 In
the 17th century, country gentlemen had begun to experiment
with stove like designs. In fact Prince Rupert, notably the
nephew of Charles I, was probably responsible for the first
convector fire. However, it took another 100 years or so before
we saw the work of the two real pioneers of today’s stove
designs – American patriot, Benjamin Franklin and British
aristocrat turned ‘Yankee rebel’ - Count Rumford.
Franklin, whose scientific experiments included the dangerous
habit of flying kites in thunderstorms, realised that a fuel
burning unchecked in a grate imparted little heat to the room.
His design employed a convection chamber, much like today’s
convector fires, to ring more efficiency out of the fire. Air
for this chamber was often taken from the basement adding a
degree of fresh air to the room. Rumford’s contribution
was less to stoves than to fires in general. He first suggested
the chimney throat to control and increase flue pull. He also
used a variable metal damper in the flue throat to add further
control and stop down draughts when the flue was not operating.
Whilst James Bodley patented the first stove design in 1802,
his design was more of a cooking stove. In fact, during much
of the nineteenth century, the love showed by the British for
open fires limited the demand for stoves in the UK while their
demand blossomed throughout colder Continental Europe and the
USA. Many also saw stoves as responsible for the serious air
pollution that London suffered for 150 years from the early
1800s onwards. The early stove designs did not burn their coal
with any real efficiency. They produced foul smelling and irritating
fumes, which caused, it was said, ‘stove malaria’
and ‘iron cough’. Edinburgh’s nickname of
‘Auld Reekie’ dates from this era and refers to
the foul smell of smoke from its myriads of open and closed
coal fires.
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