CAST IRON RADIATORSA History of Cast Iron Radiators

HISTORY OF CAST IRON RADIATORS

• In order to write a History of Cast Iron Radiators, it is first necessary to outline a brief history of the manufacture of Cast Iron itself.

• Since its invention in China in the 5th Century B.C., Cast Iron has been used for a variety of purposes, especially after its introduction to the western world in the 15th Century.

• Ever since King Henry VIII initiated the use of cast iron in cannon and shot, as well as insisting on cannon being constructed out of cast iron, English furnaces have been producing the alloy.

• Non military uses of Cast Iron include the pots manufactured by Abraham Darby’s Coalbrookdale furnaces.

CAST IRON AND RADIATORS• However, there is one historical usage of cast iron which led directly to

the use of the metal in the manufacture of radiators, the development of the steam engine, pioneered by Thomas Newcomen.

• The fact that cast iron was considerably cheaper to produce than brass, the metal which had previously been used in the construction of steam engine cylinders, was key to its usage and promotion by James Wilkinson (the manufacturer of the engine cylinders for James Watt’s famous steam engines).

• This use of cast iron clearly led to the development of Cast Iron Radiators as the move away from open fires as a means of heating a home resulted in a need to find an alternative source of heat, namely steam. This in turn resulted in a demand for a substance which could not only withstand the high temperatures of steam but which was also resistant to the wear and tear it was bound to incur from having vast quantities of water (both in gaseous and liquid form) passing over it.

CAST IRON RADIATORS• Cast Iron was therefore the perfect metal to use in the

construction of steam-powered radiators as it had already proven its ability to withstand such high temperatures as well as resist corrosion through its usage in steam engines.

• Cast Iron Radiators, as a result, became an incredibly popular means of home heating from the late nineteenth century onwards until the manufacture of such radiators was unable to maintain the pace of the demand for them from the middle of the twentieth century when there was an explosion in the need for housing.

• This therefore made the production of cast iron radiators unprofitable until a recent boom in the demand for them which has seen the manufacture of Cast Iron Radiators greatly increase.