“Surprisingly, chimney technology would not advance seriously for another 500 years until various 18th century philosophers, scientists, and tinkerers (Benjamin Franklin prominently among them) would finally hunker down, put pen to paper, and start to experiment with various forms of heating, ventilation, and flame ultimately resulting in the two modern forms of chimneys we have today – the brick chimney and the wood burning stove. So it wasn’t until a short 200 years ago (out of the 2 MILLION years of human existence) did we have effective and efficient chimneys.
My question was, “Why the hell did it take so damn long for humans to develop this basic and NECESSARY thing?“”
To build a chimney, you need either brick or stone,and a cementitious ‘glue’.
http://www.understanding-cement.com/history.html
Clay would probably work well for an oven-chimney (baking bread. But those would likely have been used outdoors.
Lets not be too hard on our ancestors; they had a lot on their minds…like staying alive.
the whoamans had radiant floor heating via “oven” style “chimney”, more than 200 yrs ago.
Yes, the Romans invented concrete thousands of years ago, but that knowledge was lost during the Dark Ages.
And if Cappy believes how wonderful it is to be an independent contractor/Entepreuner … imagine what it would be like to give it up and return to work in the hive !? Well … I did just that. I took leave of my little home business after much begging (and bribing) of a good friend of mine … and went to work for his large company. He made me an offer I could not refuse, so I jumped back into the fray. What an eye opener ! I have never felt so much a square peg in a round hole as when I went BACK to work on the treadmill. I couldn’t believe the amount of my time that was wasted in meetings, and in explaining basics to inexperienced staff. Gawwwd. All my time was wasted in bureaucratic crap. The environment was stifling. Thankfully, the economy crashed, which created a perfect opening for me to escape. It’s true when they say that …”you don’t know what you have till you lose it”. Now I know how much healthier and productive it is for me to be an independent contractor and Entepreuner. I would never ever ever go back to the big corporate rat race.
It’s easy to imagine that there were chimneys, but neither a method nor desire to spread the idea across tribal boundaries. Chimneys could have come and gone and probably did. Vanishing with the group.
In contrast, arrow heads became a world renowned thing early on and could cross tribal boundaries; you could pluck one out of your dead friend and think, “That’s a good idea!” and then make your own.
Now I wonder why man hasn’t figured out an alternative to drywall.
“Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety nine percent perspiration.” – Edison
And that’s why chimneys took so long; as you said, Cappy, who has the time?
That’s also why it’s called a “Bachelor” of Science. Back when the term was coined, one was expected to be married to the work. There’s just only so many hours in the day.
I am completely convinced that unplugging from The Matrix, quitting the Rat Race, and pulling your nose up from the grind is absolutely necessary to give you the time to survey the world around you, understand the context by which society, the economy, and businesses interact with one another, and therefore give your brain the time to identify ways to capitalize on this environment.
People who are successfully self-employed know this.
People who trade freedom to be responsible for themselves for the security of being dependant on others may not have the intellectual capacity to think for themselves. Perhaps that’s why so many ’employees’ can be easily fooled by ‘fake news’ and propaganda. They only listen to words which validate their preconceived notions.
I believe early New England used a type of chimney made of logs slathered in mud. They were built at a tilt away from the house In case of a fire the outer support logs were kicked out and the chimney would collapse away from the house, charred wood has a strenght near 50 % of new wood .
As for the rest, metal chimneys were limited by metallurgy of the day, cast iron stoves, cast iron pipes , not great seals. Watt with his steam engine was happy when he got his cast clearances within 3/8 inch . A lot of leakage
early New England used a type of chimney made of logs slathered in mud.
Early emigrants to North America brought fireplace/chimney technology with them from Europe. Stones, wood, mud and mortar were used for chimney constructions.
cappy, you just expounded on a slice of the rise of the middle class. As you asserted, time is needed to “invent” things, which in turn create more time to invent even more time saving, health saving, and “money” generating, advances.Thing is that in the end free-time could be modern societies undoing, as it allows to much time for too many idiots to think of ways to implement destructive ways to save society from it’s self.
as to self employment, I never had a problem telling a boss were to shove it. I happen to be a quick study, soooo, could find a new job in days. Butt, in the end, self employment did call, and I did answer
Mortar is not an easy construct along the east coast rife with granite .
Not really lost. Lime mortars that took about a year to set under wet warm straw were used. Romans used a posolan volcanic ash deposited all around Rome .lime mortars were burnt limestone. A great emitter of greenhouse gases .burning calcium carbonate.
The residential chimney is largely the result of the Little Ice Age (1250-1850), when traditional hearths under a hole in the roof became ineffective at keeping out the cold. My Western Civ students learn this.
I think a strange side effect of sitting around a smokie fire for a quarter million years is that smoking cigarettes should be way more difficult and unhealthy than it is.
Using only stone-age technology to build a kiln and a tiled roof hut with radiant in-floor heating:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P73REgj-3UE
And the follow-up, adding a chimney and some clay pots:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL3sho1CpkI
Lime mortar is not concrete. Note that I stated: the Romans invented concrete thousands of years ago, but that knowledge was lost during the Dark Ages.
LIMESTONE AND LIME. By G. F. LOUGHLIN.
Limestone is quarried and lime is manufactured in 43 of the 48 States
https://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/0666r/report.pdf