MECHANICS. 
794 
fome of thefe Mr. S. was perfectly aware at the time of 
the firft conltructior. of the apparatus, though it was out 
of his power to remedy them in a building already erect¬ 
ed. From the pipes being all at one end of the lioufe, 
the heat was unequally diffufed, and a eonfiderable time 
elapfed, after their being firft heated, before it reached the 
other end of the rooms. But, as the mill had barely room 
enough for the fpinning-machinery, it was impoffible to 
ereCt the pipes in any other fituation, or to convey them 
along the rooms, fo as to produce a more equal diftribu- 
tion of heat. This, however, can be fo eafily effected, 
when there are no obftacles fuch as have been mentioned, 
that it is fcarcely neceffary to enter into any detail of the 
means. It may be barely mentioned that Mr. S. fitted up 
the apparatus in two cotton-mills, which are now under 
his management, belonging to Houfton and Co. ofJohn- 
ltone, in a manner which completely diftributes the heat. 
In one of thefe mills, confiding of fix (lories, a lying-pipe 
of caff iron, 5 inches in diameter, is carried along the mid¬ 
dle of the lower ftory, about two feet from the ceiling, 
with a fmall declivity to carry off the water. This pipe 
heats the ftory in which it is placed. Tin pipes, 7^ inches 
diameter, communicating with this lying-pipe, are carried 
up perpendicularly through all the floors to the top of the 
houfe at the diffance of feven feet from each other, and 
form a line of heated columns in the middle of each room. 
The perpendicular pipes are connected under the ceiling 
of the garret by a pipe inches diameter, (lightly in¬ 
clined, the extremities of which pafs through the walls of 
She houfe, and are provided with valves opening out¬ 
wards. A conneCting-pipe, with (imilar valves,is placed 
under the ceiling of the third ftory. Thefe are intended 
for the more eafy circulation of the (team ; but Mr. S. 
found from experience, that, with all thefe aids, the fill¬ 
ing of the perpendicular pipes with fleam was attended 
with fome difficulty. The fleam, when firft thrown in, 
affes up the perpendicular pipe neareft to the boiler, and, 
eing fpecifically lighter than air, occupies the upper part 
of the apparatus, comprefling the air in the lower part of 
thfe reft of the pipes. The refiftance of the air will thus 
for a long time prevent the pipes from being completely 
heated ; but this difficulty is eafily obviated by having a 
valve or valves opening outwards, at the lowed part of 
the apparatus, through which the air, when compreffed 
by the fteam, is differed to efcape ; and the fame valves 
ferve for the difcharge of the air in heating the apparatus, 
and of the fteam itfelf when its expanftve force becomes 
too great. 
The application of the principle to buildings already 
conflructed, it is prefumed, will be fufficiently obvious 
from the foregoing details. In new manufactories,where 
the mode of heating may be made a part of the original 
plan, a more convenient apparatus may be introduced. 
This wdll be belt explained by a defcription of fig. 134. 
which gives a left ion of a cotton-mill conllru&ed fo as to 
apply the ffeam-apparatus to a new building. The furnace 
for the boiler is fi.o-vn at a. The flue of the furnace con¬ 
veys the fmoke into the caff-iron ffove-pipes, 1, 2, 3, 4. 
Thefe pipes are placed in a lpace .in the gable, intirely en- 
cloied with brick, except at the fmall apertures, 5, 6, 7, 8. 
A current of air is admitted below at 9, and thrown into 
the rooms by thofe openings, after being heated by con¬ 
tact with the pipes. This part of the plan is adopted with 
a view to prevent, as much as poffible, any of the heat, 
produced by the fuel ufed, from being thrown away. It 
may be omitted where any danger of fire is apprehended 
from it, and the fmoke may be carried off in any way that 
is confidered abfolutely lecure. So far, however, as ap¬ 
pears from experience, there feems to belittle or no dan¬ 
ger of fire from a ltoveof this conllruCtion. The greateft 
inconvenience of a common (love is, that the cockle, or 
metal furnace, is liable to crack from the intenfity of the 
heat ; by the continuity of the metal from the fire-place, 
an intenfe heat is alfo conduCfed along the pipes, which 
expofes them to the fame accident. But here the fmoke, 
being previoufly conveyed through a brick flue, can never 
communicate to the pipes a degree of heat fufficient to 
crack them: in like manner the pipes, having no com¬ 
munication with the rooms but by the fmall apertures, 
cannot come in contaCl with any combuftible fubftance; 
and, from being furrounded with air which is conftantly 
changing, can impart only a very moderate degree of heat 
to the walls. The iron fupporters of the pipes may be 
imbedded in fome fubftance which is a bad conductor of 
heat, as furnace-afhes and lime, &c. The emiflion of 
heated air into the rooms may be regulated by valves. 
As the pipes are not expofed to cracking, there is no rifk 
of their throwing fmoke or vapour into the rooms. 
The boiler, bb, is fix feet long, three and a half broad, 
and three feet deep. As there is nothing peculiar in the 
feeding-apparatus, it is omitted. The boiler may be 
placed in any convenient fituation. Where a fteam-engine 
is ufed for other purpofes, the fteam may be taken from its 
boiler. The pipe, c c, conveys the fteam from the boiler 
to the firft perpendicular pipe ddd. There is an expand¬ 
ing-joint at ec, (tufted, to make it (team-tight. The 
lteam, afcending in the firft pipe ddd, enters the hori¬ 
zontal pipe ffff, (which is (lightly inclined,) expelling 
the air, which partly efcapes by the valve g, and is partly 
forced into the other pipes. The valve g, being confi- 
derably loaded, forces the accumulating fteam down into 
the reft of the pipes ddd. The air in thefe pipes recedes 
before the fteam, and is forced through the tubes khh, 
into the pipe mmm, whence it efcapes at the valve i and 
the fiphon k. The water condenfed in the whole of the 
pipes, pafles alfo through the tubes hhhh, into the 
pipe mmm, which has fuch a declivity as to difcharge 
the water at the fiphon k into the hot-well n, whence it 
is pumped back into the boiler. The whole of the pipes 
are of caft-iron, except mmm, which is of copper. The 
perpendicular pipes ferve as pillars for fupporting the 
beams of the houfe, by means of the projecting pieces 000, 
which may be raifed or lowered at pleafure by the 
wedges p'pp. The pipes are funk in the beams about an 
inch, and are made fall to them by the iron (traps q q. 
Thofe in the lower ftory reft on the (tones ssss, and are 
made tight at the junction with ftuffing. The pipe in 
each ftory fupports the one in the ftory above by altufftd 
joint, as fhown at r r. The pipes in the lower ftory are 
feven inches in diameter ; thofe in the higher fix inches 5 
thofe in the other two are of intermediate diameters. 
The thicknefs of the metal is three-eighths of an inch. 
The lower pipes are made larger than the upper, in order 
toexpofe a greater heated furface in the lower rooms, be- 
caufe the fteam, being thrown from above into all the 
pipes except the firlt, would otherwife become incapable 
of imparting an equal heat as it defcencis. There is no 
neceffity for valves opening inwards in this apparatus, the 
pipes being ftrong enough to refill the preifure of the at- 
mofphere. The cotton-mill is 60 feet long and 33 wide, 
and four ftories high, the upper being a garret-ftory. In 
the engraving five parts out of nine in the length of the 
building are only fhown. The apparatus will heat the 
rooms to 85° in the coldeft feafon. It is evident that, by 
increafing the fize or the number of the pipes, and the fup- 
ply of fteam, any degree of heat up to 21 z° may be eafiiy 
produced. It may even be carried beyond that point by 
an apparatus llrong enough to coinprefs the fteam ; this, 
however, can leldom be wanted. At firft it was objected 
to this conftruCtion, that the expanfion of the pipes, when 
heated, might damage the building ; but experience has 
proved, that the expanfion occalioned by the heat of 
ileam is quite infenfible. 
V. Vegetation promoted by Steam. —The following account 
of the method of forwarding vegetation by means of lteam, 
was communicated in the year 1800, to the Society of 
Arts, by Thomas Wakefield, efq. of North w.ich in Chelhire. 
In the year 1788, about the beginning of April, Mr. 
Wakefield, being dilappointed in fevera 1 endeavours to 
procure bark for a, crop of melons in a Dutch pit twenty 
yards 
