The Rumford roaster is an early

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

oven upA double oven A ceramic oven An oven is a tool that is used to expose materials to a hot environment. Ovens contain a hollow chamber and provide a means of heating the chamber in a controlled way. In use since antiquity, they have been use ...

, invented by Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford,https://streetsofsalem.com/2013/02/01/rumford-roasters/ around 1800. It was part of his development of the

kitchen range A kitchen stove, often called simply a stove or a cooker, is a kitchen appliance designed for the purpose of cooking food. Kitchen stoves rely on the application of direct heat for the cooking process and may also contain an oven, used for bak ...

, which gave more control of the cooking and saved fuel. He published his research in 1805. The Rumford roaster is a cylinder of cast-iron set into a brick wall. It is heated by a separate firebox below, and the ashes fall into a lower box. Coal or charcoal is burned to get the oven and bricks up to temperature, then the bricks continue to heat the oven after the fuel is burnt. Rumford's invention distributed heat evenly around the food. A system of moisture-venting tubes and blowpipes improved browning. A similar design, the Reip "Bake Oven and Roaster", was patented by Henry Reip in 1825. The Rumford roaster was often built next to a

Rumford fireplace A Rumford fireplace, sometimes known as a Rumford stove, is a tall, shallow fireplace designed by Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, an Anglo-American physicist best known for his investigations of heat. Its shallow, angled sides are designed ...

, in the wall of a kitchen. The Rumford roaster was ultimately made obsolete by improvements in cast-iron technology. This allowed the development of the closed-fire cooking range, which enabled even more control over cooking. At the

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in Chicago from May 5 to October 31, 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The ...

, 1893, a kitchen design described as the " Rumford Kitchen" was exhibited.

Examples

*Rundlet-May House, Portsmouth, New Hampshire * Lorenzo, New York * Hamilton Hall, Salem, Massachusetts

References

{{reflist Ovens

Examples

See also

References