Fickardt’s Patent Model of a Furnace – ca 1836

This model was filed with the application to the U.S. Patent Office for Patent Number 23 issued to Frederick A. Fickardt of Easton, Pennsylvania on September 8, 1836. His patent was for an improvement in furnaces for heating the upper rooms of a building. He claimed as new the use of an inner and outer chamber with insulating material on the outer chamber to reduce loss of heat into the furnace room. A gap of three to four inches was provided between the inner and outer chambers to further reduce loss of heat into the furnace room. The stove, or combustion chamber, was located within the inner chamber. Access to it for fueling and cleaning was via doors in both the inner and outer chambers. The inner chamber was open at the bottom allowing fresh air entry. The flue of the stove exited through this chamber via a sealed pipe. Heated air in the inner chamber was supplied to rooms above the furnace via a larger pipe, or duct, surrounding the flue of the stove. A sliding lid for the hot air duct was provided to stop cold or foul air entering the heated rooms from the cellar when the furnace was not in use. One of Fickardt’s claims was “Immediate heat, great heat, and economy of heat, and consequently economy of fuel, money, time, patience, and domestic comfort are the advantages which the subscriber hopes he is but reasonably led to anticipate by these improvements.” Research of available trade literature and other sources has not revealed any commercial use that may have made use of Mr. Fickardt’s invention.