If you were asked to name the invention that has had the greatest impact on daily life in the past century, what would you say? The electric light bulb, the automobile? You could make a strong case for either of them. I’d add another to the list: central heating.

Some of you, like me, grew up in homes that had no central heating. You may remember gathering around the kitchen stove to change clothes in the morning and going up the stairs at night to a frigid bedroom. You’d crawl between icy sheets and then pull up over you a thick, heavy, quilted blanket that you called, most appropriately, the comforter. It took a couple minutes for your body heat to warm your place in the bed, but then the comforter made its presence felt. You were warm and cozy.

Some of you may have an old patchwork comfor…