Stuart W. Cramer

Stuart Warren Cramer (March 31, 1868 – July 2, 1940) was an American engineer, inventor, and contractor, who gained prominence after designing and building near 150 cotton mills in the southern United States.

He was the founder of Cramerton, North Carolina and became involved in the nascent air conditioning industry, as well as being a founding partner in Duke Power.

After that he worked for Daniel A. Tompkins, an engineer and industrialist, for two years, and then went into business for himself designing and equipping cotton mills in the South.

[3] In a May 1906 speech in Asheville, North Carolina, before the American Cotton Manufacturers Association, Cramer coined the term air conditioning.

[5] In the 1920a Cramer conceived of a new textile weave for U.S. military uniforms after consultation with his former Naval Academy classmate, U. S. Secretary of the Navy Curtis Wilbur, and his sons.