2020 RETA Breeze Jan-Feb

The Refrigeration Historian Volume XXVIII

WHAT IS HEAT? It seems such a simple concept today. The first chapter of any treatise on Refrigeration clearly defines heat. What about the bygone days before heat? Or more correctly, should I say before heat was defined. Heat, much as any of the concepts we hold dear, has no origin, only a time of definition. The first sunrise was witnessed before definition. Sir Isaac Newton defined gravity, but hardly discovered it. Prior to Isaac, people didn’t float off into the heavens. Much is the story of heat. Robert Mayer may be credited as the discoverer of the mechanical equivalent of heat. Joule certainly drew conclusions as to the relation of heat and motion. The “American Knight”, Benjamin Thompson, also known as Count Rumford may be rightly credited with determining the mechanical equivalency of heat. Benjamin was born in 1752 in the town of Woburn Massachusetts. A small town north west of Boston, now a full fledge metropolitan suburb of the same. He received a humble education and became an apprentice to a merchant at age 12. He self-studied in the fields of engineering and chemistry and he would ultimately try his hand as a teacher. In 1767, Benjamin would take over as Headmaster in the village of Rumford, New Hampshire. By 1772, he had wooed a local widow of some means and they married. Their union would produce a daughter before her death. At the outbreak of the American Revolution, Benjamin requested a commission. Ultimately it was denied. Allegations of Toryism were made, most probably true.

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Benjamin would ultimately migrate to England where he worked for the English government where his service to the crown earned him a knighthood. In 1784, he would migrate to Munich. Which was then part of Bavaria. He would take the position of Chamberlain to the Prince of Bavaria. Benjamin would lead major reforms in Bavaria. His skills lent themselves to military tactics which he found to be overly complicated. These tactics were then simplified. Benjamin would also modify the Bavarian soldier. Strict military code would bring about a more disciplined military. A school for soldier’s children was established. The school concentrated on the industrial sciences. He worked to improve the conditions of the working class though education and housing initiatives which is something that would remain a passion for the rest of his years. These deeds would earn him the title of Count from the Holy Roman Empire, thus becoming the Count of Rumford. But his greatest accomplishment to the thermodynamic world would come from his work in arms manufacture. While in Bavaria, he worked with the development and production or armaments, including heavy artillery. His discovery would come while boring brass cannon.

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/ The Refrigeration Historian

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