J7I2 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



Mat 3, 1906. 



this pressure by exhausting the air from 

 a vessel containing water and then seal 

 this vessel we can boil the water con- 

 tained in the same at a temperature of 

 98 degrees, and this water will give off 

 vapor or steam while boiling exactly the 

 same as water does when boiling in an 

 open vessel at a temperature of 212 de- 

 grees. As we increase the pressure we 

 also raise the point at which water boils. 



It is a well known fact that it is pos- 

 sible to practically exhaust the air from 

 a vessel by filling that vessel with steam, 

 then sealing the same and allowing the 

 steam to condense. Steam occupies a 

 space 1,700 times greater than the water 

 from which it emanates; consequently 

 when steam, filling a vessel, is condensed 

 to water, as the water occupies a space 

 1,700 times less than the steam, the 

 space occupied by the steam will be left 

 a void or vacuum, provided the air is 

 prevented from returning into this space. 

 This phenomenon has long been a recog- 

 nized fact by leading heating engineers, 

 but the diflS.culty has been to find a prac- 

 tical device which would permit the air 

 to be expelled from the system, auto- 

 matically preventing the emission of 

 steam when the apparatus was operated 

 under pressure, and then automatically 

 preventing the ingress of air to the ap- 

 paratus when steam pressure was re- 

 duced below that of atmosphere. 



The one great objection to the ordi- 



short time became stone cold and the 

 compartments in which they are placed 

 become more or less chilly, according to 

 the condition of the outside temperature. 



By the use of the vacuum system this 

 condition is entirely changed. If the 

 job is made tight in other respects, the 

 appliances will freely vent the coils of 

 all air when pressure on the boiler regis- 

 ters one pound or over, automatically 

 closing when steam reaches the valves, 

 and when pressure goes off, by auto- 

 matically preventing the ingress of air 

 to the system, the coils in connection 

 with the boiler keep warm for hours 

 after pressure is off. 



The economy resultant in the use of 

 the vacuum system is because of the 

 ability to control the temperature of the 

 heating coils to just the temperature re- 

 quired to combat the outside tempera- 

 ture. The greater the difference be- 

 tween the temperature of the steam in 

 the heating coils and the temperature of 

 the air in the room being heated, the 

 greater the condensation, and conse- 

 quently the greater the demand for fuel 

 to supply the called for steam to take 

 the place of the condensed steam. If, 

 for instance, the temperature of the 

 steam in the heating coils in one case is 

 227 degrees (five pounds pressure) and 

 the maintained temperature in the 

 heated room is 70 degrees, it stands to 

 reason that there will be a much greater 



Oscar Lion. 



nary low pressure system of steam heat- 

 ing is the fact that when the fires are 

 banked for the night or allowed to run 

 low daring a spell of mild weather, the 

 coils soon begin to cool and in a very 



condensation of steam in this case than 

 there would be in the case where the 

 temperature of the steam was 191 de- 

 grees (ten inches of vacuum) and the 

 maintained temperature in the heated 



room, 70 degrees. In one case there is a 

 difference of 157 degrees between the 

 two extremes, while in the other case 

 there is a difference of 121 degrees. 



To give an idea of the saving in fuel 

 a test was made of the Norwall system 

 of vacuum steam heating on a small 

 plant using gas as fuel. The following 

 table shows the consumption of gas per 

 hour under pressure and vacuum, the 

 temperature of the room in which radia- 

 tors were placed being maintained at 70 

 degrees during the test. 



In colls. Gas used. Vacuum. 



212 degrees, 60 feet per hour O In. 



201 degrees, 60 feet per boor 6 In. 



190 degrees, 89 feet per hour 10% In. 



180 degrees, 29^ feet per hour 14^ In. 



172 degrees, 27^ feet per hour 17 In. 



157 degrees, 24 feet per hour 21 In. 



The economy shown in the above table 

 between the use of sixty feet of gas per 

 hour and the use of twenty-four feet of 

 gas per hour, the temperature of the 

 room still being maintained at 70 de- 

 grees, is occasioned by the fact that 

 when the consumption of sixty feet of 

 gas per hour was necessary to maintain 

 70 degrees in the room, the outside tem- 

 perature was sufficiently cold to demand 

 the use of this amount of fuel. When 

 twenty-four feet of gas per hour with 

 157 degrees of heat in the heating coils 

 was sufficient to maintain 70 degrees 

 in the room, the outside temperature had 

 moderated to such a degree as to render 

 the use of any greater amount of fuel 

 an unnecessary waste. The economy, 

 therefore, to be derived from the use of 

 the vacuum system is the curtailment or 

 absolute prevention of the waste of fuel 

 resultant in overheating. 



The ability to control temperatures 

 within the apparatus to suit the varia- 

 ble conditions of outside temperature 

 must of necessity mean economy in the 

 operation of the plant, both from the 

 standpoint of fuel and the standpoint of 

 labor in the care of the apparatus. 



Oeo. D. Hoftman. 



THE RBBON BUSINESS. 



The florists of America use a million 

 dollars' worth of ribbons every year. It 

 is the estimate of Oscar Lion, head of 

 Lion & Co., New York, who ought to 

 know. Mr. Lion has been in the ribbon 

 business for seventeen years. He started 

 as a boy in a ribbon bouse and did 

 errands for $2.50 a week. By 1899 he 

 had progressed from alpha to omega in 

 the ribbon business and in that year or- 

 ganized the firm of Lion & Wertheimer, 

 which came to enjoy a large patronage 

 from florists. Eealizing the possibilities 

 for an exclusive florists' ribbon house, a 

 few months ago he organized the firm 

 of Lion & Co., with headquarters on 

 Spring street. The mills are at Pater- 

 son, N. J., equipped with the most 

 modern facilities for making such rib- 

 bons as the florists' business requires. 

 In making his estimate that a million 

 dollars is not less than the value of the 

 ribbons the florists use each year, Mr. 

 Lion remarks that it is the purpose of 

 his house to merit, and eventually se- 

 cure, the major part of this business. 



Y^etable Forcing. 



ELECTRIC LETTUCES. 



Under the above head our esteemed 

 contemporary, the Saturday Evening 

 Post, of Philadelphia, which mixes its 



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