Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-10-19
kcceIeratM Makes
Thermostat Sensitive
To Heat Changes
Ideu of Control Not New,
But Has Been Improved
Over the Years
By DOROTHY DUCAS and
ELIZABETH GORDON.

ELIZABETH GORDON.
Control of a heating plant by a
clock is not a new idea. A genera
ton has grown up since the idea OF
automatic raising and lowering OF
indoor temperatures was launched.
But even if we know that tempera-
lures can be adjusted without effort
to suit the varying conditions OF
night and day, the new thermostats
are surprising.
The modern. compact thermoStat
is such a precision instrument 1t
seems almost capable of thought.
Set it at the beginning of the heat
ing season and it will keep your
house at whatever temperature you
want for daytime hours, lower the
tcmpera lure TO the desired point
during the night, and turn it up
again at any early hour OF the
morning you wish. Furthermore, 1t
will respect your schedule with a
faithfulness possible only in me
H2hical servants. All you have
Ado is make the decisions-tne
y hermostat will follow them all
winter.
The reason the new thermostat IS
more sensitive than any OF its prede-
cessors since 1906. when the frst
clock-type thermostat was intro
duced, is that there has been built
into it's streamlined case a small
electric heating coil or accelerator.
This accelerator lies dormant until
heat from the furnace, called tor by
the thermostat, begins to come up.
The accelerator then goes into pay
and hastens to satisfy the point
called for on the thermostat.
The accelerator is so adjusted That
It works Just long enough to insure
the proper amount OF heat from the
hurner-no more. no les5-oe1ore
shutting itself and the burner on
It has been engineered to tunc-
ton for the exact length OF time
practicable in advance-necessary
for the Job at hand. The result is
a cutting down of the lag III time
between "too-cold' and "just-rlght, !"
As well as the discomfort OF the
transition from "too-cold to 100
hot" There is no appreciate fluc-
tl1ation of temperature from the
setting of the thermostat, day In
and day out, in mild weather or
sever. we are told.
Besides this ease and efficiency OF
operation, the new day-and-nlght
tlermostat is improved in design II
does net look like clock on a suck
any more. The latest one is metal
rectangle, with the hour marked IN
numerals lust above a small ther-
naometor bar. Its modern casing
contrasts noticeably with the old
thermostat. which looked like an
outdoor thermometer mounted on an
alarm clock. The new one takes up
much less wall space and blends
more acceptably with modern deco
ratiye schemes. 1t Is an attrac-
tive addition to the home instead OF
a unitarian eyesore.
Completely automatic heat by
means of the new thermostat can
be purchased with new automatic
oil, gas or coal-burning domestic
systems for only $18 more than the
cost of non-clock thermostats. 1t
costs about s29 to replace an old
thermostat. A small installation
charge in addition is usual
Weathered Wood Paneling.
The effort to make new wood look
weathered is perhaps the most char
aoteristic of present-day trends IN
Williamsburg. Countless methods
a-e employed. all to take away that
brand-new look and substitute
something mellow and lived-With.
We have before us sample cy-
press board, with dark stain which
is in color a mixture of dullest
green, slate-gray and beige-it's
called "weathered antique tone" 1t
Is achieved by burning the wood
with a blowtorch. brushing 1t with