Evening star., 1896-12-28

furnished. They spent ,considerahle time
went through all tie rooms and then down
s INTO tne basement. where the zurinais and
cry closets were. and where they made
their measurements. as all the air passsn.
through the four rooms on the hoys' s,de
passes out through the closet on thar side.
and the same on the girls side each being
separate and independent OF the other ana
the measurement being made on both s,,ies
The measurement showed a volume ~
=. 10 cubic feet per minute OF air passing
through the four rooms on each side ~ ,hs
ouildinE-or for the eight rooms IL 40 eubic
rect per minute. In another building n
was ia''2o cubic feet per minute o. ,s..,s-
A Scientific Commfssiou.
In iSs2 under a resolution of the House.
e'"nhssion consisting OF the surgeon
general DIR. Billings. the architect of the
| Capi,oi and the commissioner of education.
was appointed TO examine and report upon
'he SANITARY condition of our school build
ihss' and In their report they say each child
should have as minimum thirty cubic
teet OF fresh air per minute
Now. taking l4ooo feet as the ayerag
OF the TWO buildings mentioned and sun
posing each of the eight rooms TO contain
nitS scholars, il would give to each child
per minute :ai2 cubic feet or g. more than
the minimum amount; set by the commission
with sixty scholars i'm each room n would
give shz cubic feet. but IL is seldom
u ever, the case that there sixty schol-
afs present in room. This is a fair state
ment in regard to the ventilation of nearly
all the school buildings erected since ISs3
The visitors from Massachusetts ex-
pressed themselves I'm the highest terms I'm
favor Of the system. and. as | was in
formed. IL was adopted I'm their new b,tilt-
ing with the substitution of fans for the
Stack heaters In use here, as know II has
been i'm numerous school buildings i'm the
vicinity of Boston.
Il find by the report of the inspector OF
ouiidlhgs that we have, all told. los school
nnl 1iFNNr ..t.es
buildings. from one 10 four rooms each
OF the whole number 46 are eight-room
buiidines, with two or three each OF nine
ten and eleven-room buildings Nearly ali
oil these have been erected since lsx2 and
contain the SnIead system of heating and
Ventilation, so 1 think We may safely say
mat very few cities in the United States
nave as large a proportion of well-venti-
lated school buildings Washington
With regard to the very large buildings
erected during the war and subsequently,
under the board of public works viz the
Wallach, twelve rooms: the Jefferson
twenty rooms, and the Franklin sixteen
rooms, some provision was made for Nen-
hlaton, but IL was not as thorough sat
isfactory as that subsequently adopted and
that was one reason for the remodeling of
the Waliach. which is now under way
Then there are of twelye-room buildings
the Peabody, Grant, Force Gales Garnet
Henry, Webster, Dennison, Seaton and pos
sib!y some others. which heated by
steam and provided with a different means
of ventilation. In these buildings the steam
coils are located under the windows, and
provision is made for bringing fresh air
from the outside in upon the coils, oy plac-
ing under the window sill at the top of the
coil a perforated plate opening into a iue
extending down in rear of the coil TO
its bottom, the theory being that the heat
of the coil would create a draft which
would draw fresh air In through the per
forated plate and fiue. OF these buildings
the commission in its report says:
" The principal defect from a sanitary
point of view i'm all these buildings Is I'm
regard to the fresh air supply which is
entirely insufficient. They then describe
the means used, and then add: When II is
remembered that this dnlet) is intended to
supply fresh air for sixty children, each OF
whom should have a minimum thirty
cubic feet per minute, il will he seen that
it is simply impossible TO obtain such a
supply through the openings provided.
which in fact viii hardly furnish five cubic
feet per minute per pupil
A Curious Fact.
Il was present with DR.. Billings at the
time he and his assistant examined the
Peal ody, and We found another important
fact not mentioned in the report, and that
was that the fresh air came in only on the
windward side CT the building. and that
the warm air passed out through the fresh
air fiues on the opposite side of the build
ing. The result Of that was that the rooms
On the leeward side instead of getting fresh
air got only the tOOl AIR wnlcn came
through the hallway from the rooms on the
windward side of the building, together
with what little might sift into the hall
around the doors and windows, and be
drawn up the stairways from the basement
rooms, where the closets and urinals were
located. II the school room doors We're
kept closed, of course even this air could
not enter the rooms on the leeward side.
1T was this condition of affairs, with even
worse in some of the old and rented build
ings which led me to make the investiga-
ton referred TO when 1 went onto the
school board IN 1ss2 That investigation
was made by correspondence, and cost the
District nothing. i still have in my pos
session mass Of correspondence, explain
ing and recommending the Ruttan-Smead
system, the substance of which was en-
bodied in a report by the school board TO
the Commissioners in the winter of 1888.
Less Fuel Needed.
'one important result of its adoption. as
shown by the records in the District office,
was a large reduction in the cost OF fuel per
room, as compared with those heated by
steam, and less cost for 1anitoi. as, OF
course, the steam-heated require the serv-
ices of an engineer, while the furnace-heat
ed do not
1t would be simple matter to improve
the ventilation Of these twelve-room build
ings by enlarging the air inlets, changing
their location from the top to the bottom Of
the coils, covering them with hood to pre-
vent the strong wind from entering I'm
excess and faster than IL can be warmed.
and using an exhaust fan Ia each of the
foul air stacks. At the same time, the
opening from the rooms into the foul air
duct should be brough. down to the floor,
as otherwise there will always be a stratum
of cold air over the foor-the warm and
lighter air, of course, never descending be-
low the point at which il can escape.
In one respect, the Ruttan-Smead sys-
tenn has not been properly applied. Both
Ruttan, in his work, and the Conservatory
of Arts and Trades of Paris, in its report
on this system of ventilation trepublished
in the Smithsonian reports in 1SI3-l4D, lay
IL down infieXibe rule that the warm
fresh air should be brought into the room
al OF near the ceiling, and so not to have
draft on the occupants, and taken out at
OF through the floor. In its applicatio to
our buildings the warm air inlet is at the
floor side of the room, and the result
is an inrush of hot air at that point which
is very disagrecable 10 the scholars in the
vicinity-so much that sheet metal
screens have had to be used TO protect
them. 1t would cost but a trine, if any,
more to have the inlet elevated above the
heads of all. and. If necessary to have a
rlac. where children with wet shoes or feet
could dry and warm them, small register
for that purpose could be located at the
f,pr I nrp,ad change upoD the Ia