Alice Parker

Alice Parker was born in 1895 in New Jersey. At that time, there was the idea of central heat, but it required wood or coal. Houses were heated with the heat from fireplaces or coal stoves. By morning, the house was cold, as the fire died down during the night. Someone had to get up and build the fire up for the day.

The New Jersey winters were cold. Her house was cold. Alice didn’t like the way her fireplace kept only parts of her home warm. She thought there might be a way to send warm air through pipes to other rooms in her house.