Editing Benjamin Thompson (section)

===Inventions and design improvements===
[[Image:Rumford fire2.jpg|thumb|left|Section of Rumford fireplace]]
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Rumford 5.jpg|thumb|Rumford's coffee percolator]] -->

Thompson was an active and prolific inventor, developing improvements for chimneys, fireplaces and industrial furnaces, as well as inventing the double boiler, a [[kitchen range]], and a [[Coffee percolator|coffee percolator roughly between 1810 and 1814]]. He invented a percolating coffee pot following his pioneering work with the Bavarian Army, where he improved the diet of the soldiers as well as their clothes.<ref name="Kleppner">{{cite journal |last1=Kleppner  |first1=Daniel |title=About Benjamin Thompson |journal=Physics Today |date=1 September 1992 |volume=45 |issue=9 |pages=9–11 |doi=10.1063/1.2809791 |bibcode=1992PhT....45i...9K |url=https://pubs.aip.org/physicstoday/article-abstract/45/9/9/407150/About-Benjamin-Thompson |access-date=9 July 2023 |author1-link=Kleppner }}</ref>

The [[Rumford fireplace]] created a sensation in London when he introduced the idea of restricting the chimney opening to increase the updraught, which was a much more efficient way to heat a room than earlier fireplaces. He and his workers modified fireplaces by inserting bricks into the hearth to make the side walls angled, and added a choke to the chimney to increase the speed of air going up the flue. The effect was to produce a streamlined air flow, so all the smoke would go up into the chimney rather than lingering and entering the room. It also had the effect of increasing the efficiency of the fire, and gave extra control of the rate of combustion of the fuel, whether wood or [[coal]]. Many fashionable London houses were modified to his instructions, and became smoke-free.<ref name="Kleppner" />

Thompson became a celebrity when news of his success spread. His work was also very profitable, and much imitated when he published his analysis of the way chimneys worked. In many ways, he was similar to [[Benjamin Franklin]], who also invented a new kind of heating stove.

The retention of heat was a recurring theme in his work, as he is also credited with the invention of [[thermal underwear]].<ref>[http://galileo.phys.virginia.edu/classes/152.mf1i.spring02/What%20is%20Heat.htm Prof. Michael Fowler of the University of Virginia, lecture notes], and ''[[Have I Got News For You]]'', first transmitted 16 December 2005, [[BBC1]].</ref>