STOVE 



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air, by the time it has ascended through the zigzag range to the pipe e e, -will be 

 nearly of the same temperature with it, and will therefore abstract none of its heat. 

 Thus the upper pipes, if there be several in the range, will be quite inoperative, 

 wasting their warmth upon the sooty air. 



Fig. 1917 exhibits a transverse vertical section of a far more economical and 

 powerful stove, in which the above evils are avoided. The products of combustion of 

 the fire A, rise up between two 

 brick walls, so as to play upon the 

 bed of tiles B, where, after com- 

 municating a moderate heat to the 

 series of slanting pipes whose areas 

 are represented by the small 

 circles a a, they turn to the right 

 and left, and circulate round the 

 successive rows of pipes, b b, c c, 

 d d, e e, and finally escape at the 

 bottom by the flues g, g, pursuing 

 a somewhat similar path to that of 

 the burned air among a bench of 

 gaslight retorts, it is known that 

 two-thirds of the fuel have been 

 saved in the gasworks by this dis- 

 tribution of the furnace. For the 

 purpose of heating apartments, the 

 great object is to supply a vast 

 body of genial air ; and, therefore, 

 merely such a moderate fire should 

 be kept up in A, as will suffice to 

 warm all the pipes pretty equally 

 to the temperature of 220 Fahr. ; and, indeed, as they are laid with a slight slope, 

 are open to the air at their under ends, and terminate at the upper in a common 

 main pipe or tunnel, they can hardly be rendered very hot by any intemperance of 

 firing. If the tubes be made of stoneware, its construction will cost very little ; and 

 they may be made of any size, and multiplied so as to carry off the whole effective 

 heat of the fuel, leaving merely so much of it in the burned air as to waft it fairly 

 up the chimney. 



Open fire places are, and probably will ever remain, favourites in this country. 

 There is no doubt that the ordinary arrangement of our fireplaces is very defective. 

 Much heat is lost there is not an equal diffusion, and those sitting in the apartment 

 are exposed to annoying draughts of cold air. Arranged as our buildings are, it is not 

 easy to perceive how any very great improvement could be made so long as we desire 

 the enjoyment of an open fire and the luxury of light and air. 



In the greater number of stoves proper, the objections are obvious to every one. In the 

 more common kinds of stove the fire is surrounded directly by the surface to be heated, 

 which, being placed unprotected in the room, radiates heat and warms the air by direct 

 contact. All such are liable to become overheated, and then the unpleasant smell im- 

 parted to the air is highly objectionable. Such stoves also dry the air, and the result 

 is that headaches and other annoying sensations are produced. The common stoves 

 need not be described. Dr. Arnott introduced, many years since, a stove in which the 

 arrangements were very complete ; and as the combustion was regulated with much 

 facility, they were economical. The chief feature of Arnott's stove was a mode of 

 adjusting the amount of air supplied to the fire. A regulating valve is fitted to the 

 aperture of the ash-pit, consisting of a frame nicely balanced, and turning with the 

 slightest force upon a centre ; to this is attached a steel-yard, in which are several holes 

 for the insertion of a weight. This determines exactly the size of the opening, and of 

 course regulates the quantity of air admitted to the fire. 



In these stoves there is a tendency, when the stove is not heated above 250 or 

 300, to the formation of considerable quantities of carbonic acid, which finds its 

 way into the room from the ashpit-door ; and when the combustion is languid, car- 

 bonic oxide is often formed, which passes away by the chimney unconsumed, involving 

 a loss of heat. 



Space will net admit of our describing the Dutch or American stoves, which are 

 mainly modifications of the ordinary forms, which are sufficiently well known. 



It would, perhaps, be no exaggeration to say that with close stoves, heating 

 apparatus, and other arrangements, in which there is no appearance of warmth, a 

 much higher temperature of the atmosphere is required to make it even feel as warm 

 as in that of an apartment heated by an open fire. Indeed, it may be fairly 



