162 



NFAV ENGLAND FARMER, 



Do.-. 7, 1831. 



lielow the liiim of the kettle. — It is nrg«d thatUvithin bonnils. liiat a hiicU flue wouhl eoiisuiiie in 

 it (>ii"ht 10 lie phieed at ihe hightst [".iDt in the ii liuihliiig of the same (rnneiisidus. Hut 1 maybe 



mislakeii, aiul shall wail until I can test the rael,as 

 I hope lo lie able to do the eomiri; winter. 



The fifth (ibj;;ction lo Mr Aikiiisoii is the in 

 troiliiclioii of iwo pipes at the upper part of ihc 

 kettles to convey the waier from the hoiler to the 

 reservoir and one only at ilie hotlom to return 

 the water from the reservoir lothe b<iller. 



It is s.iid that ihat the pi|>a lielow must lie as 

 large as lioth tliMSc at the lop or the circiilati m 

 will he L-lierked — Is this eorrect ? 



When the water in the holier is heated to 

 a proper temperature it will be raised hy e.\pan- 

 sion, as in the case hefne statcil : — ' and a]tlioii;;h 

 llie density of the water in Ihe boiler will de- 

 crease in ronsef]Mcnce of its expansion yet as soon 

 as the head or colnmn of fluid in the boiler above 

 the centre of the upper pipes is of a greater 

 weight than the column or head in the reservoir 

 taken from the same level, motion will commence 

 along the upper pipes IVom the holler to the res- 

 ervoir ; and the change this motion produces in 

 the eqnililirinm of the fluid, will cause a corres- 



boiler ami reservon-. 



Any one who looks at Mr Tredgol I'.s plates 

 will see that this is not the fact ; and the veiy 

 means by which the eircnhition is produced 

 through the apparatus shows that Mr Alkin>nn 

 is right in dinciiug the upper pipe to he plac- 

 ed three inches below the luiiu of the kettles; 

 for if yon were to place your upper pipe near the 

 rim of ths boiler, the mo"]nent ihe walcr was heat- 

 ed to a sufficient lemperaiure to produce a circii- 

 lation, your boiler would overflow and you would 

 lose alfthe advantage which is derived from its 

 expansion. 



Mr Tredgold says—' the apr>iture of the upper 

 ])ipe should iTot he more than about an inch be- 

 low the surface of the water, or as much as pre- 

 venis its drawing air in an open boiler.' Now 

 here is an inch of water allowed by Tredgold 

 above the upper part of ihe upper pipe in the 

 outset, when the water is all cold. — ' If heat be 

 applied to the boiler,' continues Mr Tredgold 'the ^ 

 eifect of the heat will exjiand the water in the 

 boiler, and its surface will in conseiineiice rise to 

 a higher level.' This he marks in his plate about 

 one and half inches above ihe level of the water 

 when cold ; of course the water in the boiler is 

 raised two and a half inches above the upper part 

 of the pipe, and if there had not been suflicient 

 space left above the pipe, it would have run over : 

 and as the circulation depemls on this head of 

 water, through its tendency lo pro<lnce an equili- 

 brium, it cannot be dispensed with in any case, or 

 in any apparatus, whether open or closed, shallow 

 or deep, great or small, that I can perceive. 



The third objection mode to Atkinson is, that 

 he depends altogether on his hot water' without 

 the auxiliary of smoke or brick flues, by the aid 

 of which, it is said, ;he teioinrMture for along 

 time may be raised many degrees above ihe heal 

 from the hot water pipes, and ihat ihis heat ought 

 not to be Inst. I had conceived ihat one of the 

 principal objects of heating with hot wnter, was 

 to get rid of smoke flues ; an<l Mr Tredgold seems 

 to me to favor ibis o[iiiiion very strongly. H 

 says in the letter to the secretary above refei 

 red to — ' The obvious advantages of this meth- 

 od are 



1st. The mild and equal temperature it prod 

 ceB, for the hot snrfice cannot be hotter than 

 boiling water. 



2d. The power of heating such a body of water 

 as will preserve the temperatiire of the house 

 many hours without atleniion. 



3d. The freedom from smoke, and oilier efilu- 

 via of smoke flues,' 



'In houses for [ilants,' says ho, 'these advanta- 

 ges are most important.' Here then Mr Tredgold 

 thinks one of the obvious advantages of hot water 

 apparatus is to exclude suioke flues. 



The fourth objection made to this inode of heat- 

 ing with large boilers and large reservoirs is on ac- 

 count <if its great consumption of fuel ; which, if 

 well founiled, is a very serious one, and indeed 

 fatal to its usefulness where economy is an object. 

 But I can see nothing in Mr Tredgold's communi- 

 cation which justifies this belief. From my own 

 experience, which is to be sure but small, I should 

 doubt the fact. On the contrary, I believe that a 

 house eighty feet long may be kept at a (iroper de- 

 gree of temperature during the tvventyfour hours, 

 by this method, with one liiird the fuel, to spoak 



ponding motion in the lower pipe from the reser- 

 voir to the boiler,' so says Mr Tredgold. — Now 

 when ten gallons of water are displaced from the 

 boiler through the njiper pipes, is there not a cor. 

 responding quantity let into the bottom of this 

 vessel from the lower pipe immeilialely, to pro- 

 duce the eflTect above stated ? What odds does it 

 make wlutlier the lower pipe be smaller or larger 

 than the upper one.' it can only discharge so 

 much water in either case into the boiler as will 

 prorluce the cquilibrinni above spoken of, and if 

 the lower pipe be larger than the upper one; the 

 water from it will move more slowly ; if it be 

 smaller, it will move more rapidly. This at least 

 is my view of the subject, and if 1 am wrong I 

 should like to be corrected. If I am right, tlien 

 it follows that tf the two upper pipes, each 4 nich- 

 es in dianieler, take off ten gallons of water from 

 ilio br.iler in ten si:coiids, the same qiiantin will 

 be repliiced from llie lower pipe (which s also 

 a 4 inch bore) in the same period of time ; bnl 

 the motion of the water in the lower |iip! vvi 



be twice as great as that in the upper pipes. I '"^"" '^ ""' '"■'"'<■'' "' ^<^<»">"'y- 



of this box there is one upper pipe only to con- 

 vey the uatcrto ihe reMu v. lir across the house 

 to the back wall, where it is placed. Fiom the 

 reservoir there is only one returning or lowerpipe 

 back lo the box in front of it, and ihence to tim 

 box in front of the boiler, and thence to the boil- 

 er itself. — It is said this ]dan is entirely defec- 

 tive. I own I should prefer to have the two 

 upper pipes run directly from the boiler to the res- 

 ervoir and lo have the lower pipe return in the 

 same manner. But if Mr Aikinson couimunica- 

 ted this plan to the secretary of the horiicnlturul 

 society, lam snri rised that Mr Tredgold di<l not, 

 in his review of ihat article, point out its defects. 

 I .-lioidil think that the ariile angles where the pipe.* 

 join the boxes would relani the circulation of 

 the water. 1 should also apprehend thai the sin- 

 gle upper pipe leading acro,ss the house from 

 the boiler ought to be large enough lo convey 

 as niuch water to the box in front of it, as i» 

 taken off" by the two upper pipes that run in 

 front of the building ; but experiment alone caii 

 sluAv the fact. 



I have written you so long n letter I nm 

 ashamed to send it lo yon — but as you are as 

 interested in the subject as I am and know 

 iiiuch more than I do of its principles I trust you 

 will excuse the trouble I am giving you to peruse 

 and answer it. 



With much esteem and respect, I am, dear sir, 

 Your obedient servant, 



Samuel G. Perkins. 

 By the Editor. — Although my respected correspondent 

 ba« given me credit for much more science on the sub- 

 ject be has discus<!Ctl than 1 possess, [ cheerfully contri- 

 ! ncle my iiiite lo the irensury of useful inlormat on. 



Healing rooms, &.c, liy steam, is a modern invention, 

 I and (lie use ot hot water for warming hot houses is of 

 Ulill later orisin. In Ibc Lomlon Pliilosopliical Transac- 

 j lions for the year 1715, it is staled tlmt Col. W. Cook 

 suggested the idea of employing steam as a means of dis- 

 tributing heal. Steam has since Teen applied for that 

 I purpose in Great Britain and in the United States in va- 

 rious ways, and a great many patents have been granted 

 I in both tbo<e counliies for real or supposed iuiprove- 

 'The first of lhce« 



The 



Iv reason whv I should want mv ,„wer "'""'""•' "•■">•* ■'^''" ''"'■<=''='''<'• f^"""" "" "''"■"""«^ ""'' 



upper one is, because the 



Ventilating Rooms, !rc. p. 11,) ' was granted lo John 



ve lue iieat 



pipe as lai-f^ 



greater its caliber the more water there is „ i.e 1 ""*■'*• "f "«'''^"'' '" '™'' "■<"■* """'<^ °'"<^°"""""'"''°8 

 healed to serve as a reserve heat ; and the greiter I ''"' '° ^i-"" ''""se". churches, &c. His plan consisted 

 the surftce over which this heat is given out a'ler'" """"-.viKK --t*^"'" i" PM'fs or lubes into, rounder 

 the fire is extiniruished. ihiough the place to be warmed; the pipes being first 



In nn apparatus to be u.sed only during theat- ' '''""' '» 'heir highest elevation, and then descending 

 tendance of ihe gardener, if my upper pipe woiM | w'd> » gentle declivity to a cistern for tlie condensed 



steam ; the supp'y of wafer to tlie boiler to be regulated 

 by a ball cock, (Rep. nf.lits, vol. I, p. 300— ."JOS old se- 

 ries ) Tliis scarcely diffars ;n Snylhing fiom Col. Cook'i 

 plan, which bad been known forty years sooner. In 1793 

 a patent was granted to .loseph Green, whose mode of ap- 

 plication was different, and has had ihe honor of being 

 adopted, with slight variations of lijrm, by a number of 

 later projectors. His method consisted in passing fresh 

 air through a worm or pipe, immer^r-ed in hot water or 

 steam, by which means the purity of the air was to b« . 

 preserved. When the beat v. as conveyed to a distance, 

 he says, * I inclose the pipes throujih which the warm 

 air is conveyed in large pipes to which the steam rises 

 fiom Ihe boiler— ('Re;), of Arts, vol. 1, p. 21— 24, old se- 

 ries.) Col. Cook's idea was neglected, no doubt because 

 tpiomised too much. Whoever attempted to warm a 



h to raise the house to a | 

 per temperature, I believe a returning pipe of n:e 

 third the .size of the other would answer all tie 

 purpose required. The only question in ry 

 mind is, as the friction in small pipes is great-r 

 than in large ones, whether any obstruction arisiig 

 from thin cause would retard the motion .' 



The. e is one construction of apparatus by Jr 

 A'kiuson which has been erected here under Is 

 written directions, of which I confess I feel inoe 

 ilouht as to it operation; it is this — the boiler beiii 

 in the shed behind the back wall of the lious, 

 has one upper pipe only leading from its tc) 

 across the end of the house to a square iron bx 

 in t1ie front of it. — From this iron box there ae 

 two u|)per pipes of the same size as the fiistnan- 

 eil leading along the front of ihe house fifty fefjlirge suite of apartments by the spare beat of a kitchen 

 into ano;her square iron box ; and from thesid I fire would fail, because <o small a quantity of heat it 



