TKANSACTIONS OF SKCTIOX B. 391 



might yet experience chilling sensations owing to the radiation from their 

 bodies to the colder walls. 



As a result of these drawbacks, gas-fire heating fell into bad repute, and the 

 position became one only to be retrieved by strenuous research and effort. In 

 this fresh effort the vital importance of the hygienic aspect was at last fully 

 recognised ; concentration was made on radiant heat, but care was taken to 

 avoid straining after this, either to an excessive extent or in the direction of 

 over-intensity. The bad results of high-temperature convection being recog- 

 nised, special convection contrivances were dropped ; but the absolute necessity 

 for retaining a certain amount of low-temperature convected heat to supple- 

 ment the radiant heat was not lost sight of, and express provision for this was 

 made ; some progress was also made in improved ventilation. 



As regards the question of ventilation, we in this country have always been 

 accustomed to the open fire-grate in our houses, and, generally speaking, we 

 depend very largely on the chimney for the removal of air and the ventilation 

 of the room. This method is by no means ideal ; for one thing, the reinoval of 

 air by the coal-fire via the chimney is not infrequently so great that the occu- 

 pants of the room find themselves inconvenienced by the excessive draught near 

 the door. Inasmuch as the majority of rooms in our houses are ventilated by 

 the fire-place, it is necessary, when a gas-fire is installed, that means be 

 devised to ensure its fulfilling this function to the best advantage. This was 

 far from being the case with the gas-fire heated room of even a very few 

 years ago ; the fire was placed in front of the coal-grate, very often with a sheet 

 of iron behind it, thus partly or wholly blocking up the entrance to the 

 chimney, except for the flue outlet of the gas-fire itself. And, in many cases, 

 this flue outlet was of very small dimensions ; the amount of air it withdrew 

 from the room was quite insufficient for adequate ventilation. In some gas- 

 fires the flue vent and canopy were so designed and proportioned as to draw a 

 large volume of air up the flue, but while in this way quite good ventilation was 

 produced — exceeding anything previously reached in gas-fire practice — yet even 

 with such improved fires, free as they were from so many of the objectionable 

 features of the old high-temperature convecting gas-fires, the comfort resulting 

 from the ample air-change effected by the coal-fire was not realised. Though 

 the working of the gas-fire itself afforded entire comfort in a room, yet, if it 

 were kept going all day, it was noticeable that the atmosphere was not so 

 pleasant as the day wore on, and in the evening, when the number of the occu- 

 pants increased, and particularly if gas were used for lighting, the stuffiness 

 became considerable and the gas-fire was blamed. It was indeed the gas-fire 

 that was to blame, but this had nothing to do with its own working as a fire, 

 but was entirely due to the indirect effect on the atmosphere of the partial 

 blocking up of the chimney and the consequent restriction of the ventilation. 



I recognised that unless this single disadvantage under which the gas-fire 

 still laboured, as compared with the coal-fire, could be removed, the use of gas- 

 fires, extensive though it already was, was bound to remain permanently con- 

 fined to those householders who adopted it purely as a matter of labour-saving 

 or convenience, instead of broadening, as it ought, into universal adoption. 

 I, therefore, set about endeavouring to produce a fire which should give an 

 ample and controllable ventilation of the room. This major problem was 

 complicated by several other conditions which, though minor in comparison, were 

 yet of such importance that they had to be regarded as indispensable. Great 

 practical difficulties were experienced as regards these minor conditions, not so 

 much in attaining them individually as in the complicated task of reconciling 

 them with each other in the one apparatus. By continued effort, however, the 

 objects in view were eventually all achieved. The fire thus produced, in 

 addition to its embodying the various points of design and construction called 

 for by modern practice, has the further feature, distinctive to itself, of embrac- 

 ing a special contrivance, simple in appearance, but for long most baffling in 

 the course of its evolution, by which, in injector fashion, a very large amount 

 of air is removed from the room. Briefly described, this contrivance provides 

 two outlets to the chimney. The conformation of these and of the adjacent 

 parts is so proportioned, as the result of much experimental work, that by the 



