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Dead Men Tales: The Great Experimenter
HeatingHelp
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The Great Experimenter
John Mills was one of the great-granddaddies of heating. He worked with the H.B. Smith Company as a freelance inventor and engineer from 1873 until 1897. In this episode, Dan Holohan shares why you may think of John Mills the next time you’re doing a heat-loss calculation or looking at an old steam heating system.
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Comments
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I toured the old Smith foundry back in 71' when I was in school. It was like the 1860s in their, certainly OSHA grandfathered LOL.
I only live 10 miles from their. When I started every building and all the local schools seemed to have a Smith boiler. It was like no other CI boiler existed. They had most all the local boiler business in this area.
I only saw 1 "Mills System" (that I know of) and it's still in service in Holyoke, although in my early years I wouldn't have known what one was.
The Mills boilers were pretty rugged and had good efficiency even by today's standards but were somewhat high maintenance. The asbestos/insulating cement between the sections had to be maintained and the mud drums flushed and cleaned (which no one did). I re-nippled plenty of those mud drums, a dirty nasty job.
They were good steamers and had a factory installed header which was part of the boiler which I was told by Smith that the header had a baffle in it which I never knew.
The good old days2 -
J.R. Reed obviously valued John Mills; buying power of $5,000 in 1906 is equal to approximately $150,000 in 2021. Not a fortune but certainly a nice "thank you for all you have done".0
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Dan, I appreciate the history lessons you give to all of us. We are indeed standing on the shoulders of those who have come before us and I marvel and am grateful at what they have left us to see and use every day. I am also grateful you have kept these stories alive for us all.0
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12 inch screwed pipe, I’m guessing that made remodeling easier! 😂 LOL0
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More info about John Mills: http://www.hevac-heritage.org/built_environment/biographies/surnames_M-R/mills/M1-MILLS.pdf.1
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Ashleigh thank you for the link. I read it all. I was astounded at the detail and application illustrated in that publication.0
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Thanks to all of you!Retired and loving it.0
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