To Joan Goodbody: This process is exactly how the old swamp coolers worked in the California Central Valley and in Arizona, and probably in Florida too. There were portable swamp coolers for cars, too, in fact I recently sold one from our family garage at a historical society auction. You added water to them just like a radiator, fit them to your partly opened car window aided by struts that fastened on the door, then as you drove the moving air passed over fins that twirled over soaked membranes made of woven jute inside the reservoir and moved the cooled outside air into your car through the partly opened window (while water dripped all over your car door). Crude, but both my husband and I remember as kids how nicely it cooled the car on those endless trips. Haven't seen one in use since about 1951, except in Tucson where swamp coolers were still in use through the 1970s (at least they were in cash-poor student housing!). Now it sounds like an excellent environment for Legionnaire's disease, but we're all still walking around. Check with museums in Bakersfield and Tucson, surely their ephemera collections contain manufacturers' instructions for operation of swamp coolers. And weren't there desert bags that tied to the front of your car to send cool air across the radiator? They were made of jute also. Micki Ryan Curator Highline Historical Society Burien WA ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).