Zone
Instead of complaining about technology and poor design I thought I
might take a moment to discuss a well designed item that I adore. I
found this item in a thrift store in the DC area back in the early
‘90s. It tells the temperature and the relative humidity. What’s so
great about that? Health and comfort. Health AND comfort.
I was asked at the start of my current work project to describe an item that should embody the characteristics of the web site we were going to build. I replied with a few items that I owned that I used on a regular basis that are dependable and not over designed. These included my Francis Francis X3 Espresso machine. In retrospect I wish it had occurred to me to reply with the Middlebury Electric Clock Corp. Air Condition Indicator. A thermometer and barometer with a unique design.
The patent indicates that the Air Condition Indicator was invented by Frank Bullock, filed for patent on November 7, 1934, and patented on June 16, 1936. I don’t know much about patents but, of the few I’ve glanced at this one seems particularly concise and brilliant. In fact, Mr. Bullock describes the intent of the invention in the first few lines:
This invention relates to improvements in air conditioning indicators.
Various devices have been provided from time to time in the past for the purpose of indicating to occupants of a room the temperature and relative humidity of the air in order to aid in the keeping of the air at a comfortable and healthy temperature and humidity. Such devices, however, usually comprise a hygrostat and thermometer, each giving its own reading of humidity and temperature, respectively, and it is therefore necessary that tables or charts be consulted if one is to ascertain whether the relative humidity for the temperature given, or vice versa, is most conducive to health and comfort.
It is, therefore, an object of my invention to provide an improved air condition indicator which will give by direct reading positive information as to whether or not the temperature and relative humidity are properly proportioned for health and comfort.
Mr. Bullock achieved his goal to perfection. My wife and I frequently ask “Are we in the Green Zone?” (even though it is clearly marked as the “GREEN AREA”). The paragraph on the face of the device towards the bottom reads:
HEALTHFUL CONDITIONS of temperature and humidity exist when hands cross within GREEN AREA
Even from across the room one can tell if the room is in the green area or not. It’s the ‘30s version of a dashboard. Except that the design is tightly focused and I want to use the indicator unlike most dashboards I’ve seen that tend to pummel the user with useless data.
The Air Condition Indicator does a much better job of actually relaying relevant information than our two digital thermostats that control the AC and heat. Both are made by the same company and they never agree on the temperature never mind take humidity into account even though the device that one of them controls is meant to remove humidity from the air.
My wife recently put it in our malfunctioning fridge to determine the actual temperature and humidity inside the fridge when a digital unit failed to provide that information. It let us know that the fridge was broken. It turned out to be a faulty circuit board which is a common problem for GE refrigerators. Ours is only four years old. I’m not trying to maintain that this simple thermometer and barometer is as complicated to build as a modern refrigerator. However, I get particular satisfaction when you can use a simple tool to determine that something modern and somewhat complex is completely failing to fulfill its primary task. It was like John Henry came to my house and smashed the circuit board with a railroad spike.
While it is amusing, the text above the Green Area, “GRAPHIC”, is one of the few element of the device that could safely be stripped away and not impact the functionality. It almost seems to have been left in unintentionally or added by someone else at a later date. I do wonder if the device came with some sort of instruction manual that advised the user to refer to the “GRAPHIC” to determine if their immediate area was “most conducive to health and comfort”. The fact that this is the only element that seems a little odd some 74 years later is a testament to the design.
The fact that this little device still operates and gives accurate readings is a testament to the construction by the Middlebury Electric Clock Corporation. There are not many items that I interact with on a regular basis that I can imagine wanting to interact with even 20 years from now and even fewer that I can imagine still operating at that time.