686 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol.. II., No. 42. 



shows still greater abundance and variety " 

 than life on the land. We cannot understand 

 why such an article should be translated 

 from a foreign language at considerable ex- 

 pense to the commission. To say the least, it 

 shows a lack of discretion on the part of the 

 editor ; for, were articles of a popular nature 

 desirable, it would not be necessar}^ to incur 

 the expense of translating, since hundreds of 

 popular articles, with fewer misrepresentations, 

 and of far more scientific import, could be 

 found in our ordinar_y newspapers, and pub- 

 lished with much more credit to the commission. 

 When, moreover, it is an open secret that 

 there are papers of real scientific value, written 

 hy eminent naturalists, kept waiting for an 

 opportunity^ of appearing in one of the Fish- 

 commission publications by the great mass of 

 material to be issued before them, the follj^ of 

 burdening the pages of the Bulletin with ma- 

 terial of this kind becomes only too evident. 



BRIGGS'S STEAM-HEATING. 



Steam-heating: an exposition of the American prac- 

 tice in loarminc; buildings by steam. By Robert 

 BrigCtS. N.Y., Van Nostrand, 1883. (Van 

 Nostrand's science series.) 108p. 24°. 

 This little volume is one of the latest issues 

 in the ' Science series,' and is one of the most 

 valuable of a collection of monographs which 

 includes an unusual proportion of excellent 

 contributions to science and to engineering 

 literature. The author of the paper, Mr. 

 Robert Briggs, who died just before the pub- 

 lication of this last of his many papers on the 

 science and the arts of engineering, was well 

 known, both at home and abroad, as one of the 

 ablest writers in the profession. This paper 

 was written as his last annual contribution to 

 the proceedings of the Institution of civil en- 

 gineers of Great Britain, of which great asso- 

 ciation he had long been a member. 



The subject of steam-heating is here treated 

 from a purely practical stand-point, and the 

 paper is full of useful information. An his- 

 torical introduction is given, in which the in- 

 troduction of this method of heating dwellings 

 is ascribed to the late Mr. Joseph Nason of 

 Boston, who was a pupil of the celebrated 

 Jacob Perkins. Later, Messrs. AValworth of 

 Boston, Gregg and Morse and Professor Mapes 

 of New York, Greenwood of Cincinnati, and 

 Tasker of Philadelphia, were influential in per- 

 fecting the sj'stem in the United States. 



In heating by steam, welded wrought-iron 

 tubes are employed, united bj' a system of 

 .screw-threads, which have been brought to cer- 



tain standard forms and dimensions peculiar 

 to the trade. The size of the tubes, and their 

 thickness, are also fi.xed in accordance with 

 settled standards. Tables are given of these 

 sizes. The forms of the various kinds of cou- 

 plings and other uniting parts arc prescribed by 

 standard practice, and the author gives tables 

 of their principal dimensions. 



The steam-boilers in use in steam-heating 

 are usually, in the United States, either the 

 common horizontal tubular boiler, or that form 

 of the so-called sectional boiler known as the 

 ' Babcock & Wilcox.' Both of these boilers 

 are stated to be practicallj' safe from disastrous 

 explosion. Probably one-half of all the boilers 

 in use are of the first type. 



The two methods of heating most in vogue 

 are that in which ' live ' steam is carried direct 

 from the boiler to the heating-pipe, and that 

 in which ' exhaust-steam ' from a steam-engine 

 is emploj-ed. Both systems are often in use 

 together. Several methods of application of 

 the former system are practised, all of which 

 have advocates among old practitioners. Loss 

 of heat bj' conduction and radiation from the 

 heating-pipes, where such disposition of heat 

 is likeh' to be objectionable, is prevented by 

 the non-conducting coverings, such as hair- 

 felt, porous plaster, etc. 



The diffusion of heat in the apartments to 

 be warmed is accomplished by the use of radi- 

 ators. The communication of heat to the air to 

 be warmed maj' be done either in the rooms 

 to be warmed bj' it, or before the air enters 

 the rooms. Direct radiation in the apartment 

 is effected b}- the use either of series of pipes 

 properly set, or of slabs of wrought or of cast 

 iron, hollow, and strong enough to receive the 

 pressure of steam safelj'. In many cases the 

 heating-pipes are placed overhead, and this sys- 

 tem has been found perfecth* satisfactory. 



Systematic ventilation is usually combined 

 with steam-heating, and in large buildings 

 the air-currents are produced by the action of 

 blowing-fans. This method of heating and 

 ventilating is often carried out upon a very 

 extensive scale. A large office in New-York 

 Cit}' contains 1,923,590 cubic feet of space, 

 occupied by 1,300 people, and is heated by a 

 system in which are used 8 boilers having 1 73 

 square feet (16 sq. m.) of grate, and 8,000 

 square feet (743 sq. m.) of heating-surface. 

 The state lunatic-asylum of Indiana, at In- 

 dianapolis, contains about fifty per cent more 

 space. 



Steam-heating is now adopted in the United 

 States for all larg* buildings. An appendix 

 to Mr. Briggs's paper contains tables of tiie 



