Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1855-08-22
EVENING STAR.
A WORD ABOUT cHINYsys

The London Quarterly Review contains q
! capital article on the subject Of open frr.
| places, discussing, among other thugs peril
! nent to the theme, the subject of Smoking
| chimReys. As there doubtless sre hundreds,
If not Thousands, Of our numerous readers.
who are afflicted with this household calaIni-
| ", we shall! be doing the pub ic = service By
giving the pith of the Qoafterly's remarks Cn
this subject.
Smoke does not, as is popuiariy supposed.
ascend a chimney because &c is lighter than
| air. DR.. Franklin demonstrated, a centGr.
ago, that smoke is heavier than air. But the
murky cloud of gases Aciis, and yapor, wbiel.
is called smoke, rises IN the chimney, bee US
| mixed with the rarGsd air whi.h is ascending
through the same channel. When there is u,
fre, the drought Of the chimney is oith,.
small, or wanting altogether. Hence il is tha
ven good chimuey3, Il they have been long
dlsused, often smoke for the first FIVE tr &c
minutes after FIRE has been kindlcd, beeauss
until tho air in the chimney bee mos rari6ed,
there is nothing 10 draw the smoke upwards
IL follows from this view # the origin of he
draught in the chimney, that If there is an il =
sufficient supply OF air, as happens when all
the doors of room are closed, and the wit
dows listed, that the chimney viii smoke, be-
csuse there being an INSULT -ient supply of air
to the fire, the Goals only shoulder, there is Z o
air to be rarihed, the smoke cannot ascend.
and so tho occupants " the apartment suffer
1t is rs necessary, therefore, II we wuu.d
not have smoke to annoy US. TO prUvi5e plenty
Of fresh air for the fTe. as II Is to provide a
chimney. DIR. Franklin fOG-d, by experime nj, ,
that an open fire, in a room rf ordinary size,
required rs nuch AIR IS could be admittt d
through hole in the wall six Inches sguare.
But "A hole, even the leaving a door ope.
produces draft and such draft gives per-
sonS cold that sit in it. AS far ha.k rs a cen
tury and half ago, a FrenchGan named
UauSer, Invented a fire. place, in order to OBJ
vistc this. He opened a hole in the hearth,
communicating with channel which passed
uGder the floor, and finally ended at aH apeT-
ture in the wall Of the house. Strange to say,
this excellent plan h1s never yet bcen genel-
ally adopted. 1t is only now coming first 20
use IN this country, as applied 10 suppiyiI
hot-air furnaces with air; while comp iratigeiy
f1w CRATES are furnished with air in this WY,
as they should be, # those sitting around the m
wish to avoid cold currents OH their feet. Open
hres are now left to. be fed by the ar w.icl
they suck In, 50 10 speak, under the doors ard
through the crevices Of tie windows; and
hence the cCmplaiut- that a CRATE ire roasts
the front of the person, while the back is
freezing. The having sufficient air t. feed a
chimney is, indeed, the Principal security
against q smoky ROM There are few smoky
chimceys which cannot lie cuToi by s.np.y
giving them plenty Of air. ALG Gnis rule ap-
plies as well to stoves, furnaces, or other APP
paratus for heating, as to fires. What We
nave sad about preventing smoke also refers
to preventing gas from Anthracite files.
1t was an old Uoti0n that chimneys ought
not to be eroOkee whereas q sii..t bend t.
waTGs the top is beneficial, for the prevents
the sudden oc5cspt of wind al.d ruia Noi is
the t9TU OF the chimney .nzt -riai; 4. u,sy be
tape-iHg or of equal boTo; pyramiGa oI
square; 1t IS only noocssaiy Gaa. iJ be co.,
7siructed so aS t0 eli 30 cOHs.de Table .esist-
-.nce to the asce--tiEg current and hav. ...Je
TO cool. A high chimney always makes the
best drauSht, and hence well baiir faetnfies
invariably have such chimAeys. Dwell ing
houses do not require such enormously high
chimneys, but they must be high enou Ia lIvt
to be Over-topped by contiguous buildings,
else the wind, striking against the superin-
cumbcnt wall, will be precipitated down the
chimney, filling the room below with smoke or
gas.
Much of Whist We have said about smoky
chimneys applies also to ventilation. The
combustion of Ere or OF gas lights, rs well as
our own breathing, vitiates the air, So that
every apartment ought to have an outlet for
carrying of the carbOniIed ard deieterious
atmosphere. A hole opening into the chin
ney, Just below the ceiling, is tue best method
of meeting this difficulty. Rooms heated by
properly constructed furnaces, which admit
fresh air raised to a temperature OF sixty five
degrees and supplied with such an opening
arc the bealthieSt that can b. had, uE!C.s Ii is
apartments warned by CRATES, and atssd with
such e ventiiatOr, the CRATES aud room being
fed with cold air in such a way as 10 prevent
draughts on the person.