The “Franklin” Stove
By Michael Pillagalli
Who would have thought that a rural farm and furnace owner in the Northwestern section of Chester County would have a close friendship with the urbanite of the time in the name of Benjamin Franklin?
Mr. Robert Grace owned Warwick Furnace and made a fortune from Benjamin Franklin’s invention of the “iron fireplace,” as did many other furnace owners who came up with a similar design to the one Franklin devised.
Story has it that Franklin was visiting Mr. Grace and realized the amount of heat reflected from the fire back of the time. A fire back was a large sheet of iron behind the fire which reflected the heat out and not up the chimney. Franklin took the idea and added sides and a top to the back plate and presented the design to Mr. Grace, who saw it to completion at his iron furnace works.
The iron sides and top helped force the heat out and radiated the heat of the fire longer. Thus, the Franklin Stove was invented and used all over the colonies and also popular abroad. He made sure his design would fit within a large walk-in fireplace or be reduced in size for a small parlor or bedroom fire opening.
Benjamin took no patent or residuals from the sale, as he thought it was an opportunity to serve others by any inventions of others and this act should be done generously. That speaks of Franklin’s thought of mind and his genetics.
It was “said” that Franklin commented that his front got warm while his backside froze visiting with the Grace’s! It’s this exposure, he said, which gives pneumonia! He made sure his design had the heat come out the front and the smoke went up the chimney each time he and Mr. Grace toyed with a prototype that Grace had made in his furnace.
Many, many generations later and the stove we know as “The Franklin Stove” still survives in many different designs and styles today but still produces heat which comes out the front and smoke which goes up the chimney.
This past winter was the perfect time to test its ability if one owned one of this variety of the Franklin Stove.