Who Was Alice H. Parker? Known For Revolutionary Central Heating System

While fireplaces were the norm for keeping homes warm in the early 1900s, Alice H. Parker, an African American inventor revolutionised the heating system with an invention. Parker's revolutionary design that laid the groundwork for the central heating systems is something we rely on today. But did she get the recognition she deserved at a time when women in the field of STEM and inventions were hardly even allowed? Let us know more about the pioneering inventor. 

Who Was Alice H. Parker? The Inventor Of Gas Heater

Born in 1895 in Morristown, New Jersey, United States., Parker is an inventor widely recognised and known for heating gas furnaces. Ditching the age-old fire funnels for heating, Parker designed an indoor heating system using natural gas she named "heating furnaces." Her groundbreaking invention is used even 100 years later in modern-day heating systems. 

Parker graduated from a historically African-American university Howard University Academy, known for admitting both male and female students since 1866, shortly after the Civil War, the time it was established when education, especially for women, was a rare opportunity. Parker graduated in the early 1900s with honours, a remarkable feat for women from minorities in those days in America. 

In 1919, Parker received a patent for her "heating furnaces" a brilliant idea using natural gases, a concept that was radical and unimaginable for its time and revolutionised the indoor heating system with the centralised heating system used even today. Her system drew in cool air, which was then heated through a furnace and distributed via ducts to individual rooms. 

While Parker's specific design wasn't commercially produced, the core concept was groundbreaking. It addressed the limitations of fireplaces – inefficiency, mess, and fire hazards – while offering the promise of consistent and controllable warmth throughout a house. This paved the way for the development of forced-air central heating systems, now ubiquitous in modern homes.

Despite the immense impact of her invention, Parker's story remained largely unknown for ages as there is no or less data on her education and early life while her death is recorded as 1920 due to heat stroke or fire. 

However, in recent years, there's been a surge in recognising her contributions as the National Society of Black Physicists rightly hailed her invention as a "revolutionary idea" while the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce cemented her legacy by establishing the Alice H. Parker Women Leaders in Innovation Awards to celebrate, recognise, and encourage women like Parker in modern times to demonstrate exceptional talent and ingenuity in driving positive change.

Parker is truly a hidden figure and a visionary who shaped our everyday lives. We honour her pioneering legacy as we amplify the women inventors and their feats in history.