The History of the Fireplace

Man’s use of fire can be traced as far back as one million years ago. The fires then were built on the ground. While the ancient people were inside their huts, smoke accidentally escaped through holes in the roof. Approximately half a million years ago, fires were already built on a solid hearth and holes were deliberately made in the roof so smoke could exit.

Fires were traditionally placed in the middle of the room to allow maximum accessibility and heat output. The advancement of the first two-storey buildings led to the fireplace being relegated to the outside wall. The only material available then for building the floor of the second storey was wood. Obviously, it was unwise to build a fire on a wooden floor, so the fireplace was moved into a cut-out in the wall. The flue was placed horizontally so extraction of smoke was poor. Smoke would frequently have blown into the room. In the end, they discovered the principle of the chimney.

The means of using wood to heat homes and offices is almost as old as dirt. It can be traced back to the 1700s when Abraham Darby used procedures of smelting, where it was found out that iron provided a cost-efficient way of producing heat.

It was during the Victorian age when fireplaces began to grow popular. During this time, people discovered that aside from producing heat, fireplaces added a hint of elegance. It somehow gave homes a comfortable and traditional environment. Through the years, housing designs evolved and so did the fireplaces, along with the technology. Fireplaces changed and became more fashionable, offering sand casting systems. This provided a chance for makers to create even more superior designs.

In spite of all the changes and the advancement, the basic fireplace is still made up of two components – the surround and the insert. The surround part of the fireplace is composed of the mantle and sides. It is typically made of wood, granite, marble, and sometimes iron. The insert is the part of the fireplace where the fire is burned. This part is constructed using cast iron and is frequently adorned with stylish tiles of different colors and designs.

Benjamin Franklin had an important part in the discovery of fireplaces. He found out that fireplaces lose a significant amount of heat through the wall. It gave him the idea to make the first freestanding firebox, which came to be recognized as the Franklin stove. He put his first stove in the middle of the room, which solved his problem on how to look for means to heat a room. The outcome of the experiment was that the whole room was heated completely and equally. His other finding was that by using heavy cast iron, the heat continued being produced even when the flames had died out.

Still, with all his excellent discoveries, Franklin's effort had a defect. The hitch was that air cannot be drawn in. This is because the smoke was vented from the bottom. David Rittenhouse, from Philadelphia, decided to utilize Benjamin's invention but innovated it by putting in an L-shaped stovepipe as a means of moving the air through the fire and then emitting the smoke out through a chimney. This add-on proved quite successful. It was in the late 1700s that these freestanding stoves were being used all over the country. Although David Rittenhouse made the stove a success, people still identified it by the name Franklin Stove.