I've built many stone and brick Rumford fireplaces. They give off a lot more heat than most other masonry fireplace designs. Rumford’s genius was his intuitive understanding of fluid dynamics. By rounding the breast to “remove those local hindrances which forcibly prevent the smoke from following its natural tendency to go up the chimney…” and narrowing the channel to the throat, he essentially created a venturi, a nozzle, like an inverted carburetor, that shot the smoke and air much better up the chimney.
A Venturi, named after an Italian inventor, is a system for speeding flow of the fluid, by constricting it in a cone shape tube. In the restriction the fluid must increase its velocity reducing its pressure and producing a partial vacuum. As the fluid leave the constriction, its pressure increase back to the ambient or pipe level.
‘Ventura’ California where this year’s Stone Foundation Stone Symposium took place. This is the third time the symposium has been held in Ventura and like the others it was great smokin’ success.
Lectures, demonstrations, games, competitions, great food, plenty of ‘fluids’ and a impressive flow of stone aficionados. Well done. Tomas, Mimi and Paul & Laurie , Dougy B and all the stone tribe.
