Cast-iron Stove Research Articles

Study of a Cast Iron Stove Designed by Farkas Bolyai

Farkas Bolyai is known among mathematicians. However, he was also interested in the design and construction of stoves and ovens. In our paper we study a cast iron stove designed by Farkas Bolyai, based on a specimen found in the Museum Teleki Téka on Târgu-Mureș. Although the technical real-ization is nearly two hundred years old, the problem of inspiration is still a concern of our society today. We believe that, looking back, we can find answers, perhaps partial or complete solutions to the problem of the economical stove.

The influence of particle size on the thermal performance of coal and its derived char in a Union stove

For low-income communities in South Africa, coal is the most common solid fuel which is burnt in a variety of devices, including imbaulas and cast-iron stoves. The present work was conducted with the aim of determining the effect of the fuel particle size on the performance of coal, typically sourced in low-income households in townships in South Africa, and to subsequently compare the performance with a feed char of a common cast iron stove. Four fuel particle sizes of 15, 20, 30, and 40 mm, as well as a composite of the sizes were tested at 550 °C, against their untreated coal analogues to evaluate the thermal performance of each fuel. The thermal performance assessment metrics are ignition time, water boiling time, heat transfer and combustion efficiencies, while CO and CO2 emissions were measured for the calculations of CO/CO2 ratios. Ignition times were found to decrease from coals to chars and to decrease with increasing particle size. The effects of fuel type on the water boiling time were only observed in the later stages of the burn cycle, with the char boiling a 2 L batch of water in an average 24 min, while the coals reported an average boiling time of 20 min. Heat transfer efficiencies showed no significant variation with fuel type or particle size, with the average efficiency for the coals and that of the chars being around 66%. The fuels’ performance was better gauged by the combustion efficiency, which was found to improve marginally from the coal fuels to the chars, and to increase with increasing particle size. Results from this testwork could contribute to the performance inventories from the combustion of domestic coal mined in South Africa in a typical cast iron stove which is used in informal settlements.

The effect of particle size on the pollution reduction potential of a South African coal-derived low-smoke fuel

The coal combustion in cast-iron stoves leads to health hazards and air pollution. In this study the CO, SO2, NOx, PM and VOC emission concentrations were measured whilst combusting four fuel particle sizes (15, 20, 30, and 40 mm) as well as a composite of the sizes (all pre-devolatilized at a temperature of 550 °C) in a cast-iron stove. The results were compared to their raw coal analogues to evaluate the emission performance of each fuel type. Emission factors for NOx and SO2 were found to depend on the fuel nitrogen and sulphur contents in the coal and the combustion conditions used during pyrolysis. The PM, SO2 and VOC emissions show a strong dependence on the ash percentage and volatile matter yields, which both increased with increasing particle size. In addition, the PM, SO2 and VOC missions were found to only depend on particle size on a mechanistic level. The VOCs and PM emission factors are inversely correlated with particle size. The results from this study offer insight into the combustion environment in the Falkirk Union No 7 cast-iron stove as well as how this environment applies to low smoke fuels. The work contributes to the emission and performance inventories from South African domestic coal combustion in this stove used in informal settlements.

Fine PM emission factors from residential burning of solid fuels using traditional cast-iron coal stoves

Residential burning of solid fuels is a major source of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), which degrades indoor and ambient air quality in low-income settlements. The adverse impact of fine particulate emissions on the environment and human health is well-documented in other countries such as China and India; however, there is need for local studies to report on emission factors from residential burning of solid fuels. An emission factor quantifies the total mass of a pollutant emitted per amount of fuel burned. Emission factor is an input parameter in air quality modelling to forecast a pollutant concentrations over time and when calculating total emissions from a specific source. Local emission factors are central to managing air quality for they give results that are representative of the source compared with international emission factors. Quantifying emissions, understanding household fuel use patterns and interaction with the stove (stove operation behaviour) during a burning event is fundamental when designing emission control strategies. The aim of the study is to quantify fine particulate matter emissions from residential coal burning using systematic field measurements. The objectives of the study are (i) to characterize stove operation behavior effect on the emissions and (ii) to quantify PM2.5 emission factors using field measurements. Isokinetic (2015) and direct (2014) stack sampling tests were done to observe how PM emissions profiles change with stove operation behavior and to quantify PM2.5 emitted per kilogram of fuel burned. Fine PM emission profiles change with stove operation behavior with an emission factor ranging 6.8 g.kg-1 and 13.5 g.kg-1. The study results implies that residential coal burning is a major source of fine particulate matter in the residential area. As demonstrated that stove operation behaviour affect stove to fuel combination emissions; it is therefore suggested that those factors leading to increase emissions should be kept minimum.

Wood stove material configurations for increased thermal comfort

In this work, a numerical model of the heat transfer through composite wood stove walls has been used to study the effect of material configurations on the heat storage and the heat release profile to the room, to arrive at improved thermal comfort performance. Cast iron and soapstone have been compared, showing that soapstone is a good material from a thermal comfort point of view, while cast iron (for the typical stove weights of today) exhibits a comparably higher peak and faster heat release. Applying a Phase Change Material (PCM) for such a cast iron stove changes this picture. It makes it possible to reduce peak heat release and achieve a more stable as well as an extended heat release period. 53% reduction in peak and 43% reduction in average heat release was demonstrated during the combustion cycle using Erythritol as PCM. However, the selection and use of a PCM must be optimized. Its capacity should be utilized to a maximum extent without overheating the material as it will cause irreversible damage to most PCM.

Air ion and aerosol study in rural dwellings

Concentration and size distribution of airborne particles (size range 10–1100nm), using a SMPS+C Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer, and concentrations of positive and negative cluster ions (size range 0.36–1.6nm), using several CDI-06 Gerdien-type integral air ion detectors, have been monitored in three rooms in rural dwellings of Serbia and Slovenia, during periods when nobody was present in the room and while smoking and heating were taking place. The highest particle generation rate was 2.4×1011min−1 while cigarette smoking was taking place and was 1.5×1011min−1 during heating with a cast iron stove with wood burning at 150°C, and 1.1×1010min−1, during heating with an Alpine-type oven at 40–50°C. The related particle loss rate constants were 0.0603min−1, 0.0442min−1, and 0.0067min−1. The estimated mean values of the effective ion attachment rate βeff vary between (2.2–5.4)10−6cm3s−1. A correlation between ions concentration and particles concentration and their sizes has been sought, and findings are discussed and shown.

Physiochemical characteristics of indoor PM2.5 with combustion of dried yak dung as biofuel in Tibetan Plateau, China

People inhabiting the Tibetan Plateau rely for survival on the yak, the region's native cattle. One of the important products of yak is dung, which has been served as cooking and heating fuels in the traditional Tibetan pastoralist society for several thousand years. The indoor air quality (IAQ) at eight residential homes with altitudes ranging from 3212 m to 4788 m was investigated in November 2012 to obtain a shot-term profile of emission from combustion of dried yak dung as biofuel in pastoral and agro-pastoral regions on the Tibetan Plateau. The indoor temperature, relative humidity, CO2 and mass concentrations of PM2.5 were monitored for around a 4-h period (5 kg dried fuel was consumed) at each site. Filter-based aerosol samples were also collected to characterize their elemental compositions, water-soluble ions, carbonaceous species and individual particle morphologies. The results showed that combustion of solid biomass fuel in cast-iron stove is the preliminary source of indoor particulate pollution. The average indoor and outdoor PM2.5 mass concentrations were 330.7 and 29.1 μg/m3, respectively. Individual particle analysis showed that most of the particles in smoke from dung burning were in the submicrometer size range. Regular and irregular organic balls and soot aggregates were the predominant species in the smoke (>90% in numbers). The data set in this study can provide significant basis for IAQ and epidemiology study on the Tibetan Plateau.

Double Consciousness and the Intersections of Beliefs in an African American Home in Northern New Jersey

Archaeological investigations at a house in northwestern New Jersey, owned by a free African American family from 1862 to 1909, identified at least one ritual deposit within the structure. A concealed iron hoe blade was found in the liminal space between the first-story ceiling and the second-story floor, next to the former location of the chimney of the household’s cast-iron stove. Two other possible ritual concealments—a shoe and a brass locket—ere also found within the structure. This article addresses facets of Christian and folk religious beliefs and practices of an African American family living in a predominantly European American neighborhood in the late 19th century.

A Cookbook of Her Own

A Cookbook of Her Own

The Craft of Industrial Patternmaking

Historians, critics, and artists have recently challenged the popular perception that things made in industrial factories and things made by hand exist at opposite ends of the craft spectrum. This article locates the source of that misconception in the mid-nineteenth century, and offers the field of industrial patternmaking as a provocative example. Using period manuals, trade magazines, and the rich collection and archive of an early twentiethcentury industrial pattern shop, this article considers the relationships of patternmakers to their craft, their products, and their co-workers to suggest more continuity with craft traditions than might be expected. Serving as a touchstone figure is Charles Rohlfs, the well-known maker of “Artistic Furniture,” who could only create his new identity as a creative individual artisan in the model of the Arts and Crafts movement by denying his earlier career as an industrial patternmaker and cast-iron stove designer.

Emission factors from residential combustion appliances burning Portuguese biomass fuels

Smoke from residential wood burning has been identified as a major contributor to air pollution, motivating detailed emission measurements under controlled conditions. A series of experiments were performed to compare the emission levels from two types of wood-stoves to those of fireplaces. Eight types of biomass were burned in the laboratory: wood from seven species of trees grown in the Portuguese forest (Pinus pinaster, Eucalyptus globulus, Quercus suber, Acacia longifolia, Quercus faginea, Olea europaea and Quercus ilex rotundifolia) and briquettes produced from forest biomass waste. Average emission factors were in the ranges 27.5-99.2 g CO kg(-1), 552-1660 g CO(2) kg(-1), 0.66-1.34 g NO kg(-1), and 0.82-4.94 g hydrocarbons kg(-1) of biomass burned (dry basis). Average particle emission factors varied between 1.12 and 20.06 g kg(-1) biomass burned (dry basis), with higher burn rates producing significantly less particle mass per kg wood burned than the low burn rates. Particle mass emission factors from wood-stoves were lower than those from the fireplace. The average emission factors for organic and elemental carbon were in the intervals 0.24-10.1 and 0.18-0.68 g kg(-1) biomass burned (dry basis), respectively. The elemental carbon content of particles emitted from the energy-efficient "chimney type" logwood stove was substantially higher than in the conventional cast iron stove and fireplace, whereas the opposite was observed for the organic carbon fraction. Pinus pinaster, the only softwood species among all, was the biofuel with the lowest emissions of particles, CO, NO and hydrocarbons.

Conquering winter: US consumers and the cast-iron stove

The history of the revolution in heating and cooking technology in the United States in the first half of the 19th century is explored along with the resulting transformation of the American indoor wintertime climate. It is argued, contra William Meyer (2000, 2002), that the reasons for this massive behavioural change are traceable to an underlying demand for greater comfort, and to the complex market forces involved in the development of the technology to satisfy it and an industry to create and sell the resulting appliances, rather than simply to the increase in the price of the prevailing fuel: firewood. An attempt is made to extract ‘lessons’ from this history – plausible parallels with later transformations in the technology of comfort. L'auteur analyse la révolution qui a marqué les technologies du chauffage et de la cuisson aux États-Unis au cours de la première moitié du XIXe siècle ainsi que les transformations de climat hivernal intérieur américain. L'auteur prétend, contrairement à ce que dit William Meyer (2000, 2002), que les raisons de ce changement de comportement important se trouvent dans la demande sous-jacente pour un plus grand confort et dans les forces commerciales complexes en jeu dans le développement de la technologie pour répondre à cette demande et dans l'industrie pour créer et vendre les appareils nécessaires plutôt que de simplement augmenter le prix du combustible dominant: le bois. L'auteur essaye de dégager des leçons de cette histoire et de la mettre en parallèle avec l'évolution ultérieure de la technologie du confort. confort, cuisson, chauffage, qualité de l'environnement intérieur, innovation, four, chaîne logistique, diffusion de la technologie, États-Unis.

Cast with Style: Nineteenth-Century Cast-Iron Stoves

Cast With Style: Nineteenth-Century Cast-Iron Stoves During the nineteenth century Albany and Troy, New York manufacturers were considered to be among the largest producers of cast-iron stoves in the world. Stoves made in these two upstate New York cities were renowned for their fine-quality castings and innovations in technology and design. The strategic location of Albany and Troy, located nine miles apart on opposite banks of the Hudson River, afforded easy and inexpensive transportation of raw materials to the foundries, and finished stoves to worldwide markets. Cast-iron stove making reached its highest artistic achievement and technological advancements between 1840 and 1870. Flask casting and the advent of the cupola furnace permitted more elaborate designs and finer-quality castings. Stove designers borrowed freely from architectural and cabinet-makers design books, a process that resulted in the use of Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Rococo revival motifs; patriotic symbols, and lavish floral designs, all reflecting current taste and sentiment Stove types produced included Franklin, box, dumb, base-burner, parlor, cook stoves and ranges and parlor cook stoves. However, the stoves that attracted the most attention and helped to secure the reputation of Albany and Troy, as innovators in technological and decorative designs were the column parlor stoves produced during the 1830s and 1840s. These stoves were a focal point for a Victorian parlor because the overall designs incorporated current tastes in architecture, furniture and other decorative arts. The decline of the stove industry in Albany and Troy began slowly after the Civil War, when companies went back into full production and glutted the market. Also, new deposits of iron ore were discovered in the Great Lakes region, and entrepreneurs were quick to see the potential of large western markets and began building foundries in Chicago and Detroit. As the century closed, the demands for iron were shifting toward steel.

From Fireplace to Cookstove: Technology and the Domestic Ideal in America

An examination of the development of the first American appliance - the cast iron stove. The stove created a quiet but culturally contested transform of domestic life and sparked important debates about women, industrialization, the definition of social class and the consumer economy.

"Let's Make Detroit a Union Town": The History of Labor and the Working Class in the Motor City

For most of the twentieth century Detroit was considered one of America's premier labor towns, if not the labor movement's capital city. Historic strikes were staged in the Motor City, landmark contracts were negotiated with metropolitan employers, and Detroit-based labor leaders rose to national prominence. Organized labor has made a considerable impact on the economic, political, and social structures of the city, as well as state and federal politics. Indeed, the labor movement's triumphs and failures are woven into the fabric of daily life in modern Detroit. In 2001 there are still more than 350,000 union members in metropolitan Detroit. Simply stated, the labor movement has had a tremendous effect on the development of modem Detroit. Beyond the institutions of organized labor, Detroit has been a haven for the working class since its founding in 1701. During its first one hundred years, the village on the narrows of the Detroit River was home to farmers, trappers, fur traders, voyageurs, and soldiers. Detroit began the nineteenth century as a frontier outpost and finished it as one of America's industrial powerhouses. By 1890 it was a city with a diverse economy, famous for producing cast-iron stoves, railroad cars, cigars, ships, and pharmaceuticals? industries that employed thousands of men and women. During the next twenty-five years Detroit transformed itself into the automobile capital of the world, the undisputed Motor City, a city with hundreds of thousands of automotive jobs, both skilled and unskilled Moreover, millions of working class immigrants from around the wodd and migrants from within the United States have made Detroit their destination, a place where ambitious, hardworking people could find work and pursue the American dream. Organized labor has existed in Detroit since the formation of craft unions for typographers and cordwainers in the 1830s, but until the Great Depression of the 1930s the city's labor movement had low membership and limited strength. Until then, Detroit was considered an open-shop town. By 1935 the dismal economic situation, mass unemployment, and increasing worker unrest became catalysts for federal

On Seeing Part of a Cast Iron Stove, Rusting Behind a Shed

On Seeing Part of a Cast Iron Stove, Rusting Behind a Shed

Stoics

STOICS / William Blythe IN SEPTEMBER OF 1964, when my younger sister Sarah and I were already on the way to learning stoicism in the face of the unexpected, we were taken like the orphans we had become to Hoover Hansen's farm in the tobacco country outside of Danville, Virginia. The summer haze had been blown away by early winds from Canada, and the air was as distilled as bottled water. Sounds traveled easily in such air, and often that fall at first light, we heard hunters' shots from as far as Pleasant Grove Presbyterian, two miles away. For Hansen, as we learned, the church might as well have stood in China. He preferred to celebrate his Sundays by drinking gin and gazing at birds (which God had made better than preachers, he said) through his binoculars. Had my parents been given a choice, they probably wouldn't have chosen Hansen's as the place for Sarah and me to endure our first fall without them. His was the kind of backwater farm that my father, a Southern farmboy himself, had become a diplomat to escape. And I would have to do without proper schooling—Hansen would tutor me. But, since our nearest relative, Uncle Randall, was a pilot in the Navy, and the foster homes closer to Washington were booked full of the homeless and delinquent, the State of Virginia sent us south to Hansen's until something more suitable could be found. Mrs. Davenport, the social worker assigned to our case, drove us to the farm on a Sunday afternoon after we had gone to Catholic mass with her family. When everyone else went up to the front of the church for the bread and wine, we were allowed to stay behind in the pew with the Davenports' youngest boy, who was scribbling vigorously across the pages of a Walt Disney coloring book. Mrs. Davenport was a chubby lady with closely-cropped grey hair and a sheepish manner; she kept stopping to buy Coca-colas on the way down. "I'd offer you children one," she said, "but they're really not very good for you." We had been staying with her family since our parents' accident, and were happy to be leaving, since her children ignored us, and we weren't allowed to play with their toys. The farther south we went that day, the fewer cars we saw; the highway narrowed until it seemed no more than a crumbling blue path twisting through the woods and tobacco fields. Sarah fidgeted in the front seat, belted in next to Mrs. Davenport. I had the whole back seat from which to look out the windows (gummy with childrens' prints) and dream that we The Missouri Review · 33 were going back into a time before even our parents had been born. When we arrived late that afternoon, Hansen met us at the car and disappeared into the house with our bags. He was a balding, grey-haired man who wore khaki pants and a torn woolen sweater caked with dirt. Straw clung to his boots and the back of his sweater, and he seemed sleepy, almost as if he had been napping in the woods. We stood by the car facing the large white house with the red-tinned roof for almost ten minutes before Mrs. Davenport decided that Hansen wasn't coming back out and that we had probably best follow. "Oh isn't this a nice house," she said, lugging our paper bags of toys onto the porch. "Mr. Hansen?" she called. "In here," came the reply from an adjoining room. "Well," said Mrs. Davenport, sighing and squeezing our hands. "Perhaps you should go on in. And there's nothing to worry about. Absolutely nothing. I'm convinced of that." She kissed us on our cheeks and waddled down the steps, letting the screen door slam behind her. We found Hansen in the kitchen. The room was warm and smelled of smoked meats. From the ceiling hung an array of skillets and pots, hams and sausages and long strings of chile peppers. Hansen was leaning over a cast-iron stove, cooking supper: scrambled eggs with chile peppers...

COMPARATIVE CRAZING AND CHIPPING OF WET AND DRY PROCESS CAST IRON ENAMELS1

ABSTRACTHeat shock tests are run on commercial samples of cast iron stove parts enameled by both the wet and dry process. These enamels applied by the wet process are much more resistant to temperature change than those enamels applied by the dry process.

Cast Iron Stoves of the Pennsylvania Germans

Cast Iron Stoves of the Pennsylvania Germans