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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



July, 1907 



Household Ventilation 



By Ralph Adams Blake 



[OUSEHOLD ventilation is concerned with 

 the sanitation of the house by means of pure 

 air. Its primary dependence is on a good 

 supply of good external air. It is not 

 always possible, even if it should be desir- 

 able, to locate the house in a breezy neigh- 

 borhood, but sites in which the air has a 

 tendency toward stagnation should be avoided. So also 

 should sites which are reached by winds from noxious sources, 

 offensive cow stables, for example, stagnant water and sim- 

 ilar sources of disease. A house that faces the prevailing 

 winds, or in which the most used rooms are reached by the 

 prevailing winds, is to be preferred to one in which no ad- 

 vantage is taken of natural air movements. 



Ventilation is the science of air movement. It is con- 

 cerned with natural movements and artificial movements. 

 Natural movements are those of the free external air, over 

 which man has no control, but which he must so far as he 

 can subdue to his own use, and which is the basis of all 

 artificial air movements. Artificial movements are those 

 brought about or created by human agency. Their control 

 is dependent upon the velocity of the wind and the difference 

 between the indoor and outdoor temperature of the house. 



A good ventilating system, that is, one that has efficiency 

 and which can be depended upon for service in all weathers 

 and at all seasons of the year, must be artificial. No de- 

 pendence can be placed on the wind, for not only is it exceed- 

 ingly variable by nature, but in the harsh North American 

 climate it is quite impossible to obtain proper ventilation by 

 the simple opening of doors and windows. And ventilation, 

 of course, is something wholly different from a "cooling off" 

 process. The air of a house must be changed in order to be 

 made fit to breathe, a change as imperati\ e and as important 

 as any other cleansing process. The a\erage house, how- 

 ever, is apt to be much less x entilated in winter than in sum- 

 mer, because the occupants do not realize the necessity for 

 such frequent air changes as follow, as a matter of course, 

 in the warm season. But \entilation is not a seasonable 



affair, but an all the year round necessity, and such devices 

 as are employed for ventilating purposes are due to this fact. 



Otherwise very efficient ventilation would be had by open- 

 ing all the doors and windows. This would not ventilate the 

 plumbing system nor the heating system, but it would result 

 in thoroughly changing the internal air, the more especially 

 if the house be situated in a windy region. This is the 

 simplest form of household ventilation, and effective as it is 

 in the summer, it is less effective in the spring and fall, and 

 in the winter it is of so little value as to be scarce worthy of 

 mention. But this does not mean that windows should not 

 be opened in the cold season. As a matter of fact they should 

 be opened at all times whenever possible, but in the cold 

 weather some assisting devices are needed, for a room in 

 which a current of cold air has been permitted to enter must 

 be heated before it is again fit for human occupancy. 



In the ordinary house ventilation is chiefly effected by the 

 doors, windows, chimneys and other openings. As it is im- 

 possible in our northern climates to keep any large opening 

 open for any length of time, various methods of obtaining 

 fresh air from them have come into use. An opening may 

 be effected in the head moldings of the frame, or pieces of 

 wood inserted at the base of the window and air obtained 

 at the junction of the upper and lower sashes, and other de- 

 vices of like nature. 



Inlets and outlets for admitting and drawing out air are 

 also sometimes placed in the walls. Some uncertainty exists 

 as to the best place at which inlets should be located, but 

 they should always be above the heads of the occupants of the 

 room. Several special devices and forms, including protec- 

 tive openings, have come into more or less general use. 



The most ordinary outlet is the fireplace, and a very valu- 

 able one it is. A room with a fireplace in which there is a 

 fire is generally well ventilated. This result can also be 

 brought about by placing a gas jet or other small heating 

 flame in the base of the chimney. Outlets are also sometimes 

 placed in the wall of a form similar to the inlet; they must, 

 however, be located as far apart from each other as possible. 



Old r armington 



Concluded from page 265 



Mr. J. B. Ryan, a most genial host, who welcomes his guests 

 and speeds their parting in the same old style as the innkeeper 

 of Colonial times. It is one of those few old inns in New 

 England which is still preserved with practically all its orig- 

 inal characteristics. Few visitors to the inn, however, are 

 aware that a house of 1660 is concealed in the center of the 

 mass of buildings which now form the present hostelry. The 

 inn has an atmosphere of perfect quietude, with its long 

 rambling roof resting under the shade of the magnificent elms 

 with which it is surrounded. One of these elms, still living, 

 was planted In 1774. The old tavern sign of the inn is in 

 the possession of Julius Gay, and bears a picture of a house 

 on one side and on the reverse that of a goddess armed 

 with spear and shield In apparel better befitting the heat of 

 summer than the blasts of winter. She was doubtless the 

 first goddess to bear oh her shield the three grape vines of 

 Connecticut. General Washington, during the Revolution- 

 ary War, stopped here on his way through Farmington to 

 meet General Lafayette. The old house has a smoking-room, 

 with Its old fireplace filled with blazing logs, where have 



hung through all these years the original cranes and pots. It 

 is a quaint and cheerful place full of old memories. 



In the conclusion of this paper, I can give no better ex- 

 pression than the one contained in Mr. Robert Brandagee's 

 "Farmington Myth." 



"When the Lord made the world, He made Asia, Africa 

 and Europe, and last of all He made North and South 

 America. He made the Americas with special care, as that 

 is the place where the nations of the world would finally 

 come together. When the Lord was making New England, 

 one of the little angels asked that he, too, might make a State. 

 So the Lord let him make the State of Connecticut. As the 

 little angel shaped the rivers and built up the mountains, his 

 cheeks were red with excitement. But when the work was 

 nearly finished, there was a large hollow, and the material 

 was all gone. Then the little angel was overwhelmed with 

 confusion. But the Lord took him kindly by the hand, and 

 the Lord took from the folds of His mantle some of the 

 stuff of which paradise Is made, and he fitted it Into the hole, 

 and the place was Farmington." 



