Page:Family receipt book.pdf/18

18 from the ehimney-is the consequenee. It will be remarked, that this smokiness oeeurs most frequently when the door is on the same side of the room as the fire-plaee. We should therefore advise house-planners to avoid this bad arrange-ment. If possible, let the door be on a different side from that in which the fire is placed. Most houses in which the ehimneys go up the middle walls instead of the gables, have the fault we mention. A remedy for this smokiness is to eon-traet the mouth of the chimney, and, if possible, heighten the stalk; for if the chimney be pretty long, the heated air as-cending it goes with such a force that the outer heavy air can-not get down, at least not to so great an extent as to cause a puff when the door is shutting. In some cases, the cause of the disease will be found to be air rushing ur behind the grate, if a register, and then coming down to supply the fire, the ac-tion of the door disturbing the eurrent. This is therefore an argument for always taking care to build register stoves qnite elose behind, not leaving the smallest erevice for air to steal up the chimney without first going through the fire. In ereeting chimneys, it should be a rule to earry them up a good way in a perpendicular direetion, before making a turn,by which means the heated air gains a foree in its primary ver-tical ascent, which earries it over future diffieulties. In walls in which the fire-place of one storey is immediately below the fire-place above, it is impossible to get a perfect straight for any great length: therefore this must be left to the judgment of the builder. It is also advantageous for all chimneys to have a bend in them before reaching the top, and a garret ehimney should have two bends. For want of attention to this top bending, many cottage and small villa chimneys smoke.The use of bends is obvious. Strong, sudden, and accidental gusts of wind sometimes enter, and beat into the top of the chimney; a turning or bend, therefore, will break the force of the wind, and prevent it repelling the heated air downwards. But if the chimney is straight, and the gust meet with no in-terruption, it will stop the passage of the smoke for a while, aud of course force what rises from the fire immediately into the chamber. It is to be observed that the farther the wind gets down the funnel the greater strength will be required to repel it; therefore the nearer to the top the bend or winding is, the better. Also, if there is a storm of wind, with heavy showers of hail, snow, or rain, falling perpendicularly in great drops, the first bend or turning will, in part, stop their pro-gress; but if the funnel is perpendicular all the way down, the great drops of hail, snow, and rain, will fall freely to the bot-tom, repelling the smoke into the room; and if the funnel is