HEATING BY HOT- WATER PIPES. 



157 



long, 18 inches wide, and the same in 

 height, forming a kind of long arch, and 

 is composed of inch-and-quarter pipes. 

 Its power of heating is great, in conse- 

 quence of the extent of surface exposed to 

 the fire, and the small quantity of water 

 contained in the pipes. 



Another important improvement made 

 by Weeks, is in admitting pure air from 

 without, and warming it before it is diffus- 

 ed through the house, creating not only a 

 species of warm ventilation, but also caus- 

 ing a gentle circulation of the air through- 

 out the house — an idea entertained by the 

 late Mr Penn in his system of heating, but 

 which had not been found to operate satis- 

 factorily in practice. — ( Vide Penn's " Sys- 

 tem of Heating.") To effect this, Weeks 

 has introduced 2-inch pipes, in lengths of 

 about 4 feet each, within the ordinary 

 4-inch heating pipes ; one end of these 

 small pipes is passed through the side of 

 the 4-inch ones and opens into the house, 

 while the other end also, passing through 

 the side of the pipe in an opposite direc- 

 tion, opens into the free air outside the 

 house. As will be anticipated, these small 

 pipes enter the house at distances of 4 

 feet apart ; and the current of air is so 

 great as to keep the leaves of the plants 

 in constant motion, the heat averaging 

 from 160° to 170°. This, although a 

 highly ingenious plan, is not unattended 

 with expense ; other contrivances will be 

 hereafter noticed which act as well, with 

 greater simplicity and at less cost. 



From " Newton's Journal " we extract 

 the following, — part of the specification 

 given by Weeks of his improvements in 

 raising, lowering, or conveying heated 

 water; these improvements are founded 

 on the four following particulars : " First, 

 in applying a cistern to the boiler for the 

 purpose of supplying it with water, with- 

 out making that cistern a part of the 

 boiler, but only connected thereto by a 

 tube; secondly, in a method of raising 

 heated water to any required height, for 

 the purpose of warming the upper parts 

 of the building, without employing pumps 

 or siphons; thirdly, in the employment 

 of a large ascending pipe, with a smaller 

 returning pipe within it, which shall con- 

 vey the water, after it has parted with a 

 portion of its heat at an elevated situa- 

 tion, back again to the cistern, and thence 

 into the boiler ; and, fourthly, in the 



adaptation of smaller pipes for conducting 

 the heated water to any particular part 

 of the building, while main pipes or tubes 

 may be closed, and out of action." 



Perkins' high-pressure apparatus, figs. 

 167 and 168, created a considerable sen- 

 Fig. 167. 



sation in the horticultural world at the 

 time of its first appearance, not only on 

 account of the smallness of the pipes em- 

 ployed, dispensing with a boiler, &c, but 

 also the high temperature he was able to 

 produce. We must, however, observe 

 that this system is much better adapted 

 for heating dwelling-houses, public build- 

 ings, &c, than for hothouse purposes. 

 Instead of a boiler, a coil of small iron 

 pipes a b, only |-inch bore, is here used, 

 and placed in the furnace surrounded 

 with the fuel. The flow or delivery pipe 

 c, being a continuation of the uppermost 

 pipe of the coil, and without any altera- 

 tion of size, is carried round the apart- 

 ment to be heated in general close to the 

 bottom of the skirting board, and, return- 

 ing, is joined to the lowest turn of the 

 coil d, being hermetically sealed. An 

 expansion pipe 2^ inches in diameter, e, 

 is fixed vertically or horizontally to the 

 highest part of the small pipe, having an 



