CONDUCTED BY ISAAC 5IIL,Ij. 



Tkoss who labor in tke carlh are the chosenpeopU of Ood, whose breasts he hasmade his peculiar depoaite for aubHtantidl an^ genuine i)ir<i;e."— Jefferson. ^ 



VOLUME 2. 



CONCORD, N. H. DEC. 31, 1840. 



NUMBER 12- 



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EDITED BY ISAAC HILL. ^ 



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Concord, N. H. 



THE VISITOli 



For the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. 

 Farm House Architecture. 



No. 3. 

 In the midst of the many improveiueuts which 

 have taken place both in the domestic and public 

 buildings of this country, there is still one pre- 

 vailing and apiiareully an increasing dsl'eel iu 

 their iHterlor construction, which calls loudly for 

 H remedy: 1 mean the construction of chimneys. 

 Blany individuals have directed their attention to 

 the subject, and many suggestions have been pub- 

 lished at different times Tbut the evil seems to be 

 on the Increase, and the means now so generally 

 resorted to for the cure, are so devoid of certain- 

 ty, that they have become a foul blot on tbe char- 

 acter of our Builders nnd Architects. In our 

 v/alk about town, or ride in the country, may be 



the builder and the architect have failed to do 

 what was e.xpected oi' them by the owner. 



To the writer, it appears quite evident that no 

 individual, however excellent his plans, or dis- 

 interested his motives, can perform the work of 

 improvement alone; but he is not without his 

 hopes, although the evil is a great one, if every 

 one who may wish the accomplishment.of a very 

 desirable object will do what he can, the progress 

 of the error may be arrested, and the means of 

 obtaining a chimney that will answer the purpose 

 for whicli it was inlended may be within the 

 reach of every man. For one, i am satisfied, 

 that there are j)rinci|)les on w,iicli cliinmeysmay 

 be built, that will insure them a certain and unin- 

 terrupted passage for smoke. If one chinmey 

 can be built to answer its purpose, so may twen- 

 ty ; and if twenty can be made perfect, so may 

 twenty thousand. And yet, in many jilaces, if not 

 generally, more than one half of the chimneys 

 are so built, that they infiict this lasting evil — this 

 century calamity u|ion a whole liousehoid. The 

 fuel that is expended, either to make a thorough 

 draught by increasing the tire, or to heat tbe 

 rooms with half ojien doors; the colds, rheuuia- 

 tisms, and variolis disetises induced in this way ; 

 the irritations, tbe actual ill temper occasioned by 

 such circumstances, constitute, altogether, no 

 small item iu the trouble and afflictions of do- 

 mestic lile. 



The ancients, according to Pliny, were subject 

 to the same troubles from sniuke, that we are; 

 and iu order to mitigate the nuisance, they an- 

 ointed their wood, intended for fuel, with the lees 

 of oil. This, indeed, is not a vej^ poetical rea- 

 son for the [iractice of burning fragi'ance, but 

 still jjvwiH be a very plausible one; and although 

 it robs tlic poet of part of his IJuicy customs, it 

 will have quite us iiuicli weight with the practi- 

 cal man. Possibly, the ancients were not alto- 

 gether unacquainted with the uses of the chim- 

 ney and of the damper; and that they knew that 

 damp air or vapor which is specifically lighter 

 than dry air, is the vehicle by which smoke as- 

 cends, "is very )i!obiible ; and the " bottle in the 

 smoke" referred to in Psalms 119 : 83, might have 

 been used ibr the purpose of creating steam and 

 causing smoke to ascend ; and probably gave the 

 idea of hanging a blown bladder in the chimney, 

 which has been used either to iiicrease tbe 

 draught or to prevent the return of the smoke. 

 As late as the year 172(3, builders proposedto 

 provide tbe flues with hollow brass bails, of a 

 reasonable cap;,city, with a little hole in one side 

 to receive the water, to be placed in the flue with 

 the liole upwards, that when the water was hot, 

 it would emit the steam, andibrce up the smoke 

 that might linger iu the way, and oftcnlinics re- 

 turn. Here is ;i description of a real damper; 

 and as this, by the space it occupied contracted 

 the chimney, hence probably tlae lerni damper 

 lias been applied to other modes of contraction. 

 But whether all, or either of these modes answer- 

 ed the purpose intended, is a matter of uncertain- 

 ty and doubt. 



The great vice of modern chimneys is smoke, 

 and that cause is tour-fold : 1st, the wideness of 

 the throat : 2nd, the variation iu the size of the 

 flue ; 3d, tlie contraction of the fli:e from throat 

 to top ; 4th, the careless and Slovenish manner in 

 wiiieh these ill-formed chimneys arc finished—- 

 the numerous crooks, crevices, and projections, 

 causing many draughts, currents, and eddies in 

 the smoke, retarding its proper course, and often 

 ibrcing the newly tbrmed smoke into tho room, 

 to the annoyance of all practical house-keepers 

 and lovers of comfort. 



It is, I believe, a fact in hydrostatics, that water 



will not flow through a pipe of unequal size, so 



freely as through a pijie of equal and uniform 



I size ; for cxanqile, the opening from a cistern is 



one inch in di;>meier, and in the pipe which leads 



cistern. The water in this jiipe will not run in a 

 steady course as in the pipe of equal and uniform 

 size, but will produce eddies and counter cur- 

 rents in the manner shown at tig. 1st. 

 Fig. 1. 



Fig. 2, 



M 



Pig. 2nd, represents a pipe of equal size 

 throughout, and supposed to be placed iu a cistern 

 with equal head of water with rig. 1st; the dif- 

 ference in the course of the water may be easily 

 traced; and every one at all acquainted with the 

 action of iiuids, "may readily perceive that the 

 water in fig. 1st will not flow so fas! as in fig. 2d. 



The same principle holds good in relation to 

 the passage of smoke in the chimney. If there 

 are contractions and enlargements of tlic flue, 

 the current of smoke is inqieded in its iirogress 

 by counter currents, eddies and expansion of the 

 volume of vapor, combined with a larger jiortion 

 of air. Under these circumstances, the operation 

 of the smoke is similar to the water in the 

 pipes, retarding its ascent, and forcing 't '^ack a- 

 gain to the fire-place to find some oftiw way of 

 escape. 



Fig. 3. 



fVg-. 3J, represents a section of a chimney with 

 flues of unequal size, and nearly in the common 

 form of coiistrnction, with wide throat, contrac- 

 ted and crooked flue, enlarged in some places to 

 iavcr the .size of the chimney, contracted m otli- 

 ers to favor the situation of other fire-places— al- 

 together such a chimney a.: may be considered 

 certain nuisance when erected. II doubts 

 e e.iam:ne a chimney ot 



as n 



sliould arise, let any 



seen the nianv devices t!i;'.t man's ingenuitj' has , .... 



contrived, to elinrin or coax out the smoke, and i off the water there are protuberances of t^^■o in- 

 proclaiming, as it were from the hotiso top, that I ches in diameter at dilKerent distances fi-om the 



known smoking piopcjisit'CF, 



and thev will find 



that the foiin here shown, is as near the shape of 

 ii smokv chimney as t;an be. 



