Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/172

 144 Sloan's Architectural Review and Builders' Journal. [Au<mst, and thus making a path down to the water. In more recent times, we have the windlass, the spiral tube, the well-sweep, the wooden pump, the iron pump, the horse-power pump, the windmill, and the air-engine ; and, for streams, the water-lever, the hydraulic ram, the water-wheel, &c. These bring us to the sources of water-supply for country residences, of which we will speak in another paper. The importance of a full supply of good water can scarcely be overrated ; and there are few, if an}', country houses, where it may not be ob- tained, by some device or other. The questions, of the distribution of hot and cold water through the house, and the carrying off of waste water, are there much the same, as in city houses. What was not known a few years ago, even as a luxury, is now a necessity. When a Irydrant near a door, from which all the water had to be carried in buckets, was esteemed the most convenient arrange- ment that could be put in, our prede- cessors had little idea of the present conveniences. The first addition to the hydrant in the yard was a kitchen sink, with a waste-pipe in it, so that the -.water could flow awaj r, without being carried and thrown into the street. This had only a cold-water supply. A great advance was the heating of water by the waste heat of a range, through a "log" boiler, placed back of the range, where the smoke and hot gases pass into the chimney This is now rapidly falling ' into disuse ; and the circulating boiler and water-back, producing an abundant supply of hot water, is taking its place ; an additional cock, connecting with this boiler, supplying the sink with hot water. The bath-tub and the shower were next added. First, a simple wooden box and shower, with punched holes; now the polished metal tub and tubular shower, with silver, marble, and walnut setting, are esteemed necessary for com- fort, in very moderate houses. To the water-closet, cleansed by a flow of water, were soon added the urinal and the foot-bath ; and that great luxury, the bidet, is only now beginning fully to assert its claims to general use, as those who have tried it esteem it a necessity. The plan of movable pitcher and basin, with attendant slop-bucket for chamber service, is giving way to the superior claims of permanent wash- basins with marble tops, and cold and hot-water supply and waste-pipes. To this is now added a walnut, or other ornamental bureau and a mirror, making in combination, a piece of furniture of great beauty. Fountains and small ponds for beautifj'ing gardens and con- servatories, — and jets and vases for libraries, — are among the luxuries gradu- ally finding favor amid the wealthy. Nor is the kitchen forgotten. The round wash-tubs with the necessary an- noyances of heavy lifting, sloppy floors, movable washing-benches, &c, are pass- ing away; and the permanent wash- trays of soapstone, with supply and waste, are taking their place, while com- bined with these is the copper clothes- boiler, set in its small adjacent furnace, so that washing has now become a com- paratively comfortable and easy opera- tion. In a recent search for a small dwell- ing-house, the writer had occasion to examine twenty or more tenements, and in that number, so little attention had been paid to the convenience of the bath-room, both in its arrangement and location, that in one house only was there any approach to it, except through a sitting-room, dining-room, or chamber; and, in many of these houses, the bath- room, being in a frame projection from the main building, could not be used in winter, because the pipes froze and burst. It is our intention to illustrate by suit- able designs, the model plumbing ar- rangements FOR DWELLINGS, STORES, country residences and farms ; and to call attention to the various defects and difficulties attending the common mode of fitting houses with water supply.