Webinar: The Franklin Stove - The Drivers of Stove Innovation in the 1700s

HeatingHelp.com

Join our friends at the Alliance for Green Heat for a webinar on The Franklin Stove: The Drivers of Stove Innovation in the 1700s.

Date & Time: May 15, 2025 at 12:00 - 1:30 PM EDT

Benjamin Franklin is often considered the grandfather of US wood stove innovation in the United States. After nearly 300 years, stoves carrying his name are still commonplace on the second hard market. Yet his innovation remains controversial, and scholars still debate how Franklin influenced home heating in the US and Europe. The issues he spent much of his lifetime working on – wood stove efficiency and smoke leakage – are still as relevant as ever.

Ironically, Franklin’s most famous design was an improved fireplace, not a stove. The front of the fireplace remained open, assuring that smoke leakage and low efficiency would persist. Yet, fully enclosed, six-sided steel stoves and efficient masonry stoves already existed and were known to Franklin.

In this webinar, three scholars will discuss their research and theories about what Franklin really achieved and why it took so long for Americans to abandon their fireplaces and adopt enclosed wood stoves.

Register here.