Note: Charles S. L. Baker did not invent the steam radiator, he modified the ones being sold at the time in order to find a less expensive way to heat homes and businesses. The radiators that were in use, was created by Franz San Galli, a Prussian born inventor.
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Photograph shows inventor Charles S.L. Baker and another man, possibly Baker's brother Peter, standing behind heating (radiator) system. One man is holding a knob that is attached to two wires.

This photograph is in the section Entitled: The Start of super heating union / Bode, 5th and Felix Sts., St. Joseph, Mo.
Creator(s): Photographer Bode, Martin W., 1871-1947
Date Created/Published: c1906.

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print.
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Charles S. Lewis Baker was born on August 3rd, 1859, in Savannah, Missouri. His mother, Betsy Mackay, died when he was three months old, leaving him to be brought up by the wife of his "owner", Sallie Mackay, and his father, Abraham Baker.

He was the youngest of five children, Susie, Peter, Annie, and Ellen, all of whom were freed after the Civil War. Baker later received an education at Franklin College.

His father was employed as an express agent, and once Baker turned fifteen, he became his assistant.[ Baker worked with wagons and linchpins, which sparked an interest in mechanical sciences.

Baker worked over the span of decades on his product, attempting several different forms of friction, including rubbing two bricks together mechanically, as well as using various types of metals.

After twenty-three years, the invention was perfected in the form of two metal cylinders, one inside of the other, with a spinning core in the center made of wood, that produced the friction. Baker started a business with several other men to manufacture the heater.

The Friction Heat & Boiler Company was established in 1904, with Baker on the board of directors. The company worked up to 136,000 dollars in capital, equal to nearly 4 million dollars in 2018.

Mr. Baker claims that the particular motive power used in creating the friction is not essential. It may be wind, water, gasoline, or any other source of energy. The most difficult part of the inventor's assertions to credit is that his system will light of heat a house at about half the cost of methods now in use.

At 21, Baker married the 19-year old Carrie Carriger on the 12th of December, 1880, in Adams County, Iowa.
They had one child, born on the 3rd of January, 1882, named Lulu Belle Baker. Little else is known about his life.

Here is a death notice that we found.

Baker, Charles S. L. (1860-1926)
Charles S. L. Baker, widely known St. Joseph negro inventor, died Wednesday at the home of his daughter, 1712 Messanie street. He is survived by the daughter, Mrs. Belle Hardy, he is survived by two sisters, Mrs. Ellen Sherrell and Mrs. Samuel Todd, St. Joseph. The funeral service will be conducted Saturday at 2:30 o'clock p.m., and burial will be at Savannah . . .

Death notice source: https://cousin-collector.com/.../3947-baker-charles-s-l...

Source: Wikipedia

Source:http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2011660047/

Source for details concerning his patent claim:
https://www.rawthoughts.net/?p=2199