TOASTY WARM

Right about now, you’re probably singing the praises of central heating.
Unless you live in Australia or near the Equator, you’ve likely been dealing with arctic air and subzero wind chills. (Meteorologists will tell you the third week of January is usually the coldest of the year.) Humans have been looking for ways to stay warm since we became human – some anthropologists consider controlling fire and using it for cooking and heating one of the bright-line differences between homo sapiens and earlier hominids.
And humans have been improving our heating systems for thousands of years.
In ancient Korea – around 5000 B.C.E. – they had what was called the ondol, a nifty stove and heated floor system that kept a house warm and provided a place for cooking. Sorry to disappoint the fancy house reno shows, but heated floors have been around for a very, very long time.
The ancient Greeks developed the first real central heating system with flues in the walls moving heat from a fire in the ground. Engineering whizzes that they were, the Romans upgraded it with the hypocaust system, using a furnace and forcing hot air into spaces between the walls and floors.
After the collapse of the Roman Empire, Europe’s Dark Ages weren’t only dark – they were also pretty cold, with many innovations forgotten for centuries. Things were a lot more comfortable in the Muslim world, where engineers had come up with an efficient under-floor pipe system used in some important buildings.
It wasn’t until the 14th century that the Europeans started working with central heating again, but even then, it was mostly in cathedrals and monasteries. Most homes, up to and including palaces, still relied on big fireplaces and small stoves, through the Renaissance and well into the industrial era. No wonder there are so many portraits of cranky, unhappy-looking people. I’d scowl too if I was freezing most of the time.
For many people, even into the 20th century, heat came from stoves or fireplaces in individual rooms, and cold was just a part of life. Diarists speak matter-of-factly about chipping through the ice on their water pitcher for a morning wash. That’s also one reason why it was so common for people to share beds with family or roommates until the high Victorian niceties took hold: single beds were a waste of a perfectly good warm body!
Central heating for homes finally started to take off in the late 18th to mid-19th centuries, as inventors created hot air, steam, and hot water heating systems, often taking inspiration from the old Greek and Roman works and adapting them to modern technology. Some of these early systems were so efficient that they stayed in use for 150 years. (That only sounds crazy until you realize that some of the railroad equipment we ride on has been around for close to the same amount of time.)
By the late 1800s, various heating systems powered by gas, oil, or electricity, were becoming more reasonably priced, and more common. Inventors were also creating the equipment we now recognize as important parts of heating systems: thermostats, steel furnaces, gasoline burners. One of the biggest modern inventions came from Russia, in 1885: the radiator. And in 1919, Alice Parker got the first U.S. Patent for a central heating system – let’s hear it for the STEM girls!
At least at my house, it’s now come full circle: on very cold days, we fire up the woodstove and huddle in the basement. The more things change…
Got a #ThrowbackThursday idea? Drop it in the comments!