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Science Progress (2005), 88(4), 229–236

Materials in the design of kettles

CHRISTINA GOODRICK MEECH

ABSTRACT

This article reviews the materials used in the production of kettles since the
Victorian times, why they have changed over time, and what material may be
used in the future for kettle production, but first, to investigate what
materials have been used in the production of kettles, the use of the item
needs to be understood. The definition of a kettle is:
‘‘A covered metal or plastic container with handle and shaped opening for
pouring used for boiling water.’’

Keywords: design, kettle production

In the past, the distinction between a kettle and a teakettle have

been made, particularly around the Victorian era, the kettle was
generally used to heat large quantities of water. The teakettle was
smaller, more decorative and often had a small oil burner to
maintain the heat of the water so that when the water was added
to the teapot it was hot. Over time, the use of the kettle has
changed, the use of the separate oil burner has been restricted to
those who wanted to heat water out doors and they have been
replaced in the home by smaller stove top kettles, which again
where superseded by the electric kettle.
In the past, present and future, the materials used in the
production of kettles have to retain certain physical properties.
The material has to contain water without the water escaping
through crevices and cracks yet strong enough so that the water
pressure does not buckle the container; it must be able to withstand

Christina Meech graduated from the University of Portsmouth in 2002 with

a BSc in Product Design and Innovation, before joining Kenwood as
Development Engineer later that year. During that time she joined a
Masters program, on a part time basis, in Sustainable Product Design at
Bournemouth University.
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temperatures of over 100 C,

the temperature at which
water boils, as well as the
heat from the source such as
the fire or electrical element,
this is true for the spout too.
From the definition above, we
know that the kettle has a
handle to aid the pouring
action, which also acts as insu-
lation from the main body of
water, in some kettles the
handle was produced from a
second material to give addi-
tional insulation.
Fig.1. First self-heating kettle. Prior to the introduction of
the cast iron range in the 18th
century, the task of cooking took place around the main fire of the
house using a tripod, caldron and kettle, produced from cast iron.
The introduction of the range also led to houses having individual
fires in each room, some of these fire hearths also included a plate
that a kettle could be warmed on, these kettles were smaller and
more decorative as they were more often on show than their larger
counterparts. In the earlier parts of the 19th century copper was
replacing iron vessels. The kettles were produced from casts, which
produced the spout, body, base and handle, which were later joined
together to form the final product. When the kettle or other pots
needed repairing they were taken to a tinker to repair.
The design of the kettle did not significantly change until the
introduction of electricity. The first self-heating teakettles used a
small oil burner under the main body of water, and were again
often decorative items produced from copper and bronze, in some
cases the kettles were plated with silver plate as a decorative
feature (see Figure 1). The first electric kettle was developed by
Crompton and Co in 1891. Based on earlier designs of self
heating kettles and the tradition of heating water from below,
the element was placed directly below the water in its own
container. Unfortunately because the element was separate from
the water the kettle took a long time to heat and it was also very
expensive. Improvements to the electric kettle came in 1919 when
Allen Ford designed and patented the electrical kettle in a form
that is very much the same as those produced today. The kettle
pictured in Figure 1 is from an advert for a copper kettle from

230 Christina Goodrick Meech

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1907. Swan started selling the

patented electrical kettle in
the 1920s, again the kettle
was made from copper and
later with the addition of
nickel or silver plate. In the
1930s chrome plated kettles
began to appear, this was
also the first time that alumi-
nium kettles had been seen.
During the Second World
War, Swan, unlike many
other manufacturers of the
time, continued to produce
the electric kettle. During this
time, minor changes took
place. The exterior of the
kettle now had a brown finish
as seen in Figure 2. It was also Fig. 2. Swan’s kettle.
at this time that Hawkins
developed the ceramic kettle, driven through the shortage of
metal during this time.
The ceramic kettles of this era were also cast, however, more care
had to be taken as the ceramic is easier to fracture and harder to
repair. Where metal equivalents could be patched or reworked to
produce a final article, the ceramics had to be rejected.
Cast iron was used primarily because it would transfer heat easily
from the outside of the kettle to the inside to the water which was
to be heated, it was strong and could hold large quantities of water
without failing, it is not porous so water was not absorbed into the
material. Unfortunately water and iron do react well with each
other and oxidation occurs in the form of rust, which does reduce
the effectiveness of the material to remain strong and water tight.
Copper was used for the same reasons, although it is more malle-
able and so easier to work, but for use within an electric kettle
would be questioned because of its ability to conduct electricity.
Plates of chrome, nickel and silver were added through electro-
plating, in this process the particles that are used for the plate are
suspended in an electrolyte within a metal bath, which would have
an electrical connection of either positive or negative (depending on
the material that is to be used as the plate), the material that is to be
plated is dipped into the electrolyte with the opposing charge to
that of the bath, creating a circuit. The suspended particles are

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attracted to their opposite

poles and so stick to the
polarised material surface.
When the article is removed
from the bath the plate is
completed, the finished article
would be shiny and reflective.
Nickel offers good corrosion
resistance though it does
become dull over time, and is
Fig. 3. Hawkins Supreme, 1933. expensive. In some old kettles,
enamel has been used. A ceramic, this is applied to the article and
then fired to set the enamel in place, this gives a hard wearing
protective coating to the product which can also be coloured. In
1943, the first kettle with an element submerged in the water was
produced.
Today’s kettles follow the same style of design as those produced
50 years previously, however, the materials have changed slightly.
With the introduction of polypropylene, kettles were made solely of
plastic with metal elements, however, stainless steels are still being
used with plastics for handles and now a window to view into the
vessel to gauge how much water is contained. A new material that
has only recently been made available to the kettle manufacturers is
glass, but again it is being combined with plastic so that the handles
remain insulated. Production techniques have also improved, so
metal bodies are drawn out mechanically to give smooth, thin
surfaces without joins or welds, but the spouts have to be drawn
separately and welded in place. Injection moulded polypropylene
handles and knobs are joined to the body, to add a layer of
insulation for the user. Windows have also been inserted to the
plastic handle to give the user a level gauge of a clear plastic.
An experiment was conducted on four kettles currently available
on the market, produced from stainless steel, glass, polypropylene,
and ASN. The test involved boiling 1 litre of water from cold to
boiling point; the kettles were then left to cool until they returned
to ambient temperature.
The aim of the experiment was to see which material was the best
at heat transfer and insulation, unfortunately the water tempera-
ture could not be recorded at the same time, but would have been
used to view the true insulation properties of each material.
Figure 4 shows the rate at which the outer bodies of the kettles
tested cooled. The glass body reached the highest temperature
during the boiling stage but cooled down again relatively quickly.

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Material comparison

Temperature ( C)

Time (minutes)

Fig. 4. The rate at which the outer bodies of the kettles tested cooled.

The ASN remained the coolest, although the heat dissipated may
have taken longer than is actually shown, as the kettles had to be
moved part way through the experiment (130 minutes) so that the
area could be used. This movement has caused some anomalies in
the results. Materials used in the body of the kettle have to go
through approvals testing before they can be sold; these tests
include temperature rise tests on the outer body to confirm that
the appliances will not get too hot during use.

Materials review
The first material used in the production of kettles was cast iron,
which has a carbon content between 2 and 4%, and the strength is
improved through heat treating. As a material, cast iron has the
following properties:
. High strength
. Good toughness
. Easy to machine
. Low cost
. Easy to recycle
During Victorian times, recycling would not have been of major
importance, but the used material could have been reused if it was
needed for other products. The main way of forming the required
shape is through sand casting, though this does leave a rough finish,
depending on the sand grain size being used. Cast iron has a very

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high service temperature (400 C) so it is able to cope, without

damage, with the heat from an open fire. Unfortunately, the
material is high density, which gives the heavy characteristics of
cast iron, is hard to join, so care must be taken in joining methods,
and it has poor thermal and electrical conductivity resulting in a
slow transfer of heat from the fire to the water.
Copper kettles where developed as an alternative to cast iron
kettles, even though the cost of copper is higher than that of iron,
as it could be processed in the same castings as that used to form
cast iron, and it is easier to join than iron. Although the service
temperatures of pure copper are very low alloying with other
materials such as tin or zinc increase the service temperature,
which means that it can still be used over direct sources of heat;
other benefits include
. Corrosion resistance
. Easy to shape
. High thermal and electrical conduction
The additional parts of the cast kettles were produced from wood,
which was blackened, or from Bakelite which was a new plastic
material developed in the early part of the 20th century. The
introduction of the plastic handles lead to better insulation for
the user from the main body of water.
The development of stainless steel happened during the
Industrial Revolution, today this is one of the main materials
that kettles are being produced from. Stainless steel is an alloy
based on iron, and has many of the physical characteristics that are
also seen in iron:
. High strength
. Good toughness
. Easy to shape
. Easy to recycle
. Relatively cheap
. High density and poor conductor of electricity and heat
Strength and toughness can also be improved and varied by
alloying with other materials, and heat treatment. Although stain-
less steel is not a good conductor of electricity it is beneficial to the
electric kettle, if a fault did occur with the appliance then it is less
likely to become live and cause serious injury. The same is true for
the transfer of heat, which means that the body of water has been
insulated relatively well as you can see from the graph previously,
the body of the stainless steel kettle is the second lowest tempera-

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ture at boiling point. The use of plastic handles to give added

insulation is still used, but instead of Bakelite, polypropylene is
used.
Polypropylene has also been used to make the whole kettle,
rather than just the insulated parts. Polypropylene is a thermo-
plastic which means that it becomes soft and malleable when
heated which hardens as it cools. Parts are formed by injection
moulding, pellets are heated and forced into moulds where they are
cooled and removed. Joining is easily achieved through friction
welding, and colourings can be added to the material in the
production stage. Although the material offers high toughness,
relatively high stiffness and is relatively low cost to produce, it does
have some drawbacks. The material is a hydrocarbon; produced
from the refining of crude oil through fractional distillation which
requires a fair amount of energy, and the world’s sources of crude
oil are being depleted so it may not be available for future use.
Other problems with polypropylene are that it absorbs water
during its life, and it reacts with UV light, causing the material
to discolour and become brittle. Polypropylene is cheap and easy to
manufacture, however, it is unlikely to be a material used in the
future due to the lack of availability of the raw material.
An alternative material that is currently being used is glass, an
amorphous solid based on a silica compound. The material is
blown or rolled while hot to produce the required shapes. Non-
treated glass would not be able to cope with the temperature
variation that is experienced in the boiling of water and the heat
from the element. However, new manufacturing techniques have
been developed to improve the properties of the glass so that it does
not fracture under these extreme conditions. The new technique
involves producing a more regular crystalline structure within the
amorphous structure, which in turn gives the properties required to
withstand impact and temperature variations. Again the glass is
complemented with polypropylene handle for insulation from the
glass, and insulation around the electrical connectors.
Materials in the future of kettle design will have to conform to
various directives, such as the WEEE (waster electrical and elec-
tronic equipment) directive, stating that all materials that can be
recovered should be recovered from the waste appliance and then
reused. Because of this stipulation it is likely that the main material
to be used in the future will be a stainless steel, possibly wrapped
around a plastic body for additional insulation or a double skin full
metal body, which is currently being tested and developed. Glass
may also be used in the future as it can be recycled, a process

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requiring slightly less energy than producing glass from its raw
material silica. The plastic parts that do not make contact with the
water may also be produced from recycled polyethylene or poly-
propylene bottles.

References
1. http://telematics.ex.ac.uk/virvic/themes/cooking_and_cleaning/home.htm
This site was last updated on June 24th, 2003
(c) Copyright 2003 Tiverton Museum of Mid Devon Life and the
Telematics Centre at the University of Exeter.
2. http://www-materials.eng.cam.ac.uk/mpsite/interactive_charts/default.html
Dr Andrew Lovatt, Dr Hugh Shercliff, University of Cambridge, last
updated 25y02y2002.
3. http://gb.espacenet.com
Patent search program. Anon.
4. http://www.gizmohighway.com/history/kettle
the history of the kettle, 1994 – 2004. Anon.
5. http://www.teasmade.com/kettle.htm
Electric kettles, Anon.
6. http://homepage.dtn.ntl.com/paul.linnell/electricity/electricalbreack-
fast.html
The electric breakfast by Paul Linnell.
7. University of Bournemouth lecture notes on Materials in Design from the
2004 course by M. Koohgilani.

236 Christina Goodrick Meech