History of fireplace tools
PetsMany different fireplace tools are used when it comes to building and maintaining home fireplace fires and each of these tools has a different story to tell about how they came to appear in your fireplace hearth. This story will be about the andiron, bellows, poker, and fireplace screens. Also included with fireplace tools are shovels, tongs, brushes, but it is quite difficult to determine how and when these particular tools came into use.
To begin our discussion, let’s begin with the definition of a tool. This is a device that provides a mechanical advantage to perform a physical task. Archeology has determined that man has been using various tools since the beginning of our existence. A tool can be as simple as a stick used to prod something in order to reach and move it.
Poker
With that in mind, let’s begin our exploration of the history of fireplace tools with the poker. A poker, also known as a stoker, is a short, stiff rod used to move material that burns in a fire. Today’s fireplace pokers are usually made of metal with a spike at one end to push the burning material and a handle at the other end. Archeology shows that we have used pokers as a fireplace tool since the Paleolithic period. This period is the prehistoric era marked by the development of the first stone tools. It covers the period from 2.5 or 2.6 million years ago to around 10,000 BC. C. with the introduction of agriculture. It accounts for most of human time on Earth (about 99% of human history). Archaeologists believe that fireplace pokers were invented just after the discovery of fire (790,000 years ago) and that the earliest pokers were probably made of the same material as the fuel for the fire: wood. Early on, the fireplace poker, or “fire stick”, was probably a large branch of some kind used to help keep the fire burning.
Over the centuries this fireplace tool has evolved and as other tools have been used, the fireplace poker has fallen into disuse. Until the 17th century in England, there may only have been a fire fork and andirons for the fireplace, but by the 19th century a fireplace poker was always used and the fire fork had all but disappeared.
The first successful mass production of pokers as part of a complete fireplace kit was designed and manufactured in Cape Girardeau, Missouri by RL Hendrickson Manufacturing Corporation in 1898. From that time until now, the poker is almost always considered part of the tool assembly. of chimney
“By irons…the housekeeper and ironmonger mean a fire shovel, a poker, and a pair of tongs. These implements were not all found in the old homes of this country, nor were they all necessary when burning wood. over a chimney… The use of coal, and of nearby chimneys, enabled the adoption of the poker now in universal requisition.” Robert Hunt, A Treatise on the Progressive Improvement and Present State of Metal Manufactures, 1853.
andirons
An andiron is a horizontal bar on which logs are placed for burning in an open fireplace. Andirons usually come in pairs. They support the wood so that a current of air can pass around it and allow proper combustion and less smoke. Andirons stand on short legs and are usually connected with a vertical guard.
As man began to seriously study fire and its properties, it was discovered that allowing air to circulate around the fire led to better fires. Due to this discovery, irons became more and more popular. In the 16th to 18th centuries AD they were also used as a roasting rest or to hold porridge.
Before the 14th century, andirons were almost always forged from wrought iron and were very simple. During the Italian Renaissance period (14th to 17th centuries AD), many common household objects came to the attention of artists and design and skill were used to produce andirons. The morrillo reached its greatest artistic development under Louis XIV of France (late 1600s). The guard (the vertical part of the andiron) was elaborately ornamented. The patterns consisted of heraldic symbols, sphinxes, grotesque animals, mythological creatures, and much more.
Sometimes the creature they represented referred to the andirons. An example of this that continues to this day is firedog. Andirons that represented dogs were called fire dogs. This plays on the double meaning of the word dog (canine and inanimate possessor). In some areas, firedog began to be used to refer to any firedog. In the United States, the andiron was once used only in the north and dog iron, fire dog, or simply dog was used to identify andirons in the south. The term southern is still used in that region, but andiron is now used everywhere.
“Lighting a fire, however simple, is an operation requiring some skill; a fire is easily made by placing a few ashes at the bottom in an open order; on this a few pieces of paper, and on that again eight or ten pieces of dry wood. firewood; on the wood, a row of moderately sized pieces of charcoal, being careful to leave hollow spaces between them for air to enter, and taking care to place the entire pit back on the grate, so that the smoke can rise up the chimney , and not in the room. This done, light the paper with a match from below, and, if placed correctly, it will soon burn; the stream of flame from wood and paper will soon communicate with the embers and ashes, provided there is plenty of air in the center.” Isabella Beeton, Book of Home Management, 1861.
bellows
The bellows is a mechanical device to create an air jet. It usually consists of a hinged box with flexible sides, which expands to draw air in through an opening value inwards, and contracts to expel air through a nozzle.
The bellows was widely used in medieval Europe (5th to 16th centuries). It was used to accelerate the combustion of a blacksmith and later to operate pipe organs. One of the simplest and most well-known types of bellows is the manual one used in fireplaces. The expandable camera consists of a leather bag with pleated sides. The bag is fixed between handles to expand and contract. The inlet and outlet vents are provided with values so that the air must enter through the first and leave through the second. Thus, the bellows of the chimney becomes a simple air pump.
When we think of fireplaces we usually think of these simple bellows. But bellows have played an important role in history. Metal casting was not possible until after the invention of the bellows which made the avant-garde possible. The bellows deliver additional air to the fuel and increase the rate of heat production needed for smelting. Around the year 3000 a. C., manual bellows were used for casting metals (bronze). The earliest evidence of iron smelting is around 930 BC.
Although early man did not need his heating and cooking fires to reach the temperatures necessary for smelting, they discovered that the bellows in the fireplaces made it easier to build fires. Fanning the wood with a bellows produces a hotter flame and the logs start much faster. This is especially important when working with wet logs. Also, fireplace bellows were used early on to create a draft to blow ashes out of the fireplace during cleaning.
Today, fireplace bellows are still a necessary tool in the fireplace hearth. It is also a tool that many people like to design and manufacture on their own. Many bellows are made of beautiful wood and can have very intricate designs that create an elegant item to display by the fire.
fireplace screens
Although there is no exact date for when fireplace screens came into use, we do know that they were first a form of furniture that protected people from the excess heat coming from a wood-burning fireplace. Early fireplace screens were generally in the form of flat panels set on attached feet, or as adjustable shield-shaped panels mounted on tripod table legs.
Today’s fireplace screens come in many decorative designs and are made of metal, glass, or wire mesh and are placed in front of the fireplace to protect the room from embers that may fly from the fire. They are sometimes used to cover the fireplace when not in use to make the area more decorative.
Regardless of which fireplace tool you use to help you build and maintain your fire, know that there is a long history behind each of those fireplace tools and centuries of use have gone into perfecting the tool in your hand. And remember that in modern society the fire has gone from providing necessary warmth and cooking to a symbol of warmth and love shared by all who gather in the hearth of the fireplace.