Inspired Heat-Pipe Technology
In 1963, Los Alamos physicist George Grover successfully demonstrated his invention of the heat pipe. Grover's inspiration for the heat pipe came from rudimentary heat-conducting pipes used by British bakers more than 170 years ago. The development of such pipes began in 1839, when American inventor Jacob Perkins patented the hermetic tube boiler. Angier March Perkins (Jacob's son) modified the tube boiler, and in 1936 he patented what he called the Perkins Tube, which saw widespread use in locomotive boilers and working ovens (including a mobile oven for the British Army). The Perkins Tube served as a "jumping off point" for Grover's development of modern heat pipes, which depending on their application can be as short as a hypodermic needle, or up to 24 feet long.