The Portland daily press., 1889-12-28

Ventilation ar the North school.

The North school was thrown open TO the
public yesterday to give an op-
portunity to inspect the working OF the new
ys.em of ventilation and heating which has
been In use there since the present school
year began. The invitation which was sent
. out through the papers was generally ae-
cepted. and large number Of parents Of the
children in the school and their friends, and
members Of the City Government, with DR..
Smith and DR.. J. o. Webster Of the State
Board Of Health. were present. The ven-
tilating system worked well in all the rooms,
carrying off the tobacco smoke and what lit
tie bad air there was In the school yester-
day with perfect ease; what 1t would do in
the case of three hundred children breathing
out carbonic acid. Of course could only be
coDjectured. A strong bit Of testimony in
its favor comes from the janitor. who says
that before the present system was adopted
day never passed without there being one
or more cases Of fainting or nausea among
the scholars or the teachers; but that since
the new way has been tried there has not
been one. The matter of heat was fayora-
bly, shown by the records of temperature
kept on the blackboards. The record Is
very uniform, the heat being under perfect
control all over the building and being va
riable at pleasure. The heating system. as
is well known, having already been de-
scribed In the PRESS, Is a system of indi-
rect radiation. The air enters the room
from the outside by means Of duct covered
with an iron shutter which can be raised or
lowered at will, like the cold air of a fur
mace. Still like this the air is conveyed to a
point where 1t comes in contact with steam
radiator, within the sheathing Of the wall.
Here 1t Is warmed and rises through regis
ter in the window sill to the room. Being
warm ard light it rises to the top of the
room and then falls to take the place Of the
vitated air as fast as that is sucked up by
the foul air duct at the opposite corner of
the room. There is foul air duet in every
room leading directly to the open air at the
roof. All the fiues are gathered together in
two stacks Of chimneys that rise above the
roof and carry the bad air off out of harms
way. Beside the indirect heat thus fur.
nished there are the ordinary steam radla-
tors in the rooms and corridors and the
dressing rooms, which can be used to REIN
force the new system If it ever fails to do its
work properly. 1t has not failed thus far.
and Is much praised by all who have any
connection with the school. 1t seems to be
constructed more on rational principles than
many so called systems which all proceed on
the false theory that vitiated air Is lighter
than fresh air and consequently that foul
air duct should be opened near the ceiling.
In order to make the success Of this new
system absolutely sure the interested public
should call at some hour during term time
when the children are all in the rooms.
7 DR.. Charles ID. Smith of the State Board
of Health. is expected to make further ex-
animation during the sessions Of the school,
and after the result is made known the
Board will probably make statement Civ
ing the figures of the circulation Of air, etc.,
In the different rooms.
The credit OF planning tho system belongs
to MIR. Libby Of the firm Of Libby Il Calhoun,
which firm also did the steam piping. Quinn
Il Co. furnished the boilers, and j. P. Wes-
colt did the mason work.