History of Chimney Sweeps
The Past:
The trade actually began in the late medieval period in Europe. Cities burnt down about every twenty-five years. At first children were employed as the "sweeps". These were mostly orphans who were under the control of the "master" sweep who gave them a meager shelter, food and often beatings as compensation for their labor. He was essentially similar to a pimp. The undertakers gave him their cast off coats and tails and the master could look like a "gentleman". This is where the traditional top hat and tails for a sweep came from.
The children would be injured in falls, suffocate, or suffer lung problems from the dangerous and dirty work. This earned them a toss out on to the street. Eventually the government stopped this particular exploitation of children.
The children were the first documented victims of job related illness at the beginning of the industrial age.
Free chimney cleaning:
Early on chimneys were swept for FREE! A chimney sweep made money by selling the soot as a soil amendment to farmers and gardeners. This lasted until the late 1800s and the advent of chemical fertilizers. Enterprising sweeps had special boxes to compress the soot into bricks for sale. Some also had special ways to short the customer.
After children, geese were employed as implements of chimney cleaning. An old chimney sweep phrase is, "The blacker the goose the cleaner the flue". The sweep would tie the legs together and toss it down the chimney. The flapping wings would knock some soot down. Of course the work wasn't any better for the birds than it had been for children. The governments stepped in again and stopped the abuse of geese. Now they let me do it. I don't know if that's a good thing or not.
We have seen a chicken thrown down a flue in the Republic of Georgia - some habits never die!
For more History on "The Luck of Chimney Sweeps" & Trivia click here.
For a Classic Children's Story on "The Shepherdess & The Chimney Sweep" click here.
Chimney sweeps have long been considered a source of good luck. It was considered good luck to touch a chimney sweep particularly early in the morning. Chimney sweeps were (and still are) employed to stand at weddings to kiss the bride and extend good fortune around the new hearth and home.
In many parts of Europe chimney cleaning is mandatory and well regulated. Sweeps there are well trained. Chimney sweeps in the U.S. are unregulated. Although there is an abundance of educational opportunity through the sweep guilds and trade organizations relatively few chimney sweeps take advantage of it.
The Present:
There is a National Chimney Sweep Guild and related state associations. The Chimney Safety Institute of America provides education seminars and certification testing. Sweeps are on the various code creating bodies as consultants. Among sweeps active over the years in these organizations the technical expertise tends to be well above average. Cancer from soot inhalation is on the wane. Yahoo!
By the early '80's new testing procedures and codes for wood heat safety were being developed and a more technical language began to be employed when speaking of flues. Sweeps were finding damage in chimneys, drafting problems as houses were tightened up, and were on the front lines regarding wood stove design and chimney systems. 80% of structural fires related to solid fuel burning were from improper installations. The "new" wood stoves called "airtight" proved to be major creosote distilleries. Pollution from all the new wood burners became an issue. This was ironic since many of the people involved in the industry tended toward the environmentalist side of things. In 1986 Oregon came out with the first emission regulations followed by the E.P.A. in 1987. Also in 1987 high temperature chimney (2000 degree F) became required for stoves.
The emission laws changed the face of the wood burning industry. Faced with cleaning up the air (which we were in favor of) or going out of business the manufacturers began the first radical stove redesign work since Ben Franklin. By 1992 the number of manufacturers in the U.S. had dropped from over four hundred to around thirty. These were the survivors of the expensive research and development required to meet the new regulations.
The outcome of this "governmental interference" actually turned out for the good of all. The new products give more heat for less wood. Emissions in the real world dropped from an average of forty eight grams per hour of PM10 particles, (the size particulate you breathe in but not out), to under six. Pellet stoves were developed for clean burning and convenience and high efficiency gas appliances began to rival wood stoves in heat output and asthetics.
The modern sweep must be a specialized, trained, technician able to service, troubleshoot, and repair today's highly refined appliances. No more being a silly goose.
