An Unsung Hero of the Chimney Industry

Esther Urban cleaned chimneys, often by herself when she and Tom were chimney sweeps before they invented the first camera for chimney inspections - the Chim-Scan®. More pictures below this article.

She started sweeping chimneys in 1979 after she and her husband returned from a year in the Peace Corps in Swaziland. Crawling up tall ladders, hauling in a vacuum, and getting all sooty was just another adventure for this woman who grew up on a dairy farm and had previously worked as a milk tester. After all, how many women in 1978 would get married and spend the first year of marriage in Africa, 8304 miles from home?
For those of you who aren’t familiar with sweeping chimneys, it is a dirty and dangerous job. Back in the day, sweeping equipment was heavy and awkward. The sweep had to unload this equipment from a truck or van. The vac was the size of a 50-gallon drum and had to be wheeled into the home along with a bunch of awkward rods and brushes. The drum of the vacuums was metal and heavier than today’s versions. Often, the sweep would lay down tarps, get the vacuum going (to minimize any soot), and then climb a ladder to the roof.
Once at the roof, they had to maneuver onto what could be a steep slope and make their way to the chimney. Once at the chimney, it was time to sweep. Soot dust usually came up in those days, but sometimes residue or chunks would fall into the firebox. So, after maintaining balance on the roof and navigating back and down the ladder, they would have to clean up debris in the firebox. The homeowner asked her and her husband if they got everything and if it was safe. Questions like this made them both uncomfortable because they could only see so much.
They discussed the need to be able to see into the flue. Literally. They asked around at a National Chimney Sweep Guild Convention in 1983, and no one had answers. For the next year, when her husband spent a lot of time researching and developing this idea, she would sweep during the day and listen to his findings or help him at night. This was also while she took care of the office work.
Esther had her hands full marketing and getting the message across about the need for chimney cleaning by a professional. In the eighties, people didn’t think they needed to have their chimneys swept. After all, a chimney was built of masonry. So, how could a chimney fire destroy a masonry chimney or a house? Chimney fires happened, and the word spread, like the fires, that a chimney fire could ignite the home. Still, homeowners felt they could clean a chimney just as well as a sweep and didn’t want to pay for the cleaning.
Then, when her husband finished up on the chimney camera after a year of research and engineering it himself, they scanned their first chimney. What an amazing view! Even in black and white, it was apparent there was a whole different world inside of the chimney. Defects such as hidden breechings, flue cracks, and other types of damage, which weren’t identifiable with the naked eye and a flashlight, became visible. As more chimneys were scanned, they began to realize the risks that America’s homeowners faced. Unknowingly, they became the first man and woman in the entire world to scan a chimney!
In 1984, they introduced the Chim-Scan® Internal Chimney Evaluation System at the NCSG Trade Show in Washington, D.C. It was described as “the showstopper of the convention – High-tech meets chimneys!” and CNN interviewed her husband. Initial orders proved disappointing. After all, this was the first chimney camera anyone had seen, and sweeps thought they could see everything necessary in the flue. Word started getting around once they started working with insurance adjusters doing fire investigations.
Esther Urban continued to sweep chimneys occasionally and manage the responsibilities of an office. Most of their customers were happy repeat customers. Sales of the cameras started taking off, and her husband Tom was offered a job as Director of Technical Advisory Services in Fairfield, Iowa, working for a distributor named Copperfield. They sold their sweeping business and moved. She continued to manage the day-to-day operations of the Chim-Scan® business and the Chim-Scan® cameras, and the Urbans changed the chimney cleaning industry into a chimney inspection and repair industry.
Anyone who was around “back in the day” that became a successful sweep due to their hard work has to agree we wouldn’t be where we are without the Urbans and their Chim-Scan® Cameras. Some may argue this point, but as one who lived through this time and was heavily involved as a technical consultant and innovator for the largest supplier in the industry, I’m happy to argue this point with you. Without chimney cameras, would the industry have grown like it has? Sure, it might have come along eventually, but perhaps chimney sweeping would have retained its “top hat run a brush down the flue because he has nothing better to do” job? Instead, with the help of Tom and Esther Urban, the diagnostics of what was found in chimneys was born with the Chim-Scan®.
It is said that we stand on the shoulders of our ancestors or predecessors. Whether it's those who settled and built this fine country we take for granted or a couple who “took it to the limit” (and beyond), it's time to appreciate them and give them the accolades they deserve. Esther Urban literally climbed beyond the accepted female norms of the day. She was the first woman to scan a chimney in the U.S. She helped create an industry and a better place for women, and that’s enough to put her (and Tom) on a pedestal for all they have contributed to our chimney industry. Forty years have passed since the inception of Estoban, the manufacturer of Chim-Scan® Internal Evaluation Systems. Thinking about where the next 40 years will take this industry is exciting. 

Guest Blog by Karen Foreman
Author of Design Ideas for Fireplaces, former industry technical consultant, marketing director, product specialist, innovator, and writer. 

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