Ruttan, Henry

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: T. Ritchie, “RUTTAN, HENRY,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 10, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/ruttan_henry_10E.html
  • DCB profile:
    • Soldier, businessman, legislator, author, and inventor; b. 12 June 1792 at Adolphustown, U.C., son of William Ruttan, a United Empire Loyalist of French ancestry, and of Margaret Steele; d. 31 July 1871 at Cobourg, Ont.
    • During the War of 1812 Ruttan joined the militia, was commissioned, and served in Upper Canada. In 1814 he was severely wounded in the bitter fighting at Lundy’s Lane, but he returned to active service before the war ended.
    • In 1815 Ruttan went into business in Cobourg. He was elected to the House of Assembly in 1820 as the representative for Northumberland, and served until 1824. 
    • The conservation of fuel and the proper ventilation of houses were impossible to achieve with the inefficient fireplaces and stoves then in use. Ruttan began to design air heaters and ventilating equipment, for which he was granted seven patents between 1846 and 1858. His method, extensively used, for the combined heating and ventilation of buildings involved drawing in outside air through a duct. The air then passed by natural flow through a heater and circulated by convection through the various rooms, finally to flow through a duct to a foul-air shaft which sent it outside.
    • Ruttan also devised a system for the heating and ventilation of railway coaches. Outside air, forced through ducts into the cars by means of the train’s motion, passed through a wash tank which cleaned, humidified, and cooled it. In the winter the system was modified to heat the air entering the cars. Ruttan’s system, probably the first to provide an air-conditioned vehicle, was used by several railways in Canada and the United States.
  • Son of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=7234
  • Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/174349929/henry-ruttan