Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-12-16
A GENIUS WANTED.

The recent cold snap has demonstrated
eonclusively that with all the wonders
of modern mechanical achievement we
are still very far from perfection in our
methods Of heating our buildings. A
Marshalltown man who happened to
spend Saturday in Chicago overheard
elegantly dressed women in the depart
ment stores complaining to one another
that they couldn't heat their houses
above so degrees that morning. These
women dressed in rich furs and riding in
private carriages with liveried servants
waiting for them on the curb gave every
appearance OF never having experienced
a hardship in their lives, and yet on that
day when the thermometer stood Is be-
low zero all day the costly mansions OF
these well-to-do people were made
euately heated.
In Marshalltown among the middle
classes. people who could and would en-
Joy all Of the comforts Of modern life,
many and many major domo fired up
In the small hours Of the night and still
failed to heat his house comfortably. In
the first place modern houses are not
built as warmly as they should be. A
Marshalltown furnace manufacturer
says he has less trouble heating houses
in Minneapolis with his furnaces than
he has in Marshalltown for the simple
reason that in the northern city people
expect to encounter extremely cold
weather and build accordingly. The
walls are more tightly boarded. Resi-
dents no more think Of entering winter
season without storm windows, doors
and closets than they do of having
shingles on their roofs. Pipes and all
plumbing are carefully kept on inside
walls and much less Inconvenience is
experienced from zero weather than here
in this city where people thoughtlessly
take no account Of the cold waves we
often have.
But aside from these shortcomings
the methods and systems used in heat
ing buildings nowadays are very
crude and even primitive in comparison
to the advances made in other branches
of mechanical science. The hot air fur,
mace can not help but impress one with
fta xya ste ~ boo@ oavrfop .ry,;v, ~,
Few are the householders who haven't
experimental TO prevent the heat go
Ing up the chimney. AS rule hot air
furnaces are all too small for the
houses they are expected to heat Elk
perienced men have learned that q very
large furnace with large fuel capac-
tty will do the heating with much less
fuel cost than smaller furnace but at
best a furnace is extravagant, dirty
and an all-around nuisance.
Hot water and steam heating are
considered superior to furnaces and
stoves but both are crude and unsatis-
factory. What is needed and the won-
der is that modern science has not dis
covered it long ago. Is a heating sys-
tenn that will conceal it's radiators
within the wallis, heat without dust or
dirt and utilize all the heat generated
without the waste now necessary.
The writer is experimenting with a
gasoline gas machine which maIufac-
lures gas with which all the cooking
and lighting in house can be done. 1t
has seemed to him that some genius
ought long ago to have devised a heat
ing system, hot water. steam or hot air,
that could be operated with gas. With
a winters fuel bill of from $50 to 500
for modern dwelling almost an I'M
limited amount of gas could be provid-
ed for the amount. And the there is
the possibility ofdeyisinga heat storing
apparatus whereby the heat energy ex-
traced from the rooms of a building in
summer could be stored to be released
by radiation back into the rooms again
In winter Some of these suggestions
may seem dreamlike but while Marconi
As fooHng around trying to send mes
sages across the seas without cables or
wires some of us poor fellows who new
er have messages for foreign trans.
mission but who do have houses to heat
and small salaries to spend for coal
would Ike to see brother genius of
Marconi tackle the problem next to our
daily life. We have heard of the
fellow who would feed us with con-
densed pellets but we don't welcome
him, there Is too much JOY in good eat
ing but the fellow who can keep us
warm in winter and cool in summer at
small cost and without the dirt. dust
and annoyance OF coal hods, ash pans
and the like can't come to our town any
too soon.
A NEIGHBOURS EFFORT At pIsTRIcrIRG.
w. Q. Payne, OF the Nevada Repre-
sentative, has journeyed down to DEG
Moines with a measure to reapportion
the state into new congressional dis
tricts In such way as to give his
neighbors Immediately east of him
twinges Of his own name. Without going
over his whole scheme the Times-Re-
publican will present two Of his districts
in this immediate nelghborhood. When