Sanitary House Warming

A few months ago we presented to our readers an engraving of the Whittingham Moist Warm Air Furnace, and herewith is an engraving of the Whittingham Moist Warm Air Portable Furnace, which is constructed of cylinders forming alternately annular passages for smoke and air, in such a manner as to utilize all the heat that may be generated in the fire-pot. The products of combustion pass through the passages, A, while cold air, introduced through the bottom of the furnace and holes, B, in its outside galvanized-iron casing, passes through the passages, C. By this arrangement a very large heating surface is obtained, and as it is a well-established fact that the heat to be realized from a furnace does not depend so much on the amount of fuel consumed as on the amount of heating surface the fuel is made to act upon—(air being a non-conductor of heat, receives caloric only by contact)—this furnace embraces every quality to enable it to heat a large volume of air economically, and can be manufactured at small cost. It is estimated that one of the size represented in the engraving (scale one inch to the foot) will heat a house 20 feet wide, 40 feet deep and four stories high.

The water evaporator, D, placed in the upper part of the air chamber, is fed from the reservoir, E, upon the outside, and the vapor tubes, F, convey the vapor from it directly into the distributing air flues, G, thereby returning to the atmosphere the moisture it loses in passing through the furnace, thus rendering it mild and pleasant, instead of dry and arid.

H and I are dampers, one, H, when open to give direct draft for lighting a fire, and when closed to change its course, and the other, I, to check the draft when required. J is a damper, of which there are three, to be opened for the purpose of cleaning the smoke passages.

The objections to furnace heat are happily obviated in the Whittingham furnace, as over its extensive heating surfaces an immense volume of air is warmed, and by the simple adjustment of the water evaporation into the air flues, the atmosphere is tempered to the mildness of a spring day.

Patented through the Scientific American Patent Agency, by Henry Whittingham, and manufactured by Wm. U. Church & Co., office and salesroom No. 211 Water street, New York City, of whom further particulars may be obtained.