Chimney sweep

A chimney sweep is a worker who clears ash and soot from chimneys. The chimney uses the pressure difference caused by a hot column of gas to create a draught and draw air over the hot coals or wood enabling continued combustion. Chimneys may be straight or contain many changes of direction. During normal operation, a layer of creosote builds up on the inside of the chimney, restricting the flow. The creosote can also catch fire, setting the chimney and the building alight. The chimney must be swept to remove the soot. This was done by the master sweep.

In the United Kingdom, the master sweeps took apprentices, who were boys from the workhouse or bought from their parents, they were usually parish, or orphan boys, and trained them to climb chimneys. In the German States, master sweeps belonged to trade guilds and did not use climbing boys. In Italy, Belgium, and France climbing boys were used.

With the increased urban population that came with the Age of Industrialisation, the number of houses with chimneys grew apace and the occupation of chimney sweep became much sought-after.

Buildings were higher and the new chimneys tops were grouped together and the routes of flues from individual grates could involve two or more right angles and horizontal angled and vertical sections, The flues were made narrow to create a better draught- 14in by 9in being a common standard. Buckingham Palace had one flue with 15 angles, with the flue narrowing to 9in by 9in. Chimney sweeping was also one of the more commonly difficult, hazardous, and low-paying occupations of the era, and consequently has been derided in verse, ballad and pantomime.

The first mechanical sweeping machine was invented by George Smart in 1803 but was resisted in the UK and the US. John Glass marketed an improved sweeping machine in 1828; he is credited with being the inventor of the modern chimney sweep's brush. In the US Northern States, whites gave up the trade and employed black sweep-boys from the South. After regulation finally took hold in 1875 in the UK and the turn of the century in the US, the occupation became romanticized in popular media and literature.

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