Flue-gas Stack - History

History

The first industrial chimneys were built in the mid-17th century when it was first understood how they could improve the combustion of a furnace by increasing the draft of air into the combustion zone. As such, they played an important part in the development of reverberatory furnaces and a coal-based metallurgical industry, one of the key sectors of the early Industrial Revolution. Most 18th-century industrial chimneys (now commonly referred to as flue gas stacks) were built into the walls of the furnace much like a domestic chimney. The first free-standing industrial chimneys were probably those erected at the end of the long condensing flues associated with smelting lead.

The powerful association between industrial chimneys and the characteristic smoke-filled landscapes of the industrial revolution was due to the universal application of the steam engine for most manufacturing processes. The chimney is part of a steam-generating boiler, and its evolution is closely linked to increases in the power of the steam engine. The chimneys of Thomas Newcomen’s steam engine were incorporated into the walls of the engine house. The taller, free-standing industrial chimneys that appeared in the early 19th century were related to the changes in boiler design associated with James Watt’s "double-powered" engines, and they continued to grow in stature throughout the Victorian period. Decorative embellishments are a feature of many industrial chimneys from the 1860s, with over-sailing caps and patterned brickwork.

The invention of fan-assisted forced draft in the early 20th century removed the industrial chimney's original function, that of drawing air into the steam-generating boilers or other furnaces. With the replacement of the steam engine as a prime mover, first by diesel engines and then by electric motors, the early industrial chimneys began to disappear from the industrial landscape. Building materials changed from stone and brick to steel and later reinforced concrete, and the height of the industrial chimney was determined by the need to disperse combustion flue gases to comply with governmental air pollution control regulations.