57 
March, I p I 7 
attractive conveniences for the house 
Thii page is reserved for readers with ideas. Ideas are worth $1 per to the Editor. If you have an idea 
that makes the house more attractive or house work simpler, and are willing to part with it for $1, the 
Editor can be addressed at 445 Fourth Ave., New York City. 
PRINCIPLES 
OF SAFE 
VENTILATION 
S INCE the beginning 
of time draughts 
have been a winter 
bugbear. Assiduously we 
avoid them by not sit¬ 
ting where they can 
reach us. For the sake 
of convenience and 
comfort it were better 
to use some device 
whereby draughts can 
be directed in the right 
direction. This can be 
accomplished by apply¬ 
ing tire simple princi¬ 
ples of safe ventilation 
as illustrated in the 
drawing to the right. 
The principle is sim¬ 
ply the turning of the 
air current up toward 
the ceiling. The pres¬ 
ence there of the 
warmer air will cause 
the cooler, cleaner air 
to circulate about the 
room. Direct draughts 
are thus avoided and 
ventilation is assured. 
The device may be, as here, merely a sheet of 
plate glass. Hinges' are fastened on the lower 
edge and ratchets are attached to the window trim 
to hold the glass in position. The angle of the 
glass can be adjusted at will, and the amount of 
air regulated by the position of the window itself. 
The special value of this type of ventilator is 
that it admits the light and does not detract from 
the appearance of the window. 
Other devices made on practically these same 
lines are on the market. They provide a glass 
ventilator with a frame of wood, which protects 
the glass from being broken. Adjustment is 
arranged by a collapsible fan-like metal strip. 
The pane falls into a flange on either side, and 
can easily be removed for washing. 
A CLOSET 
BUILT OF 
WALL BOARD 
T 
On the above scheme of the adjustable pane 
of glass fastened with hinges and brackets 
the principle of safe ventilation is built 
A genius with tools has built a. temvorary 
clothes closet from wall board—another of 
the multifarious uses of that material 
SILHOUETTE FIXTURES 
I N the corner to the left and directly above are 
two designs for fixtures that combine the 
principles of indirect lighting and the rules 
of good taste as recognized today. 
The scheme includes a shield to cover the bulb. 
It is of painted tin. The bulb lies—in the case of 
the illustrations—in the hull of the boat and in 
the bowl. When lighted, the illumination is 
thrown up against the walls and reflected back 
on the room—in the same manner as any indirect 
lighting, save for the fact that most indirect 
lighting provides fo! _ the light being thrown on 
the ceiling. In addition, the fixtures, which can 
be painted to harmonize with the color scheme 
of the room, constitute a decoration in them¬ 
selves. The form they would take would depend 
upon the design suggested by the uses of the 
room. The scudding galleon above would find 
a place in a man’s room or library and the flow¬ 
ers would be suitable for a living-room or a hall. 
'■HE man with the 
kit of tools in the 
house hath made 
many inventions. And 
the clothes cupboard il¬ 
lustrated on the left is 
one of his latest. For the 
sake of making the con¬ 
struction clear he has re¬ 
moved the doors. To 
visualize it as complete, 
imagine the doors in 
place, hinged at the sides. 
The cupboard is built 
up against a wall on a 
frame of 2" x 2" tim¬ 
ber. Sections are divided 
off with the same timber 
to provide for a square 
drawer at each upper 
corner and two rows of 
smaller draws on the 
bottom. The frame is 
then cased in wall board, 
the divisions and the 
drawers being made of 
the same material. Wall 
board doors on light 
wooden frames complete 
the construction. It is then painted inside and 
out to match the woodwork of the room, and 
such decorations as are desired may be stenciled 
on the doors. The upper corner sections are 
designed to hold hats and the lower rows to hold 
shoes. The clothing is arranged on hangers sus¬ 
pended from rods attached to the bottoms of the 
corner drawers and the middle top section. 
As a temporary device in an apartment where 
closet space is limited and where the owner is 
ingenious and handy with his tools, this cupboard 
of wall board serves its purpose. In the long 
run, however, it were best to purchase a good 
cupboard of different material. 
The silhouette fixture combines the principles 
of indirect lighting with the requirements 
of the decoration of the room 
A CURTAIN CATCH 
I F you want to rouse the ire of the average 
housekeeper, knot her curtains. Yet you can 
go into almost any house on sweeping day and 
find the curtains knotted or looped back in a 
fashion that is far from beneficial to the curtains. 
The same is true of curtains in a bedroom at 
night. What can one do with curtains at night 
anyhow? They shouldn’t be allowed to blow out 
to the snow and the rain, and if they are hung 
over a conveniently adjacent picture, both picture 
and curtains may suffer. 
All of which is rather a lengthy introduction 
to a very simple device recently placed on the 
market. It consists of a small brass bracket that 
can be attached to the side of the window trim. 
In that position it is out of sight. An arm can 
be folded out from it. On this the curtains may 
be looped. The brackets sell for $1.25 a pair. 
Little brackets to be attached to the side of 
the windoto trim provide an arm on which to 
loop curtains at night-time and on sweeping 
