Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

lation that are inexpensive-that a certain quantity of blacks enter. These conditions are, to a certain extent, got over by the plan suggested by several inventors of boring holes through, or cutting pieces out of the lower bar of the upper sash. Such holes are not seen; and the air comes through them in a vertical direction into the room. They can also be fitted with little boxes containing cotton wool, through which the air will be filtered and deprived of soot, etc. This, of course, very considerably diminishes the amount of air that enters, and the cutting also weakens the framework of the window. I may here mention Currall's window ventilator, which consists of a metal plate fastened along the lower bar of the lower sash, and parallel to it, with an opening below the sash for the admission of air, which is thus deflected into a vertical direction by the metal bar. Here will be also a convenient place to mention the automatic sash fastener patented by Messrs. Tonks & Sons, by means of which the window is

securely fastened when opened to the extent of three or four inches, either at the top or bottom, so that the window can be left open without any one outside being able to open it further. This can also, obviously, be combined with the window block placed underneath the lower sash, so that air can be admitted in the proper direction, and the window still be securely fastened.

Louvred ventilators may also be used in a variety of ways in connection with windows. Where there are venetian blinds, it is only necessary to open the top sash, pull the venetian blinds down in front of the opening, and place the louvres so that they give the entering air an upward direction. Glass louvres fixed in a metal frame work, may also be used, a pane of the window being taken out and one of these ventilators substituted for it. The louvres can be opened and shut by means of a string, and they are so fixed that it is

them by doing so.

impossible to break They are generally

fixed instead of one of the top panes of

the upper sash. It is better to place them lower down in the upper sash; and this is true of all inlets of air. If they are too high up, the air being admitted in an upward direction, impinges against the ceiling, rebounds into the room, and produces a draught. The metal frame work of these ventilators requires oiling and attending to, or it will get rusty. In some places fixed louvres of wood, or still better, of strong glass, may be fixed with advantage, or swinging windows with sashes hung on centers may be used, as, for example, in water closets; and these, where it is advisable, may be prevented from being closed by a means of a small wedge of wood screwed to the frame work. The blind so often placed across the lower part of a window may also advantageously be used as a ventilator, or, where no blind is required, a glass one may be used, this being made to swing forward on its lower edge, so as to give the entering air an upward direction when the lower sash is opened, as in the model here shown, which was

presented by Messrs. Howard to the Parkes Museum. Where very large quantities of air require to be admitted, one or more sashes of a window may be made to swing forward in this way, as is now done in the large hall of Willis's Rooms. Near to all windows, in the cold weather, the air of the room is colder than at other parts of the room. This may be obviated, when considered advisable, by the employment of double windows, the layer of air between the two windows preventing, to a very considerable extent, the cooling of the air inside the room. It is not advisable to have double panes of glass in the same sash, as the moisture between them will render them more or less opaque in certain states of the weather. With double windows, air may be admitted by opening the outer one at the bottom and the inner one at the top. Where French casement windows are used, as they sometimes are unadvisedly in this climate, ventilation may be provided by having a louvred opening above the casements of the window, or by

making a glass pane or panes capable of being swung forward on the lower edge. Lastly, Cooper's ventilator is largely used for windows, and also in the glass panes over street doors. It consists of a circular disk of glass, with five holes in it, placed in front of a pane of glass with five similar holes, and working on an ivory pivot at its center. It can be moved so that the holes in it are opposite to those in the window pane, when air will, of course, come in; or, so that they are opposite to the places between the holes in the panes, when the air will be prevented from entering. It is obvious. that the air is not admitted in an upward direction, but the disadvantage of this is partly counterbalanced by the fact that it is admitted in five small streams, and not in one large one, so that there is less probability of a draught.

The air may also be admitted through apertures made in the walls or doors. The simplest way to do this is to make a hole through the wall, and fasten a piece of board in front of it in a sloping man

« ZurückWeiter »