Fickardt’s Patent Model of a Furnace – ca 1836
date: label: patent date
content: 1836-09-08
name: label: inventor
content: Fickardt, Frederick A.
notes: label: Description
content: This model was filed with the application to the U.S. Patent Office for Patent Number 23 issued to Frederick A. Fickardt of Easton, Pennsylvania on September 8, 1836. His patent was for an improvement in furnaces for heating the upper rooms of a building. He claimed as new the use of an inner and outer chamber with insulating material on the outer chamber to reduce loss of heat into the furnace room. A gap of three to four inches was provided between the inner and outer chambers to further reduce loss of heat into the furnace room. The stove, or combustion chamber, was located within the inner chamber. Access to it for fueling and cleaning was via doors in both the inner and outer chambers. The inner chamber was open at the bottom allowing fresh air entry. The flue of the stove exited through this chamber via a sealed pipe. Heated air in the inner chamber was supplied to rooms above the furnace via a larger pipe, or duct, surrounding the flue of the stove. A sliding lid for the hot air duct was provided to stop cold or foul air entering the heated rooms from the cellar when the furnace was not in use. One of Fickardt’s claims was “Immediate heat, great heat, and economy of heat, and consequently economy of fuel, money, time, patience, and domestic comfort are the advantages which the subscriber hopes he is but reasonably led to anticipate by these improvements.” Research of available trade literature and other sources has not revealed any commercial use that may have made use of Mr. Fickardt’s invention.
label: Description
content: The patent model is constructed of painted tinplate. The central stove can be seen through access doors in the inner and outer chambers. The stove flue and hot air ductwork are shown at the top of the model. The sliding lid for the hot air duct is also shown. Diagrams showing the complete design can be found in the patent document online (www.USPTO.gov/patents/process/search/index.jsp). The diagram submitted with the patent shows the shape of the furnace to be rectangular with a sloping top while the patent model submitted is cylindrical with a conical top.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: associated place
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Easton
topic: label: Subject
content: Patent Models
label: Subject
content: Heating
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Mechanical and Civil Engineering
label: See more items in
content: Engineering, Building, and Architecture
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content: Patent Models
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Transfer from Department of the Interior
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MC.251441
label: catalog number
content: 251441
label: accession number
content: 48890
label: patent number
content: 23
objectType: label: Object Name
content: patent model, furnace
label: Object Type
content: Patent Model
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: tin (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 7 3/8 in x 3 3/8 in; 18.7325 cm x 8.5725 cm