One hundred and fifty years old and there is still some debate as to who actually invented the radiator. On the other side of the pond the American William Baldwin probably gets the credit, where as the Italian Born German Franz San Galli who built the first cast iron radiators in Russia around 1855 then patented the design in Germany, is seen as the inventor in Europe.
If the question of its origin is still open – its growth is not… In the early Twentieth Century, with the aid of mass production, it would provide central heating for American homes and certain well to do homes in this country. But the technology took considerably longer to filter down to the average home over here, nonetheless it was used extensively in civic and commercial buildings around the UK.
With the advent of affordable gas boilers in the 1970s, radiator sales grew steadily in the UK; becoming a basic requirement for most homes by the early 1980s. The UK’s the last comprehensive survey stated that only 7% of this countries homes have no central heating.
Of course, there have been vast improvements in the use of material’s and production along the way; with designer’s constantly trying to find a new perspective. Most people buying radiators today would also have access to a huge range of finishe’s and colours, a company like ours has constant request’s for new colours; quite often with very curious names. Enormous amounts of radiators are available today and with endless variants, valves and vents.
And yet even today, it’s still essentially the same piece of Victorian technology, with it’s basic principles pretty much unchanged and doing the same old job. Perhaps you could point out that most look very different from those knocked by William and Franz. However when anyone walks into our showroom, whether they are interested vertical designer radiator or a double panel, single convector; they are generally drawn at some point to the ‘cast iron’ radiators…
So William and/or Franz did something right, perhaps we should seek adjudication from Harry Hill.
