Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-07-09
IN ATTIC
COOLS HIS HOME
Victory For Science and a
Lot of Sailed
Ice

Washington.-Dr. Alexander Ora
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 can be used by any
body, is to store ice in the garnet
and conduct the cooler air to rooms
below.
Explaining his discovery to the
National Geographic Society, DIR.
Bell declared: you heat your house
in winter, why not COO it in sum-
mer? We get up to the Arctic re-
gions and heat our houses and live.
We go down to the tropics and die.
II have found one radical defect
in the construction of our houses
that absolutely precludes the possi-
bility of cooling them to any great
degree. Yor 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 it about
in the summertime and not spill a
drop, but If you make a hole in the
bottom of the bucket, of our the
cold air will all run out.
His Tank-ROOm Felt Good
II began to think that it might
be possible to apply the bucket prin-
ciple at least to n room in my
Washington home and thus get q
place of retreat in the summertime.
1t seemed to be advisable to close
UP all openings 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 I have
in the basement of my house q
swimming tank and it occurred to
me that since this tank holds water
it should certainly hold cold air.
So l turned the water out and made
a room of it. The tank seemed to
be damp and the sides felt wet and
slippery.
II reflected. however, that the
condensation of moisture resulted
from the fact that the sides of the
tank were cooler than the air ad-
mitted. Water vapor will not con-
dense on anything that is warmer
than itself, and it occurred to me
that If 1 introduced air that was
much colder than l wanted to use,
then it would be warming up in the
tank and becoming dryer all the
time. 1t would not deposit moisture
on the sides and would actually ad-
sorb the moisture there.
Il therefore provided a refriger-
ator 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 1 felt the
level of the cold air gradually ris-
ing. At last it came over my head.
The tank was full and I found my
self immersed in cool air. l felt so
cool and comfortable that it seemed
difficult to believe that Washington
stood sizzling outside. 1 climbed up
the ladder in the tank until my
head was above the surface, and
then found myself breathing a hot,
damp, muggy atmosphere. I there
fore speedily~retreated into the tank.
where I was perfectly cool and COM
Portable. flhs
Pipes Cold Air in House
Guided by this experience, I tried
another experiment in my house. 1
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 win
dows were opened at the top. The
temperature in that room was per-
fectly comfortable. about IS degrees.
Some time ago the newspapers
were speaking of an ice plant that
a been installed in the White
House, and congratulated the Presi-
dent, then Mr. Taft, upon a tempera-
ture of only 80 degrees when the
thermometer showed 100 degrees
outside. Under similar conditions I
enjoyed in my house a temperature
of IS degrees (the ideal tempera-
ture), with a delicious feeling of
freshness in the air."