Fact Sheets
Industry fact sheet
The Engine Cooling and Heat Transfer Industry
The automotive industry traces its roots to the 1890s. NARSA members trace their heritage beyond that to the era of the horse and buggy to the blacksmith. In the early days of the horseless carriage, radiator repair was pioneered at the anvils and forges of the village smithies.
Prior to the industrial revolution, a "village smithy" was a staple of every town. Factories and mass-production reduced the demand for blacksmith-made tools and hardware. As demand for their products declined, many more blacksmiths augmented their incomes by taking in work shoeing horses. With the introduction of automobiles, the number of blacksmiths continued to decrease, many former blacksmiths becoming the initial generation of automobile mechanics.
As the motor car and the motor car industry grew, so did the need for radiator repair and cooling system maintenance. Local, regional and metropolitan associations grew out of the need for better education and communication about the business of radiator repair. It wasn't until 1954 when a group radiator repair shop owners founded NARSA – The International Heat Transfer Association, expanded for the first time a network for education and communication from one end of the United States to the other. Throughout the years, the organization grew and expanded; today it counts more than 1500 members in 42 different countries.
Car Radiator History
The car radiator is a technology that has been around almost since automobiles were invented. Heat dissipation is probably one of the most important considerations in engine design. An internal combustion engine creates enough heat to destroy itself. Without an efficient cooling system, we would not have the vehicles we do today.
The original radiators were simple networks of round copper or brass tubes that had water flowing through them by convection. By the 1920's some auto manufacturers, like GM, had switched to oval tubes because they were slightly more efficient.
Not long after that, as engines grew larger and hotter, companies began to add fans for a constant flow of air over the radiator cores. These more efficient cooling systems eventually added a pump to push the water through the cooling tubes. It was in this era that the auto manufacturers started adding anti freezing chemicals to their cooling systems to prevent cooling system damage in cold weather.
The original car radiators only used 1/2 inch tubes. In the 1940's, companies, like Ford, started to experiment with larger radiator tubes. A problem quickly arose where larger radiator tubes required thicker tube walls to prevent the radiator cores from bending under pressure. This caused car radiators to become significantly heavier but more efficient.
In the 1970's and 1980's auto manufacturers experimented with multiple core radiators and many variations on radiator tube size and wall thickness. Some manufacturers even turned to plastic to further lighten radiator structures.
Eventually, most manufacturers turned away from heavy brass, copper, and steel and took to creating radiators from aluminum. Light and strong, aluminum is great for making radiators.
Though it doesn't quite have the heat dissipating capacity of copper or the corrosion resistance of brass, aluminum is the material of choice for most of today's radiators. Light and intelligently designed, aluminum radiators are standard on many of today's new cars and trucks.
All in all, the car radiator is a simple and lasting technology that will likely be around as long as we use internal combustion engines.
