Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-12-24

How the People of Different Ages
Have Kept Warm.


cent date:
Stove is derived from the Saxon
word stofa. One of these sources of do
nestle infelieity, however modified
its form, in merely fireplace inclosed
GA all sides, the air entering from
below and carried off, as in cons
mon CRATE, by vent. The general
principles is first, to employ the fuel
in the most advantageous manner for
heating the external parr of the stove,
and secondly to keep within the room
as much of the air so warmed as is
consistent with wholesomeness and
cleanliness.
A fixed stove (stuba) was used in
the time of the Roman empire for heat
ing baths, and IN Germany and
Scandinavia for baths and hot houses.
Ia the middle ages they were general
ly constructed of brick or tiles, some
times of slate or steadaite (soapstone),
and used for warming dwellings.
They We're huge structures, sometimes
occupying the whole side of room,
and in Scandinavia their broad, fiat
surface was the sleeping placesof the
household. The fire was kinGled al
the bottom, and the smoke and heat
passed through various fues before
reaching the chimney. These stoves
were economical Of fuel, matter of
much Importance la some parts of
Europe. In the homes of the rich
they were sometimes faced with por-
celain or highly ornamented tiles.
Many will remember, DO doubt,
porcelain stove of this description ex-
hibited, in the Swedish department at
the Centennial exposition in 1876.
They have ovens and hues for cooking
and need to be replendished with fuel
but once in "a hours.
One of the first attempts at making
stove Of iron was that of Cardinal
Polignac in France, early in the
eighteenth century. The Polignac
with hollow backs, hearths, and iron
lambs, to economic the heat. In 1716
DR.. Desaugliers, of London, modified
these fireplaces to use them for coal
instead of wood. But neither these
nor the Holland stoves ever became
popular in England, owing to the
strong prejudice in favor of open
fires.
DR.. Franklin's stove, invented in
1745, was great improvement on all
that had preceded it. The principle
of its action was the same as that of
alright stoves introduced many years
later. Indeed, it would have been air
tight had it been possible at that time
to make the castings sufficiently close
fitting. About 1775 franklin invent
ed several other stoves, among them
two for the burning of bituminous
coal. One of these had downward
draUght, and consumed its own
smoke; the other had the basket CRATE
or cage, with movable bars at the top
and bottom, which, after being filled
and kindled at the top, could be in
verted, and SO made to burn at the
base. Between 1886 and 1895 Benja-
min Thompson Count Rumford) de-
vlsed several improvements in stoves,
ovens, etc, all intended to economic
fuel and heat.
Previous to 1926 the use of stoves,
generally of the box pattern and of
very rude construction, was confined
to the stores, hotels, bar-rooms, school
houses, and churches in the cities and
larger towns. Country churches were
not usually warmed, but the older
women carried their foot-stoves and
the men protected their feet with
stout leather overshoes known as
''boxes." In the residences of some of
the more wealthy city families cannal
and other English coal, generally re-
ferred to at the time as ''sea COAL"
was burned in imported CRATES or in
Ru mford stoves lined with fire brick.
A large number used the Franklin
stove as open fireplace, burning wood
in it. The rest of the world used the
capacious, old-fashioned fireplace.
The cheapness of fuel, the cheerful
ness of an open fireplace, and the great
weight and rough construction of the
stoves of those days, made the latter
IN but little demand. After the open
ing of the Erie and Champlain canals,
the introduction of river steamboats,,
and beginning of railroad travel, the
facilities for transporting heavy goods
were SO much increased that the
manufacture of stoves soon became
leading industry. These we're wood
stoves, but anthracite coal, which was
gradually coming inte use wherever a
high degree of heat was required and
a strong draught possible, was destin-
ed to create revolution in the bust
ness.
The first attempts were failures, and
it was not until 1888, when Jordan l..
Mott demonstr ated that an anthracite
fire could be made from nut and pea
sized Goals, and established several
other facts concerning the laws of
combustion, that anthracite coal
stoves became salable. The first cook
ing stoves manufactured in Albany
were Of the old ten plate oval pattern,
the oven above the fire. A description
OF the inventions and improvements
IN stoves since then would fill volumes.
1t is doubtful, nevertheless, if any
one Of them can compare in cheerful
ness Or healthfullness with the old
fachioned, capacious wood-fre places
of our grand daddies.
Strange Chinese Custom.