Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1919-01-06
HISTORY AND PROGRESS
OF CHICK |NCuBATORs
Practice Dates Back Two Thousand
Years, an(' Was Known to tho
Egyptians Even Earlier.
FOUND PERFECTION IN AMERICA

Yankee Genius Responsible for Con-
venicncc OF Present Machines.
Various Types of Incubators Used
I'm This Country.
The Egyptians. according to Aris-
totlc. Matched eggs in vessels buried in
the ground and covered with manure.
but this primitive method was aban
doned at least 1000 years ago. From
b akEa"S s" In zoos. 5000. 900 eggs
We're SO incubated. and SIS per cent
The Egyptian hatchery is built part
ly underground. The walls are of clay
and and manure n,,, three feet thick thor;
each floor; After the. interior of the
heated by burning straw and NATURE
in the fireplaces. the eggs are Installed.
One. compartment IL filled every three
all the time. except when the attend
ants pass In or out. The latter are so
exnert ,, that they can tell by feeling the
rect, also IL the germ In each egg is
Hntching In Europe.
The earliest European attempt at in
cubation was reported in France about
lao: AS was the case in Egypt. Rea-
heat. But it was not until about 1850.
, when Carbonnier invented an incl
bait. Ec@tcl by tank of hot wa .er
with lamp under one end Of it. that
much success was obtained. In this
Covered with a Cloth. over r" which Was
spread one-half inch of sawdust. Tho
eggs were removed once daily. turned,
with warm water. Many successful
tn
In 1856 the principle or circulating
glass forming heating chamber was
discovered. and that same year an
other Inventor used a pan Of. water
These principles proved Advantageous
and have been retained by many incu-
bators Of the present time.
During these years American in
ventors were giving much thought TO
1870. Graves, OF Boston, brought for
ward hatcher with a hot-water tank
and 'e Chick eksS Thpe pan seG
fui, Halsted. discovering that the In
at the center. than at the edges. origi-
hot water from the boiler around the the
Graves and Halsted machines used reg
uiators worked by the expansion OF
oe of m gnas tubes
gone TO the sitting hen to ascertain
what are the Matching laws of nature.
cut and Improve on nature without
experiencing failure. One OF the best
iiiu. ,Ha lon, Of eopyins nature is found
Senwick mounted clock on top of his
hatcher. connected by levers to venti-
hea Srns sss egg n WB }qss tn, the
cool eggs inside her wings numerous
times daily. and moves the warmed
time II sooler tneS sah remain so t fG
Inventor by means OF his clock main
tained minimum temperature OF 100
maximum temperature OF about l04 or
100. THIS hot and colo variation con-
nn rnod id dso MS the hatch It was
fortunately 1T was too costly and uom-
plicatcd.
Renwlck also used rollers in the bot
turned at one time. we have roller
same principle.
These early incubators were SO elab-
crate and expensive that few poui-
,r,ymen could afford them. They were
a nfpted sy ns as the ho,air
iishman. m,roduced his nIs Hydro al MEDIA nbs
e senf WSrsea g. sy ihe simple pie
water from a tank twice a day and
replacing: the water with that which
hatch chicks In this crude way, but the
hydro, did hatch more chicks than the
complicated conn, Lated machines and there was
but good as this style was, 1t soon
lost out because there was too much
supplied the popular demand by adding
a small boiler al one end OF the tank
WIZ PIPES pe Which hd; cireuia,sd the heated
every t1elye hours. " gut g saSu ,,m Il
", Was sic. learned that the lamp could better
tire period. This principle is found
In many OF our present day incubators.
D ~ recent years the size of tho hot
materially reduced. The object has
s been TO enable the regulator to re-
of outside temperatures.
The, majority of the modern lamp
heated !" ran e ine9bators use a small brass
and alcohol to control the temberature
of the egg chamber. AT the Matching
11ehm lem ,Gn these liqu,ds. volatiiize
water. increasing the pressure as the
temperature inreases. so that it is only
necessary to transmit this movement
temperature We desire.
american Hot Air Hntcher..
By one of the foremost poultry eo,inl
ment manufacturers of the United
States is heated by the diffusion Of
warmed fresh air. Va
The outside air is warmed around
the the smoke flne Of the lamp, and intro
uucad INTO large. heating chamber
cools., 1t descends into the egg cham
Der through cloth covered frame
called iaphiagm and so slowly does
the dihusion take place that a uniform
temnerhture of the egg chamber is
The Introduction of this diffusion
type OF hot-air incubator practically
solved the moisture problem, and elm
mated pans OF water under tho eggs.
IN some makes Of incubators the mois-
ture pan is still thought to be nee
essary. The hot.air machines have
tray: through which the newly-hatched
chicks drop into a chick nursery i'm
the lower part OF the machine. The
feature, some OF them holding fba