I made my weekly chiropractor visit then headed to Wilmington to visit the Farm Service Agency. I decided to run the old red Dakota a bit longer so I plunked down $54.50 for one more license plate sticker. LuAnn was expecting a package delivery at between noon and one so I mosied on home and filled the woodstove before it went out. I only get a few hours on a fillup but it's heating a very large space. This of course got me thinking about the invention of the wood stove.
"Benjamin Franklin changed the method with which we heat our homes when he invention of the Franklin stove. The stove was made from cast iron with two swings out doors to resemble the open fireplace. The characteristic of cast iron allows the cast iron to heat up fairly rapidly then radiate the heat into the room much more efficient than the open fireplace. When comparing cast iron to the masonry material used to build the open fireplace, the masonry material usually was located out side the home, and the bricks and stones required a longer period of time to heat up then a lot of the heat was then radiated out to the atmosphere, second with an open fireplace there is no way to control the air, consequently the room air and the fireplace heat was allowed to rush up the chimney, where as the Franklin wood stove had doors with controllable vent that restricted the excess air from escaping up the chimney. Doing a much superior job of heating the home. This stove was the first major improvement of our home heating heat source. Now the fire's combustion air was more controllable producing a more efficient wood stove.
The next generation of Wood Stoves and Wood Inserts became popular as many homes had open fireplaces that were very attractive but very inefficient. These Wood Stoves and Inserts had a fairly good controllable airflow, usually with some sort of restrictive baffling system, allowing approximately 30% efficiency from the wood fuel. For many years these stoves heated the homes and were considered to be a wonderful heat source. Today, these types of stoves are illegal to sell in most states, due to the high particle emissions emitted from the exhaust chimney. As our population has increase, it has become necessary to reduce the particles being emitted from the stoves in the form of smoke. Studies have confirmed that the particles from the stove smoke are not only a nuisance, but also cancerous as the particles will lodge in the lungs of people. "
I still use the Vermont Defiant stove I bought back in 1976 or 77, can't remember now. It was a great idea to heat our house and start clearing fence rows on the farm. We had our worst winters ever after I started burning wood.
I got back home and worked in the shop awhile before lunch. I no more than started lunch when Sable starting going off so I figured the package was here. Here I was eating, trying to get to the door and the phone rings. It's Becky, I thought of all times to call. She wishes me happy birthday and I try to be nice but move on and she said your delivery is here. What? How would you know that, you are in Cleveland. Open the door for your package! I have been trying to, thank you!
I finally get out the door with Sable going nuts as usual and it's her! And all the kids! I had no idea they were coming, they really surprised me. What a wonderful birthday I had for 3 hours. We played, talked and played and watched Rudolph on our DVR. I got to hold Deirdre the whole time, what a wonderful, curious baby! We had cookies and milk and tons of fun.
Finn came out with a big blue Nike shaped mark on his forhead. I asked where did you get that? Marker he said, marker. After I came back to this computer I saw the same big blue marker in a streak in a Z like Zoro had been here. It was a permanent marker! I had so much dust on my screen it came right off.
Now Maddy is here for tutoring with Savannah and I am finally getting dinner on and getting back to this blog I started this morning.
What a wonderful birthday present, they caught me completely off guard!
Ed
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