Today, air purifiers are all the craze. Every allergy sufferer, asthmatic and health nut in the world has one, but believe it or not, there was a time when we didn’t have air purifiers. We simply breathed the air that was in our homes and somehow managed to survive. So when did this craze actually begin? How did it start?
Types of air purification have actually been around for over 200 years in some form or another, though most people don’t realize it. The truth is, since the early 1800s, scientists have been trying to find ways to make our air cleaner, long before the industrial revolution ever hit and California began to look like an outdoor barbecue on a high flame.
To kick this technology off, in the early 1800s John and Charles Dean developed a mask for fire fighters. This mask allowed them to charge into burning buildings without having to worry about being overcome by smoke fumes from the fire. Around that same time, masks were also made for divers and coal miners who were constantly exposed to dangerous air, but it wasn’t until the 1850s that the first gas mask was developed by John Stenhouse. The mask worked on a charcoal based...