Fireman is the designation for someone whose job is to tend the fire for the running of a steam engine, typically a steam locomotive.
In other places where steam engines are employed, such as steamships and saw mills, the designation stoker is usually used. Much of the job is hard physical labor, such as shoveling fuel, typically coal, into the engine's boiler.
"Stokers" remains the colloquial term used to refer to Marine Engineering ratings of the Royal Navy, despite the decommissioning of the last steam-powered RN surface some years ago.
Railways
On steam railways, Firemen were also usually responsible for cleaning the ash and dust from the boiler prior to lighting the fire, adding water to the engine's boiler, making sure there is a proper supply of fuel for the engine aboard before starting journeys, starting the fire, raising or banking the fire as appropriate for the amount of power needed along particular parts of the route, and performing other tasks for maintaining the locomotive according to the orders of the engineer (US) or driver (UK). Some firemen served these duties as a form of apprenticeship, aspiring to be locomotive engineers themselves.
Mechanical stoker
A mechanical stoker is a device which feeds coal into the firebox of a boiler. It is standard equipment on large stationary boilers and was also fitted to large steam locomotives to ease the burden of the fireman. The locomotive type has a screw conveyor (driven by an auxiliary steam engine) which feeds the coal into the firebox. The coal is then distributed across the grate by steam jets, controlled by the fireman. Power stations usually use pulverized coal-fired boilers.
Depictions in popular culture
Yank, the protagonist of Eugene O'Neill's play The Hairy Ape is the stoker on a ship.
The first chapter of Franz Kafka's novel Amerika is entitled "The Stoker".
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