What it Took to Invent a Chim-Scan® in 1984

Tom and Esther Urban preparing to sweep chimneys in 1980.

Tom and Esther Urban founded a chimney-sweeping business in 1978 after they served in the Peace Corps. When they got out, it was during the oil crisis. Homeowners were installing woodstoves in old chimneys or installing them with new chimneys. Creosote rapidly built up, and chimney fires started to erupt all over the country. It was a great time to start a chimney-sweeping business, and that’s just what they did. Tom partnered with an insurance adjuster on some of his calls. It always bothered Tom and Esther that they could never obtain a clear view of what was in the flue. At this time, no chimney cameras were available to scan the flue. Tom saw the need for one and researched what it would take to build one. The search would take him to Cornell University, Ithaca, in New York State.
Tom and Esther traveled on Sunday afternoons to Cornell University to search the library’s optics section of the Thomas Registers. There were about twenty 3-inch-thick books listing almost every manufacturer in the U.S. and what they manufactured. They spent many hours copying information about everything they could foresee needing for Tom’s design. Tom then attended a security convention in New York City. After a year of research and work, he took his first camera to the 1984 National Chimney Sweep Guild Convention in Washington, DC, and the first chimney camera – the Chim-Scan®- was born. It was pronounced a “Showstopper” by CNN News Channel. However, it took years before America’s Sweeps adopted and used this critical tool.
Today, forty years later, in 2024, it’s hard to fathom a time when there was no available technology. Imagine what it would be like if the internet disappeared today. That’s what Tom Urban faced when he started researching parts to create a camera capable of being lowered into the chimney and taking a picture from several feet away.  
Eventually, sweeps started to catch on to the need for scanning chimneys. When they needed to prove there was damage to a chimney and could back it up with pictures, the insurance adjuster was more likely to approve a chimney fire claim. Over the years, many companies have sold “chimney cameras,” some of which are decent quality, some modified baby monitors, and some are lightweight consumer-grade camera systems from China or another location. But 40 years later, Chim-Scan® Cameras are still churned out from their manufacturing facility in Iowa, right in the Heartland. Unlike some other chimney camera companies, Chim-Scan® Cameras can still be repaired unless they are too old, and the parts are no longer available. Someday, when Tom and Esther decide to retire or spend time chiseling away at their bucket list, their daughter Shelley is poised to step up as President to run the Estoban Corporation, manufacturer of Chim-Scan® Cameras, the true original commercial-grade chimney sweeping camera. 

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1984 was a year that fostered technological growth:

• The 3.5” floppy diskette was introduced.
• The first 3D printer was invented.
• The first desktop printer was invented.
• Flash memory was invented.
• Hitachi made the first memory chip that held 1MB.
• IBM made its first portable computer – 30 Lbs.
• Microsoft introduced DOS (You had to type in commands).
• Bill Gates made the cover of TIME Magazine, holding a floppy disc.
• Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were awarded the National Medal of Technology.
• Steve Jobs launched the McIntosh PC.
• There was no internet (it would be born 10 years later)
• Cassette tapes and Walkman’s were popular.
• Mark Zuckerberg was born.