When did they use these?

[JO BO]

Car air cooler....pre air conditioning?

[m-mman]

Yup. An automotive swamp cooler. 

 

It hangs on a rolled up window.  The tray at the bottom holds water. There are "cloths/towels/mesh" that are attached to an inner frame that spins. You pull a string and the cloths are dipped into the water then pulled into position where wind from the forward motion of the car enters the big opening, passes over the cloth and cool moist air is directed into the interior. As one cloth dries out you pull the string and rotate another wet cloth into position. 

Some versions came with a fan that could plug into a lighter but most were a genius in simplicity. 

 

Of course it was way more effective in the hot dry southwest than the very humid south.

If you were planning a Route 66 trip across the desert you bought one at the same time you got your desert water bag. 

 

[wayne sheldon]

Pretty much a 1950s thing.

[dustycrusty]

I had one hanging on a '58 beetle.  M-Man gives a good description of how one of those ever musty contraptions theoretically operated, but in my experience, it was about as effective as having the passenger randomly breathe on you while they were eating a popsicle.

Edited June 19, 2021 by dustycrusty (see edit history)

[30DodgePanel]

1 hour ago, dustycrusty said:

I had one hanging on a '58 beetle.  M-Man gives a good description of how one of those ever musty contraptions theoretically operated, but in my experience, it was about as effective as having the passenger randomly breathe on you while they were eating a popsicle.

 

Ha ha... good description dustyc.

How did you keep the bug from tipping over?  

 

Another Thermador on a Chevy truck. They seem to be very popular with the 50s Chevy truck guys....

 

 

[Pete Phillips]

Those "advanced design" Chevy trucks in 1948-1950 did not come with vent windows in the doors, so that swamp cooler accessory was almost a necessity in the summer. After 1951, Chevrolet added a vent window to each door.

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