According to archeologists, fire has played an important role in mankind’s lives for nearly a million and a half years, going back beyond the Neanderthals to the time of “Homo erectus” in Africa. For many years, people believed that fire probably originated in the colder parts of Europe. The need for heat and warmth there supported this theory. However, in 1981, a group exploring a region in Kenya found “burnt clay” mixed in with bones and tools. These scientists saw this discovery as strong evidence for the earliest controlled use of fire by man. The find dates back 1.4 million years.
While the origins of man probably occurred in Africa, mankind also most likely moved from there to colder regions, such as Europe, northern Asia and North America. There is scientific evidence that the climate was most likely milder then than it is now. Perhaps there was not as much need for warmth when humans were moving around then. On the other hand, the need for warmth and fire came as the climate cooled. Before man learned to make a fire, they probably collected it from a volcano or a forest fire. Then someone learned to make a fire by friction as when rubbing sticks together or generating sparks by striking two stones together. Much later on someone invented the match, which freed people from fire tending and keeping the home fires burning. In Ireland, accounts tell of home fires that families kept burning for literally hundreds of years!
Today, a stove refers to a special container for fire. The stove warms the room. In earlier times, the stove meant the heated room itself. The vast greenhouse at Kew Gardens in England used to be called the Great Stove. Early open-hearth dwellings were stoves in this old sense of the word. In these dwellings, the fire burned on the open floor. The dwelling was the container! The Native American tipi and the so-called black houses of the Hebrides (islands off the west coast of Scotland) are examples of this kind of stove. The tipi actually functioned quite well with its hole in the top. Occupants could raise flaps to clear out the smoke. The black houses were dark and sooty inside as the name indicates.
The black stove was often very efficient. It retained up to 90 percent of the heat. However, builders eventually added a chimney to the concept. This drastically reduced the efficiency to as low as 10 percent retained heat. Other changes came to the stoves and fireplaces as they eventually evolved. One change was a raised hearth, which eliminated the need for crouching. In some locations, builders added dampers in an effort to retain more heat.
The Shoshone around their tipi, circa 1890. From Wikipedia Free Online Encyclopedia.
Several hundred years ago, an event occurred in Europe that began to affect heat design. It is now called the Little Ice Age. It was a period of extreme cold in Europe lasting between 1550 and 1850. In the beginning, in 1550, all of Europe used open braziers or simple ovens for heating. These stoves had low efficiency.
A wood supply shortage coupled with the innovation of chimney capable of removing 90 per cent of the heat supply drove innovation in heat design. By the end of the period in about 1850, many excellent designs had appeared. Designers began to experiment with heat channels, which acted as heat exchangers over a longer course than the simple chimney. Some excellent designs remain in modern versions. <– Kachelofen, c.1775, Schloss Hohenaschau, Upper Bavaria. From Wikipedia Free Online Encyclopedia. The elegant design at left is a tile heater. You would find it and similar designs in homes of the wealthy.
We still need to add another piece of the puzzle: the masonry part. We are not sure exactly how or when it happened, but we do know the technology is at least as old as the Roman bath. The Romans used this technology to run channels of heat below the baths. This heated the sealed tiles above. In turn, the tiles heated the water in the baths. The technology was not only old but also widespread as the Roman Empire itself expanded. Eventually, people began to use this technology in northern Europe and England. They probably used it as a simple stove or oven, or a combination of the two. At right: Typical Russian oven in a peasant izba.“A Russian oven or Russian stove Russian: Русская печь) is a unique type of oven/furnace that first appeared in the 15th century. People use it both for cooking and domestic heating. The Russian oven burns firewood or wood manufacturing waste. –From Wikipedia Free Online Encyclopedia.
Do not let the term ”Russian” confuse you. People used this type of stove and oven throughout Europe in humble homes. They also used similarly constructed stoves, either in combination or separately. It is probably made of clay tiles and bricks. Plaster covers these materials. They are quite efficient in colder regions because the thermal mass of the heater radiates heat even after the fire is out. The heater has a series of channels inside it. These channels allow the whole heater to warm up.
The Wikipedia Free Online Encyclopedia gives the following uses of the heater: “Besides its use for domestic heating, in winter, people may sleep on top of the oven to keep warm. People also use the oven for cooking, for example, to bake pancakes or pies. The porridge or the pancakes prepared in such an oven may differ in taste from the same meal prepared on a modern stove or range. The process of cooking in the Russian oven can be called “languor” – holding dishes for a long period of time at a steady temperature.
Foods that are believed to acquire a distinctive character from being prepared in a Russian oven include baked milk, pearl barley, mushrooms cooked in sour cream, or even a simple potato. Bread is put in and taken out from the oven using a special wooden paddle on a long shank. Cast iron pots with soup or milk are taken out with a two-pronged metal stick.
In addition to warming and cooking, the Russian oven can be used for washing. A grown man can easily fit inside, and during the Great Patriotic War some people escaped the Nazis by hiding in ovens. In Ancient Rus, the oven was used to cure winter diseases by warming the invalid’s body inside it.”
Because clay is subject to stress from heat, it has its disadvantages. When overheated, the heat stress can cause it to crack. When the system has no damper, it doesn’t present problems. The fumes exit through the chimney via the system of channels. However, if you damp the system, the leaks can be toxic or fatal. The fumes can find their way into living quarters.
Options to clay construction are fire brick and stone. Fire bricks are not as dense as most stones, which lessens their heat storage capacity. People have used various stones in masonry heaters. Soapstone stands out among them. It combines its ability to withstand the stress of high heat with the ability to store the most heat. Soapstone is the most recent innovation in the long history of masonry heaters. It is history in the making!
If you would care to, we suggest reading The Book of Masonry Stoves: Rediscovering an Old Way of Warming by David Lyle, Chelsea Green Publishing Company, White River Junction, Vermont 05001. 1984.