Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-25
HEATING AND VENTlLATING
By FREDERIC ]. HASKIN.

At the meeting Of the American Society
Of Heating and Ventilating Engineers
now In session in New York, the subject
receiving first consideration is the estab-
lishment of a standard and uniform meth
cd of determining steam boiler ratings
throughout the world. The present rat
ings are apt to vary with the individual
contractor or manufacturer. and these
discrepancies in the calculation Of heat
sustaining qualities are largely RESPONSE
BILE for the boiler explosions and kindred
accidents which are so frequent AS
means to this end the society is endeav-
oring to secure in all states uniform leg
islation which shall require proper quail
fication certificates from every person
permitted to install a heating or venti-
lating plant There is no art or trade
bearing more directly upon the health
and comfort of the public than the heat
ing and ventilating OF the buildings it
occupies.
fresh air in all buildings occupied by HUI
mainly has reduced the system Of modern
ventilation to science. Atmospheric
purity is as essential to health as the
proper temperatures; SO ventilation ana
heating have been combined in the minds
Of most contractors. and the economic
ADVANTAGE Of the combination is under
stood by ali modern builders.
The new tenement house laws in New
York require an average Of 700 feet OF
pure air for
Law on Subject each person.
IN New York State. not supplied
by mechanical means there must be a
window space of not less than twelve
square feet in each room averaging
twenty feet square. The ceilings must not
be less than eight feet high. Most puiid-
ings. however, have been found to re-
Quire some ventilation facility In ADDITION
to the windows. In buildings used for
manufacturing there should be supplied
to each workman an average fresh air
supply OF thirty cubic feet per minute.
and some apparatus is required Tor iorc-
ing this air into the room and at the
same time exhausting the bad air. inns
can best be done In connection Win the
heat supply. 1t has been demonstrated
that a burning gas jet vitiates the air to
an extent equivalent to the breathing OF
five persons, so that in making calcutta
ton for q room lighted by gas the man
ufacturer must supply Ave times as much
electric light were used.
The enforcement of these laws is doing
away with the great hardshlps OF cheap
labor in congested districts. The poor
girls and women who toll for long hours
over the production Of artificial flowers,
ready-made clothing and other articles will
at least not suffer in the future from the
effect of poisoned air. No better PROOF OF
the harmful effect OF bad ventilation upon
health can be furnished than is shown in
of no United SfQfe9 pension
bureau In it's old badly ventilated room
the annual sick leave aggregated less of
time to the clerks of 1885 days ms
was reduced to 1O,I days Ter year after
the bureau had been moved into the prop
erIy ventilated building it now occupies.
x x
Every large modern building now
erected has a plant installed which pro-
vides ade-
Cat Ereah Air quately for it's
heating an d
by flaming System. ventilatins, if
not for it's lighting. Fresh air is secured
by tanning In air from the outside. gen.
orally near the street level. 1t has been
proved, however, that outside air is not
always pure so the modern plant makes
some provision for purifying this air be-
fore 1t il introduced into tne TcoHls OF
the building. For the Iast ten years
washing the air. has been a subject
of study to the ventilating engineers and
they now recognize this as the best and
most practical method for publication.
The washing is accomplished by various
systems. The one most generally in
use provides q large box into which the
air Is turned to meet sprays OF water.
which cause all the pollutions to fall to
the bottom when they become wet. The
amount OF dirt taken from the air is in
credible II q hand is passed inside the
box It becomes as black as II plunged
into q mud-puddle, while at the bottom
OF the box are collected great quantities
OF filamcrts Of cotton and wool, splinters
of wood and straw and various other
substances.
Great drums covered with water-soaked
burlap are. a new development in the air
washing plant. These devices are en-
ployed in the ventilating system OF the
Union station at Washington. This sup
plies 10000 cubic feet OF fresh air per
minute. It's heating hurface amounts TO
200 square feet of radiation and q
Temperature Of 20 degrees il kept per-
fectly uniform ut all times.
The heating and yentilating plant OF q