The pipe at the right side brings in steam. The main object is a collection of interconnected pipes. Its purpose is to transfer thermal energy from the hot steam through the metal and into the air that is surrounding the device. The purpose of the funny shape is to give lots of surface on which to warm the air, and to allow the air to move freely past it. Convection (warm air moving from next to the radiator out into the room) does the rest.

After the steam has shared its energy with the metal, it has cooled enough to condense back into water. The pipe at the lower left carries this water back to the furnace to be turned back into steam again.

Perhaps this device should not have been called a "radiator" since it does not radiate light. A better name would be "heat exchanger."

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