Franklin Stove
FRANKLIN STOVE
FRANKLIN STOVE, invented in 1742 by Benjamin Franklin, was a device for giving greater warmth, more comfort, and cleaner heating at a lower fuel cost. Franklin's idea, drafted in cooperation with his friend Robert Grace, consisted of a low stove equipped with loosely fitting iron plates through which air might circulate and be warmed before passing into the room. This "New Pennsylvania Fireplace" avoided drafts, gave more even temperatures throughout the room, and checked loss of heat through the chimney. Designed to be used in an already existing hearth, it did not resemble what are now called Franklin stoves. The plan was probably a development of an earlier ten-plate stove and was, in turn, supplanted by the newer cannon-stove invented at Lancaster a decade later.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brewer, Priscilla J. From Fireplace to Cookstove: Technology and the Domestic Ideal in America. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 2000.
Harry EmersonWildes/a. r.
See alsoHeating .