Where Good Ideas Come From

by Steven Johnson

In 1902, the Sackett-Wilhelm company had a profitable and growing business printing color publications, like the popular humor magazine Judge. But they faced one vexing problem: the air. Small changes in humidity could complicate the printing process on multiple levels: the paper would expand as it absorbed water molecules floating in the factory air; ink would flow at different rates, and dry more slowly. Unusually humid days could slow the entire production down dramatically, making it difficult for the Sackett-Wilhelm executives to promise reliable delivery times to its clients. Human beings had been artificially moderating air temperature since the invention of fire. The nineteenth century had witnessed a growing trend toward mechanical heating systems. A few exotic schemes had attempted to cool building interiors, but all of them involved drawing air over massive quantities of ice. (Madison Square Theater in Manhattan used four tons of ice each night to make summertime evenings tolerable for their patrons.) But none of these approaches tackled the problem of humidity. After two consecutive heat waves in the summers of 1900 and 1901, the Sackett-Wilhelm owners contacted the New York office of the Buffalo Forge Company, which specialized in mechanical heating systems for large industry. They were the experts in making the air warmer. Could they make it less wet? It was a fortuitous query, because the founder of the Buffalo