The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1919-06-30

KEEPS ICETANK
IN HIS ATTIC
Cold Air Conducted to Lower Rooms by
Pipes and Temperature Reduced to
65 Degrees-Must Keep Lower Part
of Room Closed to Hold Cold Air.

WASHINGTON, June 30.-Dr. Alex
ander Graham Bell, inventor Of the tele-
phone, has found way to cool a house
and make it comfortable on the hottest
day of the year. Recently while other
Washington people were swelterng he
worked in room which had been cooled
to 65 degrees. His plan, which can be
used by anybody, is to store ice in the
rooms below.
Explaining his discovery to the Nation
al Geographic society, DR.. Bell declared:
y on heat your house in winter, why not
cool it in summer? We get up to the
Arctic regions and heat our houses and
live. We 90 down to the tropics and die.
Il have found one radical defect in the
construction of onr houses that absolute
ly precludes the possibility of cooling
| them to any great degree. You will read
| lily understand the difficulty when you re-
member that cold air is heavier than
| warm air. You can take bucket of cold
air, for example, and carry it about in
! the summertime and not spill drop, but
if you make hole in the bottom of the
bucket, of course the cold air will al
run out.
II began to think that it might be pos
sible to apply the bucket principle al
least TO one room i'll my Washington
home and thus get a place of retreat il
the summertime 1t seemed to be adj
visabIe to close up all openings near tn,
bottom of the room to prevent the es
cape of cold air and open the windows a
the top to let out the heated air of tn
room.
Now it so happens that | have in tn,
| basement of my house swimming tanl
and it occurred to me that since this tanI
holds water it should certainly hold col,
air. So | turned the water ont and mad
a room of it. The tank seemed to b
damp and the sides felt wet and slippery
| reflected, however, that the cOndensa
ton OF moisture resulted from the fac
that the sides of the tank were coole
than the air admitted. Water vapor vii
not condense on anything that is warme
than itself, and it occurred to me tina
il | introduced air that was much colde
than | wanted To use then it would b
warming up IN the tank and becomin
dryer all the time 1t would not deposi
moisture on the sides and would actual
absorb the moisture there
] therefore provided refrigerator !
which were placed large blocks OF ic
covered with salt. This was placed i
another room at higher elevation tina
the tank, and a pipe covered with ASIDE
tos was employed to lead the cold a
into the tank.
II -
walls and then | felt the level Of Il
cold air gradually rising. At last
came over my head. The tank was fu
o and | found myself immersed in cool al
| felt so cool and comfortable that
seemed difficult to believe that Washin
ton stood sizzling outside. ] climbed /
the ladder in the tank until my head VI
J above the surface, and then found myse
breathing hot damp, muggy atmo
n phcre. | therefore speedily retreated in
the tank. where was perfectly cool al
comfortable
Guided by this experience. tried n
other experiment in my house / PIT Il
J refrigerator in the attic and led the co
air downward through a pipe cover
with asbestos into one of the rooms
the house The doors were kept shut al
:. the windows were opened at the top. I
= temperature in that room was perfect
T comfortable, about G5 degrees.
- " Some time ago the newspapers we
:, speaking of an ice plant that had be
- installed in the White House, aud &C
- graduated the President. then Mr.. Ia
! upon a temperature OF only 80 degrs
: when the thermometer showed 100 {
~ grees outside Under similar condition
enjoyed in my house temperature
n to degrees (the ideal tcmperaturcl, VI
ct delicious feeling of freshness in the ali
D., Do what you can when you are unal
to do what YOU would