Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/615

 MILLS, KILNS, flIALT-HOUSES, ETC. 591 1133 feet 6 inclies in width. In this figure, m shows the dunge (supposed to be a corruption of dungeon, from its appearance when looked down to from the kihi floor) or space be- tween the kiln floor and the furnace ; »« is a passage taken off the dunge, but which does not interfere with the furnace, as may be seen by the same letter n, fig. 1131, which is a section on the line A B ; o is the space in front of the furnace-door, 6 feet wide ; and JO is a place for stowing fuel. In fig. 1131 are seen the furnace and ash-pit doors, q, and the two shutters of the draught-hole on each side of the furnace, r. These draught- holes are about 1 foot wide and 18 inclies liigh ; and the admission of air is regulated by plates of sheet iron, which slide in frames and are balanced by weights, as shown by fig. 1133; in which s s are the draught-hole covers ; t the furnace-door, and M the ash-pit door, with its ventilator. Fig. 1132 is a section of the kiln, dunge, malt-chamber, and conical roof; in which are shown from y to ?; the ends of the iron joists on which the flooring is laid: they are sixteen in number, and are supported by stronger iron cross-beams or girders, let into the walls, and also by the upright iron posts 2v w, 5 feet high, the situations of which are shown by w w in fig. 1 134. This section, and also the plan fig. 1 1 30 show the diminution of the dunge from 1 7 feet to about 7 feet square. The cone is about 1 6 feet high from the floor j; k to the top or kerb x ; here the opening is two feet in diameter, which gives an area equal to that of the two draught-holes on each side of the furnace, and of the ventilator in the ash-pit door, agreeably to the prin- ciple laid down in § 798 ; y is the opening to the upper malt-chamber ; and z the door to the lower malt-chamber. Over the opening at the summit of the cone there is a flat circular plate of iron, a, supported by rods, b, to protect the opening from the weather. The kiln floor is square at bottom ; but at the height of 1 foot 6 inches at the angles it is gradually gathered into a circle, as shown by the dotted lines c c, in fig. 1132. It will be observed, that, while fig. 1131 exhibits a front view of the furnace with the two draught-holes, one on each side, fig. 1132 shows a back view of the same, with their openings into the dunge. The furnace-bars are 3 feet long. Over the mouths of the furnace and draught-holes is suspended from the floor-joists of the kiln a plate of iron 7 feet 6 inches long by 5 feet wide (d in fig. 1 132, and d d in fig. 1 134), which is called a dispenser, the use of which is to equalise the heat in the upper part of the dunge, so that the kiln floor, fig. 1134, e e, may receive it equally in every part. The furnace, /i 1134 is 3 feet long ; it is 18 inches wide, and 20 inches high, the ash-pit under it is of the same width, and 1 6 inches high ; g g are the sloping sides of the dunge ; and h the cen- tral part. 1267. The Kiln Floor may be either of tiles or of wirecloth ; but the former are generally preferred. The under side of a kiln-tile presents a sort of honeycomb appear- ance, fig. 1 1 35, i ; but the upper surface on which the malt is laid is perforated with small holes, and has the 1135 appearance of k. A tile one foot square contains 120 large openings on the under side, with 8 ^ smaller openings to each Z_1. of the large ones on the " upper side ; thus giving a total of 960 apertures in every square foot. The openings of the small holes are larger on the lower than on the upper side, in order to prevent them from being choked with the malt dust or combs before mentioned. (See § 798.) 1 268. Constrvction. All the walls may be of brick or stone ; the cone over the kiln floor should either be of brick, or, if economy be very much studied, it may be composed of a frame of iron rods hung over with plain tiles, and covered with cement. The bottom and sides of the couch may either be of wood, stone, slate, or of brick lined with cement. I'he malting-floors may be paved, tiled, or laid with composition. The furnace S3