Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/42

 13 COTTAGE FARM AND VILLA ARCHITECTURK. by open fires or common stoves, the heat ascends directly to the ceiling, and is there in a great measure wasted, as far as it respects the persons in tlie apartment ; but by this mode the ceiling will not in general be hotter than the floor. 36. Hot water for domestic purposes may always be obtained by a very simple arrangement connected with the oven and flues. Over the oven, and as a cover to it, instead of brick-work, might be placed, or built in, a cast-iron box or iron pot for heating water, as shown by the dotted lines in the plan fig. 3, and by k, in fig. 4. The upper surface of this box or pot might form a part of the kitchen floor, as at e, in fig. 22; and might have a properly secured flat lid on that side, to admit of putting in and taking out water ; or the box might be entirely buried in masonry, as in fig. 4, and in that case a part of it should project from the wall into the back kitchen, or cellar, and should have a lid to open, for the purpose of filling and cleaning out, and a cock, I, in fig. 4, for the purpose of drawing off the water. If this box were two feet, or two and a half feet square, and nine inches or ten inches deep, it would supersede the necessity of the copper, fig. 3, c, and in summer, when the heat of the flue was not wanted, a damper withdrawn would admit the smoke to ascend directly through a flue to the chimney top. A family with a pot or box of this kind over their oven, the box or pot either opening only from the kitchen above, or both from above and from the back kitchen, would, throughout the year, scarcely require any other fire than what was made in the oven ; all their roasting and baking would be done in the oven, and all their boiling in the pot or box over it. As it might not be always convenient or desirable to boil the large box or pot full of water, there might be a well of six inches diameter, and nine inches deep, cast in its bottom, and the small quantity of water which this well would contain would be boiled with very little fuel ; for tea, or any similar purpose, a tin jug of water might be set in among the water in the well, which would keep the former perfectly pure. A very small quantity of fuel consumed in such an oven will have a powerful effect in heating the water above it, from the difiiculty of the heat escaping by the sides. By this mode of heating and cooking a smaller quantity of fuel may be made to suffice for the wants of a family than by any other method that we are aware of; since no more can escape by the chimney than is absolutely necessary to carry up the soot. Water might easily be drawn out of the well, or out of the box or pot when in com- ] 9 mon use, from the upper kitchen, without stooping, by inserting a long tube, like a trumpet, fig. 12, made of tin, and open at both ends. When plunged in the water, if the thumb be placed on the upper orifice, a, and retained there, the water in the lower part, b, may be transferred to any other vessel. 37. Water-closets and tanks for liquid manure. A water-closet or privy ought to be attached to every human dwelling, and in all cold countries it should form part of the edifice, and be approachable under cover. No cottage is, therefore, in our eyes, complete without this appendage under the same roof, or under a lean-to. The well or tanks for liquid manure connected with it, are as advantageous, in point of profit, to every cottager who has a garden, as the water-closet or privy itself is essential to cleanliness and decency. 38. The Water-closets may be variously arranged ; but as one of the best and cheapest modes, and as one the least likely to go out of order, we give the following. The cistern, fig. 13, a, may be at any distance from the seat, b, provided it be on a higher level, by four or five feet The basin, c, may be an inverted hollow cone, truncated, and joined to a piece of cylindrical tube, inserted in a closed leaden vessel, technically called a stink-trap, d. In the side of c, at e, is a hole, or vertical slit, passing obliquely through the sides of the basin, and communicating with the cistern, a, by the pipe, /I The water in the cistern is prevented from run- ning off through this pipe, by the valve, g, shown in fig. 14, on a larger scale. When it is desired to allow the water to rush down into the basin, it is only necessary to pull the string, k ; which, if the cistern be at a distance, may pass over several puUies, according to the number of angles in its course. In order to ensure the descent of a quantity of water to the basin every time it has been used, a cord, t, may be joined to