Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/653

 DWELLINGS FOR FARM SERVANTS. (j'29 to be heated and ventilated during cold weather. I suggested the following method, uiiich was ad;)i)te<l, and succeeded. In the floor of each cell a pit, fig. 120i.', a, was m formed, of 4 feet long, 2 feet wide, and 1 foot and a half deep, lined and floored with brick and mortar, and covered by an Arbroath or Caithness flag, b, forming part of the permanent floor of the cell. This pit was filled with hard materials, such as very coarse gravel, road metal of broken whinstone, &c. A close steam-boiler, which was erected in a higher part of the premises, was made to transmit steam to a pipe, c, which was laid along the passage in which were situated the doors of the cells, and from tliis pipe a branch, with a stopcock, d, went off to each pit. The pits were laid with a little declivity towards one corner, from which a piece of bent lead pipe, e, carried off condensed water, or allowed steam to escape if its pressure exceeded an inch of water. The doors of the cells were left half an inch free from the floor, as shown atf; and from the ceiling of each cell, at the extremity farthest from the door, a flue was carried into the exterior wall of the building. From this disposition it results, that, when, by opening the branch cock, d, steam is admitted into any of the pits, it is condensed among the hard gravel, and parts with its heat, until the whole mass has acquired a high temperature ; after which, if allowed to continue to pass into the pit, it would blow off by the bent lead pipe, e. The whole pavement of the cell soon becomes warm ; and the air, on being heated, gradually rises, and passes off by the flue near the ceiluig ; its place being supplied by a stratum which flows in under the door at f, immediately over the hottest part of the floor. The cells, though small, are in this way well ventilated, and when washed out they dry immediately. In such an arrangement, care should be taken that the pipes be all laid to a declination at which the condensation may escape by a hydraulic joint. In the first fitting up of the apparatus at the Police Office, a lead Jiain was employed, which was supported only at certain distances. It soon, however, bagged between the supports, when water lodging in the bends stopped up the steam- way. This lead pipe being removed, and a small cast-iron gas main being substituted, every cell, or any particular one, became capable of being heated to any degree required. The turnkeys, from experience, know the time a cock requires to be left open to com- municate heat enough for the whole day to a cell ; and they find that, though the necessary quantity be rapidly imparted to the mass of stones, it is so gradually given out, that a very equable temperature is easily maintained. The last is a valuable property of this method, when the source of heat is to be the kitchen fire, which is naturally of variable strength at different periods of the day ; and, therefore, not available for applying heat by means of the surface of steam-pipes, or by currents of heated air." Of all the different modes of heating rooms on the basement story of a house, in which the floors are of brick, stone, or composition, there can be no doubt that much the most efficient mode is by steam ; we do not think that there is any mode of applying it more economical than that suggested by our correspondent. It is a great recommendation to this plan, that the heat may be deposited among the stones at any period of the day, so as to be given out in proportion as the temperature of the air over the floor is lowered. Though it would seldom answer to heat a single cottage in this manner, yet in most districts no plan could answer better for a number of cottages, when placed together. The same mode has been applied to the heating of hot-houses, and especially pine stoves and pits, by Mr. Hay, Garden Architect, Edinburgh, (whose invention, we believe, it is,) with the most perfect success. (See Gard. May. vol. viii. p. 330 and 730.) Design I. — Two PloughmerCs Cottages, such as are in common Use in the Carse of Gowrie ; with a Notice of the Bothies, or Lodges for single Men, in the same District. 1335. Our object, in giving the present Design, which, at our request, has been fiir- nislied by Mr. Gorrie, is to show how a minimum of accommodation may be maximised in use. Fig. 1203 is a ground plan of two cottages, one with only one fireplace and two windows, and the other with two fireplaces and two windows. The first shows the method of partitioning ofl' a small apartment by means of two box-beds ; and the second, or that witii the two fireplaces, shows how the box-beds are disposed when there is more