FAMOUS CANADIANS:
HENRY RUTTAN
• Henry Ruttan was born on June 12, 1792, in Adolphustown, Ontario. As a young boy, he went out with his brother one day to tap maple trees for sap in order to make maple syrup. Unfortunately, there was an accident with the axe and Henry lost several fingers on one hand. His father reasoned that he would never be able to handle a job that involved manual labor. Because of this, he sent Henry to school. • Henry’s education lasted until he was 14 years old. At that time he left to become a store clerk in Kingston. He worked his way up from apprentice to partner and eventually ran his own store in Grafton. • His career was long, varied, and distinguished. He served in the military beginning with the War of 1812, reaching the rank of colonel. In 1820, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada for Northumberland. He served until 1824 and was reelected in 1836. He served as speaker of the house from December 1837 to January 1838. In 1827, he was named sheriff for the Newcastle District. But he’s known best for his innovations in heating and cooling methods for homes and railroad cars. • The conservation of fuel and the proper ventilation of houses were impossible to achieve with the inefficient fireplaces and stoves then in use. Ruttan began to design air heaters and ventilating equipment using methods that involved drawing outside air through a duct. The air then flowed through a heater and circulated by convection throughout the various rooms in the household. Finally, it flowed through another duct and exited the building.
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• In that day and age, Henry’s system of heating and cooling homes was a revolutionary system. He was granted seven patents on the process between 1846 and 1858. • Henry then turned his attention to devising a system for the heating and ventilation of railway coaches which were notoriously hot and stuffy. • His methods were similar to what he designed for homes: outside air was forced into the rail cars through ducts, with the motion of the train drawing the air in. The air passed through a water tank located underneath the floor of the rail car. Pipes led the air on a serpentine path through the water where it was cleaned, humidified, and cooled. This clean cool air was then directed to another set of pipes to be sent to the rail cars, where it was discharged just above the passengers’ heads. In the winter, the system was modified so that the air was heated before entering the rail cars. Ruttan’s system, probably the first to provide an air-conditioned vehicle, was used by several railways in Canada and the United States. By 1886, over 300 rail cars had been outfitted with his system. • In 1861 he published a book with the lengthy title, “Ventilation and warming of buildings: illustrated by fifty-four plates, exemplifying the exhaustion principle; to which is added a complete description and illustration of the ventilation of railway carriages, for both winter and summer.” • In 1816 Ruttan married Mary Jones. They had nine children of whom his son Henry Jones continued his father’s interests in ventilation and heating. When Henry was 68, he was thrown from a carriage and suffered injuries from which he never fully recovered. He died Cobourg in 1871 at the age of 80.
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