J7J2 



The Weekly Florists' RevieWt 



May 3, 1906. 



this pressure bv cxliausiiii'; l lif air I'roin 

 a vessel containing \\ater ami tiien seal 

 lliis vessel \\i' ••an Imil tiie water oon- 

 tninod in tlie sanu' at a t('nii)erature of 

 9S degrees, ami tliis walcr will oive oil' 

 vai»or or steam while boiiiny exactly the 

 same as water <loes when boilin<^ in an 

 (i])cn vessel at a 1i'Hi|ii'iai uii' of '2\'2 de- 

 jii'ci's. .\s we itii-iraM' t hr pi'cssure we 

 also raise the )Miim at which water boils. 



It is a well kimwa fact that it is pos- 

 sible to ])ra(tically exiiaiist ihe air from 

 a vessel by filling that vessel with steam, 

 then sealing the same and allowing the 

 steam to condense. Steam occujjies a 

 space 1,700 times greater than the water 

 from which it emanates; ct)nsequently 

 when steam, fdling a vessel, is condensed 

 to water, as the wyter 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 tliis space. 

 This phenomeno)! has long been a recog- 

 nized fact by leading heating engineers, 

 but the difficulty lias been to find a prac- 

 tical device which would permit the air 

 to be expelled from the system, auto- 

 niaticallv pre\ eating the emission of 

 steam when the ajijiaratus was o|)(>rated 

 under pressure, and then automatically 

 j>reventing the ingress of air to the ajv 

 j)aratus when steam pressure was re- 

 duced below tliat of atnuisphere. 



The one great oltjection to the ordi- 



short tin^e became stone cold and the 

 compartments in which they are placed 

 beci)me moie or less chilly, according to 

 the condition of the outside temperature. 



liv 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 

 •ill air when pressure on the boiler regis- 

 ters one jiound or over, automatically 

 closing wlien steam reaches the valves, 

 and when })ressuro 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- 

 (juii'cd to combat the outside tempera- 

 ture. The greater the difference be- 

 tuxen 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 

 t(i supply the called for steam to take 

 the place of the condensed steam. If, 

 for instance, the teaiperatnre of the 

 steam in the lieating coils in one cflse is 

 •-'■_'7 degi'ces (five yiounds pressure) and 

 tin' maiiitained temperature in the 

 heated I'ooni is 70 degrees, it stands to 

 i-eason that tln-re will be a much greater 



Oscar Lion. 



nary low p^essl^re system of steam heat- 

 ing is the fact that when the fires are 

 banked for the night or allowed to run 

 low during 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 -team was 191 de- 

 grees (ten inches of vacuum) and the 

 maint.'tined ti'mi>erature 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 In. 



201 degrees, 50 feet per hour 6 In. 



190 degrees, 39 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. 



Hko. D. Hoffaian. 



THE RIBBON BUSINESS. 



The florists of America ufie a million 

 dollars' worth of ribbons every year. It 

 is the estimate of Oscar Lion, head of 

 Lion & Co., Xew York, who ought to 

 know. Mr. Lion has been in the ribbon 

 business for seventeen years. He started 

 as a boy in a ribbon house and did 

 errands for .$2.50 a week. By 1899 he 

 had progres.sed from alpha to omega in 

 the ribbon business and in that year or- 

 ganized the firm of I, ion & Wertheimer, 

 which came to enjoy a large patronage 

 from florists. Idealizing 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. ,T.. I 'quipped with the mo.st 

 modern facilities for making such rib- 

 bons as the florists' business requires. 

 In making Iiis estimate that a million 

 dollars is not less than the value of the 

 ribbons the florists use each year, Mr. 

 I>ion reniark< that it is the purpose ot 

 his house 1o merit, and eventually se- 

 cure, the major ]>art of this luisiness. 



Vegetable Forcing. 



ELECTRIC LETTUCES. 



Under the above head our esteeme<l 

 contemporary, the Saturday Evening 

 Post, of Philadelphia, which mixes its 



