| Rick Sanborn Masonry Artisan |
American-British physicist and scoundrel who, while drilling out cannons in the Munich munitions works, noticed that the canon became hot as long as the friction of boring continued. Furthermore, Rumford observed, the amount of heat released would be sufficient to completely melt the canon if it could be returned to the metal. Since more heat was being released than could have been originally contained in the metal, these observations were an outright contradiction to the caloric theory. Rumford was therefore led to conclude that it was the mechanical process of boring which was producing the heat. Rumford even calculated a value of the mechanical equivalent of heat which, however, was not nearly as accurate as the one reported later by Joule. Nonetheless, despite the solidity of his results, physicists of his day ignored his work as unconvincing, clinging instead to the caloric theory of heat as a fluid. It is rather surprising, given the great interest in the unity of Nature, that the first quantitative verification of the convertibility of two apparently different physical entities was completely ignored by the entire community. Some degree of hesitancy to abandon the conventional caloric theory would be understandable, but disregarding such cogent and basic results as those produced by Rumford's investigations is difficult to understand. It was only a matter of time, however, until Rumford's experiments were repeated and improved by others, eventually leading to the acceptance of the equivalence of heat and work. Although historians usually cite only his work on heat, he made numerous practical innovations, including central heating, the smokeless chimney, the kitchen oven, thermal underwear, the pressure cooker, and numerous others. In later life, he married (and then became estranged from) Lavoisier's widow Marie-Anne. Rumford was overbearingly arrogant and had no friends, as well as having a life filled with repeated cycles of rapid rises to prominence followed by equally rapid falls to penury. His abrasive personality and style are perhaps why his many innovations were not widely chronicled by historians |
| Count Rumford invented the Rumford fireplace. Benjamin Thompson (aka Count Rumford) was born in Woburn, Massachusetts in 1753. He was a loyalist and left the colonies with the British in 1776. Benjamin Thompson was given a title by the Bavarian government for whom he worked for many years. Officially his title was the "Count of the Holy Roman Empire." Count Rumford is known primarily for the work he did on the nature of heat. In 1796, he published a simple fireplace design which he proclaimed to be the solution to the "smoking chimneys in London". |
| Rumford, Benjamin Thompson (1753-1814) |
Rumford fireplace
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Rumford fireplace is a tall, shallow fireplace designed by Sir Benjamin Thompson,
Count Rumford, born 1753 in Woburn, Massachusetts,
an Anglo-American physicist who was known for his investigations of heat.
Rumford fireplaces are tall and shallow to reflect more heat,
and they have streamlined throats to eliminate turbulence and
carry away the smoke with little loss of heated room air.
Rumford fireplaces were common from 1796,
when Count Rumford first wrote about them,
until about 1850. Jefferson had them built at Monticello, and Thoreau listed them among the modern conveniences that
everyone took for granted. There are still many original Rumford fireplaces, often buried behind newer renovations.
Back in England, Rumford applied his knowledge of heat to the improvement of fireplaces. He made them smaller and shallower
with widely angled covings so they would radiate better. And he streamlined the throat, or in his words "rounded off the breast"
so as to "remove those local hindrances which forcibly prevent the smoke from following its natural tendency to go up the
chimney..."
Rumford wrote two papers detailing his improvements on fireplaces in 1796 and 1798.* He was well known and widely read in
his lifetime and almost immediately in the 1790s his "Rumford fireplace" became state-of-the-art worldwide.
Today, with the extensive restoration of old and historic houses and the renewed popularity of early American and classical
architecture in new construction, Rumford fireplaces are enjoying a comeback. Rumford fireplaces are generally appreciated for
their tall classic elegance and their heating efficiency.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
The Rumford fireplace is a tall, shallow fireplace designed by Sir Benjamin Thompson,
Count Rumford, born 1753 in Woburn, Massachusetts,
an Anglo-American physicist who was known for his investigations of heat.
Rumford fireplaces are tall and shallow to reflect more heat,
and they have streamlined throats to eliminate turbulence and
carry away the smoke with little loss of heated room air.
Rumford fireplaces were common from 1796,
when Count Rumford first wrote about them,
until about 1850. Jefferson had them built at Monticello, and Thoreau listed them among the modern conveniences that
everyone took for granted. There are still many original Rumford fireplaces, often buried behind newer renovations.
Back in England, Rumford applied his knowledge of heat to the improvement of fireplaces. He made them smaller and shallower
with widely angled covings so they would radiate better. And he streamlined the throat, or in his words "rounded off the breast"
so as to "remove those local hindrances which forcibly prevent the smoke from following its natural tendency to go up the
chimney..."
Rumford wrote two papers detailing his improvements on fireplaces in 1796 and 1798.* He was well known and widely read in
his lifetime and almost immediately in the 1790s his "Rumford fireplace" became state-of-the-art worldwide.
Today, with the extensive restoration of old and historic houses and the renewed popularity of early American and classical
architecture in new construction, Rumford fireplaces are enjoying a comeback. Rumford fireplaces are generally appreciated for
their tall classic elegance and their heating efficiency.
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