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 I’ve owned one of Stephen J. Gold’s mattress radiators since the fall of 1989. It’s on a shelf in our office now, a part of the little heating museum that we maintain for the sake of wonder and amusement. Last spring, I got a second mattress radiator when a New Hampshire friend called to tell me that one of his customers, an elderly woman, was selling her house and needed to get that old radiator out of her basement. She didn’t want to throw it away because it was old. I took a long drive and put it in the Windstar. Well worth it.Steven J. Gold of New Haven, Connecticut was the gent who gave the world the first commercially successful radiator. It was successful because it didn’t kill you. Before Mr. Gold we had James Watt, but Mr. Watt’s radiator was just a metal box. Mr. Gold’s, on the other hand, was a thing of beauty. It measures about five feet by three-and-a-half feet, and it’s less than a half-inch thick. It hangs on the wall like a modern panel radiator. There are rivets spaced evenly every two inches across its face, giving it the appearance of a mattress, hence the name. It’s the color of an old penny and it has painted wood grain to enhance its appearance, as well as red and gold lines around the edges. The supply valve is a work of art. Delicately painted in red and green and yellow and gold, it has the words, “Gold’s Patent, October 3, 1854” embroidered with raised letters across the metal. The radiator I have (the first one) came from a house in Claverack, NY that Deadmen built in 1857. Mattress radiators were still heating that house, and this was the oldest steam system I had ever seen.
Mr. Gold’s system, which was safe because it ran at such low pressure, was wonderfully simple. I’ll describe it to you and see if you don’t agree.
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Recently, a friend sent me the U.S. patent for Mr. Gold’s radiator. My friend’s been collecting old heating patents, and this one was especially good because Mr. Gold, in his own words, explains to the U.S. Government how his steam heating system (not just his mattress radiator) will work. This is one of the earliest designs for central heating and you can see if for yourself by going to the Library here at HeatingHelp.com. Look under Very Old Stuff.| Dan Holohan - [Intro] | [Email] | [Website] |
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