On Heaters and Radiators

Here's some heat related goodness to warm you up this winter.

Reader Joe Kesselman sent me a link to a Turkish company, Carisa, who is making hot water radiators in some very unique shapes. Unfortunately, all are chromed stainless steel and not warm steampunk metals, but they do have some clever designs.

The pipe organ style is the cleverest:
In only slightly related news, reader Paul Hulbert sent me this device from the South Western Electricity Historical Society in Bristol, UK.



My first guess was that it was a 1960s mod of a Victorian device, but it turns out I was wrong -- the extremely modern looking innards are just as Victorian as it's outtards.

This type of heater was available around the turn of the (19th!) century. This Apollo "Dowsing Sausage" Fire dates from approximately 1910. My friend and former colleague John Heath of the SWEHS explains that:

The electric filament lamp was considered inefficient because far more energy was converted into heat than produced light.

H. J. Dowsing, in 1896, designed a "heating lamp" with a frosted glass envelope. It had a 250 watt carbon filament which gave off no light except a warm red glow.

These were the first practical electric radiant heaters.

The Cannon bulb fire in 1904 had four of the "Dowsing Sausages" set against a polished reflector and controlled by brass switches.

The Apollo fire in the museum is similar.

Anyone visited the SWEHS in Bristol? It sounds like a lovely place!

Thank you Paul and Joe (and John!) for sharing these with us.