Wisconsin book shorts Warren Johnson of proper respect

“Warren Johnson, of Whitewater, invented the electronic thermostat in 1883.”

— “Famous Wisconsin Inventors and Entrepreneurs,” Page 133

Author Marv Balousek uses just that one line to describe the accomplishments of Johnson Controls Inc. founder Warren S. Johnson in his 2003 book.

The book mentions Johnson’s accomplishment in a much shorter fashion and well behind those of the Harley and Davidson families, entertainers Tommy Bartlett, Harry Houdini and Al Ringling and even another Johnson, as in Samuel Curtis.

No disrespect to the author — his choices reflect the love affair of many Wisconsinites with our more iconic native legends — but Johnson’s 1883 invention of the electric thermostat outshines the others in both innovation and impact. Almost every building in America has a thermostat.

To give Johnson the respect he deserves, this column dedicates its inches to him.

Before becoming an inventor and businessman, Johnson worked as a professor of natural science at the Whitewater Normal School, which later became the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, during the late 1870s.

Initially hired as a penmanship and mechanical drawing instructor, Johnson spent time away from teaching in a lab above the school’s main building trying to apply mechanical inventions to useful purposes.

The 1870s and the availability of electricity sparked the curiosity of many imaginative men. Thomas Edison improved upon the first light and invented his first generator in the late 1870s.

With access to electric current batteries, which provided cheap and adequate electricity for low-power uses, Johnson’s interest turned to power, and he began to develop a heat-control system.

Johnson’s first thermostat contained a metal and rubber element sealed together with one wire from an electrical circuit connected to the fixed end of the element and another wire connected to a small pool of mercury.

Changes in air temperature moved the free end of the thermal element so it would touch the mercury to close the circuit or cause it to move away and break the flow of electricity.

Johnson’s refined version of the thermostat omitted the mercury pool and substituted a carbon contact point held in a fixed position. Still using the element to start and stop the flow of electricity, Johnson inserted an adjusting screw and placed a pointer and dial marked in degrees, which allowed for the selection of temperature.

Johnson’s first attempt to control the temperature of a heating system began in a school building. While the thermostat effectively indicated “cooler” and “warmer,” the custodian needed to manually control the furnace.

So Johnson, applying the electric motor, devised a system that could open and close the furnace doors.

And with that, Johnson Controls was born.

He would receive his first patent for an “electric telethermascope” July 24, 1883.

Johnson would make many improvements to his system, and in 1885, with the financial backing of Milwaukee’s well-to-do, Johnson Electric Service Co. was founded.

Today, the more aptly named Johnson Controls Inc., which is the largest publicly-owned corporation headquartered in Wisconsin, still works to be a leader in the building efficiency arena. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers designated Johnson’s automatic temperature-control system as a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in May.

Perhaps Balousek didn’t need to mention all that. But the author at least should have included the following excerpt written during Johnson Controls’ 75th year in 1960:

“The introduction and use of thermostats accelerated the success of new developments in the heating and ventilating industry. The tall buildings in large cities housing thousands of people and the expansion of factory space where processing goods requires exact temperatures and humidity valves depend on the application of pneumatic control systems introduced by the Johnson Service Company.”

— Marvin M. Hernick, sales promotion manager, Johnson Service Co., From the preface of “Historic Intervals of the Johnson Service Company”