Our domestic fire-places : a treatise on the economical use of fuel and the prevention of smoke : with observations on the patent laws / Frederick Edwards, Jun.

  • Edwards, Frederick, Jun.
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Our domestic fire-places : a treatise on the economical use of fuel and the prevention of smoke : with observations on the patent laws / Frederick Edwards, Jun. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    would seldom be sufficient difference of temperature between the air in the room and that in the chimney to ensure a downward current in the flue behind, if no fire were burning, and it follows that this current must in nearly all cases be established after a fire has been lighted. Mr. Taylor provides for this by the door, which when thrown back allows the air in the chimney to become very rarefied by the free ascent of the products of combustion ; but, it must be remarked that when the door is closed, there must be a few critical moments, for, if all the products of combustion are not at once carried downwards, there will inevitably be a return of smoke to the room. It seems very strange that Mr. Taylor has not provided a sliding curtain or blower, to be drawn down in front of the grate at the critical period of closing the door in the chimney. A simple contrivance of this kind would instantaneously increase the current, but none such has been mentioned in the specification, and it has not been introduced in such of Mr. Taylor’s grates as I have seen. The circumstances which affect the draught of a chimney are so various that I could not attempt to discuss them except at considerable length, but it so happens that conclusions, which would be formed from a somewhat elaborate investigation, are also such as are to be readily appreciated by a very moderate amount of observation and common sense. There is one class of chimneys in which the draught is never strong, and to which it would be utterly absurd to apply a grate with such a source of obstruction as a descending flue. This comprises all short chimneys, and some others. There is another class in which an ordinary grate would act very well, but which, with a descending flue, would be uncertain. With a good fire burning, and a strong pressure of air from the room, the products would be carried off
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