The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1919-07-29
ICEBOx IN ATTIC
COOLS HIS HOME
Or. Bell Turns Trained Mind to
Keeping Comfortable in
Hot Weather.
Big VICTORY FOR SCIENCE
Air Reduced to IS Degrees and Inven-
tor Works In Ease While Capital
Perspire-Pipes Cold Air
In Home.

ham Bell, inventor Of the telephone,
has found a way to cool a house and
make 1t comfortable on the hottest day
of the year. Recently while other
Washington people were %sweltering he
worked In a room which had been
cooled to 65 degrees. His plan, which
a be used by anybody, Is to store Ice
in the garnet and conduct the cooler
air to rooms below.
Explaining his discovery to the Ma
tional Geographic society, Doctor Bell
declared: "You heat your house In
winter, why not cool 1t In summer?
We get up to the arctic regions and
heat our houses and live. We go down
to the tropics and die.
81 have found n radical defect in
the construction Of our houses that
absolutely precludes the possibility of
cooling them to any great degree. You
will readily understand the difficulty
when you remember that cold air Is
heavier than warm air. You can take
a bucket Of cold air, for example, and
carry 1t about In the summer time and
not spill a drop. but IL you make a hole
in the bottom of the bucket, Of course
the cold air will all run out.
His Tank-Room Felt Cool.
81 began to think that 1t might be
possible to apply the bucket principle
at least to n room In my Washing
ton home and thus get a place of re-
treat In the summer time. 1t seemed
to be advisable to close up all open
ings near the bottom of the room to
prevent the escape of cold air, and
open the windows at the top to let
out the heated air of the room.
"Now 1t SO happens that / have in
the basement of my house q swim
ming tank and 1t occurred to me that
since this tank holds water 1t should
certainly hold cold air. SO / turned
the water out and made a room of 1t.
The tank seemed to be damp and the
sides felt wet and slippery.
Il reflected, however, that the con
densation of moisture resulted from
the fact that the sides of the tank
were cooler than the air admitted.
Water vapor will not condense on
anything that is warmer than itself,
and 1t occurred to me that If / intro
duced air that was much colder than
/ wanted to use, then 1t would be
warming up In the tank and becom-
Ing dryer all the time. 1t would not
deposit moisture on the sides and
would actually absorb the moisture
there.
Il therefore provided a refrigerator
In which were placed large blocks of
ice covered with salt. This was
placed In another room at a higher
elevation than the tank, and a pipe
covered with asbestos was employed
to lead the cold air into the tank.
"The first effect was the drying of
the walls and then l felt the level of
h cold air gradually rising. At last
1t came over my head. The tank was
full and / found myself immersed In
cool air. / felt so cool and comfort
able that 1t seemed difficult to believe
that Washington stood sizzling out
side. I climbed up the ladder In the
tank until my head was above the
surface, and then found myself
breathing a hot. damp, muggy at
mosphere. / therefore speedily retreat
ed int the tank, where / was perfectly
cool and comfortable.
Pipes Cold Air in House.
Guided by this experience, 1 tried
another experiment In my house. !
put the refrigerator In the attic and
led the cold air downward through a
pipe covered with asbestos into one
OF the rooms of the house. The doors
were kept shut and the windows were
opened at the top. The temperature
In that room was perfectly comfort
able, about 65 degrees.
Some time ago the newspapers
were speaking Of an ice plant that had
been Installed In the White House, and
congratulated the president, then Mr..
Taft. upon a temperature of only so
degrees when the thermometer showed
100 degrees outside. Under similar
conditions / enjoyed In my house a
temperature of IS degrese (the ideal
tpmperature1. with a deliciOus faalinp