Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1908-05-08
House Without a Chin ney.
. house of concrete!


A house with plenty Of artificial light
and heat yet without a bit of fire. No
coal; no ashes; no SCOT; no. dangerous
gases.
Such is the ideal notwithstanding
Home which Mr.. F. NJ Sinsabaugh has
Just completed for his comfort at Carroll
ton, Illinois. While this wonderful resi-
dence is now the first of its kind in the
world, it is, perhaps, good example of
what the average American home will
be in few years from now when both
wood and coal have become too expens-
i've for common use. Wood is now too
scarce and high in price for common
building material and the time is already
here when, for economys sake, archl-
tects and contractors are figuring to con-
struct all buildings of steel and concrete.
AS the supply of coal diminishes the cost
is advancing so that everything possible
is being done to husband the supply an
see that none of the precious stored heat
is wasted. Electricity, generated by wa
ter power is even now taking the place
of coal as a source of power and the time
is surely coming when 1T Will rank first
as a source of heat.
Mr.. Sinsabaugh's Model Twentieth
Century Home is "a 80 feet. two stories
high, with attic and basement and has
eight rooms on the two main floors
While Edison's idea of a concrete house
to be poured in one big mould was not
CARED out, yet the principal building
material was concrete. The foundation
and walls are of concrete blocks. The
concrete was mixed and moulded into
the building blocks as required. There
was no waste of building material. The
floors are of wood and the interior is fin
ised in plaster and oak. Such house
requires very little wood. The style of
architecture is of plain, substantial mis-
sion type. The idea is carried through
out the interior as well. The building is
fronted by a large porch 8 x 30 feet.
This concrete and good finished house
cost less than $1,000.
The interior is roomy and comfortable.
On the left of the entrance hall is the
paror and on the right the library; back
of the latter is located the dining room,
connected by a pantry to the kitchen.
The house is illuminated with electric
lights. The chandeliers and lighting fix
lures are of hard wood and stained glass,
producing a very beautiful effect.
| Perhaps the most novel feature about
this wonderful residence is the fact that
it is heated by steam from central sta
ton. There is no noisy, dusty furnace
in the basement demanding daily atten-
ton and tender care all the long winter
months Instead, the steam which usu-
goes to waste about small electric light
plants is carried to the house by under
ground pipes. This steam pipe enters
the house in the basement and the steam
is carried to the rooms just the same as
from an ordinary furnace. The rooms
are heated with steam radiators or
course some special arrangement had to
be supplied to furnish hot water for the
bath room. Near the ceiling in the bath
room is located a water tank which is
kept constantly hot by number of small
pipes through which a continual flow of
hot steam is maintained. This tank sup
plies hot water for the bath and to the
bed rooms. The house is also wired for
electric heat in case anything should hap
pen to the steam heating system.
When it is remembered that there are
no fires about this modern dwelling the
visitor begins to wonder how the meals
are cooked. No steel range is visible in
the neat and roomy kitchen. No sooty
gas steve glares black and threatening
from the side walls. The principal ar
ticle of furniture seems to be an oak
sideboard-or something that looks as
though il might be a sideboard. This
''sideboard" is nothing more or less than
one of the new General Electric electric
stoves. The back of the wooden cabinet
is a small switchboard and all the uten-
sils arranged on the stove are connected
to this switchboard with suitable wires
and plugs. A turn of switch and the
electric tea-kettle is singing over invisi-
BILE heat. With the some ease the frying
pan, cereal cooker, griddle, broiler, vege,
table cookers, ETC., are made ready to do
their share of the work Of preparing a
meal. Beside the cabinet sits the cleo
trio oven wherein the heat is so econom-
lied and concentrated that the choicest
roast can be prepared in less time than il
usually takes to start slow coal fire.
The other electrical kitchen devices, in.
GLIDING the electric fiatiron, are used in
the same clean, simple and economical
manner. There is no sweltering heat in
the kitchen, no SCOT, no ashes, no dirt,
no hot fires for ironing days; no Juggling
of heavy scuttles Of coal from the base,
ment.
In fact so easily and conveniently are
the meals cooked that the coffee, tea and
toast are prepared right on the dining
room table. The electric coffee peroco
lator, at turn Of a switch, prepares the
coffee while the cereal is being eaten and
the toast is ready with the coffee. The
cost of cooking the meals by electricity is
estimated at less than $3.50 month fol-
family of five persons.
By utilizing the waste steam from the
electric light plant the cost of heating
the house in cold weather is reduced tC
a minimum. Besides it saves caring fol-
a dirty furnace and handling coal and
ashes. The room that a furnace and coal
bin ordinarily take up can be used foI
other purposes. With special meter rates
for electric heating the cost of cooking
the various meals is no more than il
would be if coal or gas was used and the
cleanliness, convenience and healthful
ness of electricity is worth more thar
money can buy.
The greatest inventor and genius in