Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia, F., Fire′place.

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19th-Century American

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Fire′place.

That part of a room in which the fire is built.

1, slab.	5, mantel-piece.
2, hearth.	6, throat.
3, jamb.	7, gathering.
4, fireplace.	8, funnel.

[868]

9, flue.	12, grate.
10, mantel.	13, breast.
11, back.	14, damper.

The earliest example of a fireplace cited in this work is that of Coninsborough Castle, in England, of the Anglo-Norman period. The mantels are constructed of flat arches. The example is adduced to show the earlier form of chimney, and perhaps the most ancient one in existence, anticipating by several centuries the first chimneys erected in Italy. (See chimney.) The fireplace (A, Fig 1996) in the hall of Vicar's Close, Wells, England, is an example of the fireplace of some centuries back.

Fireplaces

Louis Savot, of the Faculty of Medicine at Paris (1579-1640), published a work on warming and ventilation in 1624. His is the first recorded attempt at combining the cheerfulness of an open fire with the economy of an inclosed stove. Fig. B shows a front view and an elevation of his ingenious arrangement. The hearth, covings, and back were lined with thick iron plates three inches distant from the masonry. Air entered at a, passed along the chambers b, and entered the room at c c.

D is Prince Rupert's fireplace, somewhat celebrated in its time. It had a diving flue and false fire-back.

About 1658, Sir John Winter invented a coke furnace or fire-cage (C) which was placed on a close box about eleven inches high, in front of which was an opening d, fitted with a door, which always kept closed except when the ashes were being removed. A pipe a communicated with the external air, and was closed, when required, by a damper. When the valve was opened, a brisk draft urged the fire. The flue was closed by an iron plate or register at c.

Fireplaces.

Cardinal Polignac, in 1715, published under the name of another man (Gauger's “Treatise on the art of warming rooms” ) an account of improved mechanical arrangements for fireplaces. This is shown at E in the figure. The hollow metallic case forming the back of the chimney is divided into three or more caliducts which are not in contact with the back wall. The jambs are iron plates, solid backed. The channel a conducts the external air into the caliducts, which form a fire-back, and the warmed air escapes into the room at z. He also introduced the parabolic sides.

Rumford contracted the fire-chamber and throat, and inclined the jambs. See coving.

In 1745, Dr. Benjamin Franklin introduced a fireplace which he named the “Pennsylvanian,” in which Prince Rupert's descending flue was combined with Polignac's caliducts. This is shown at F. (Fig. 1997.)

Count Rumford's improvements consisted mainly in the contraction of the chimney at the throat, the rounding of the breast-work, and the flaring of the covings, as illustrated in the accompanying plan and section G H. He preferred an angle of 45° for the covings.

Arnott also made himself a name in this line.

I J are a vertical section and plan showing an English tubular fireplace designed to warm a current of pure air derived from the outside, and direct it into the interior of a room; the air passes from the flue a to the under side of the hearth-plate b (shown in the plan), thence upward through the upright tubes at c c to a horizontal tube d (shown in the elevation), which has an opening through its entire length on the upper side, whence the hot air passes into the room, through the aperture h i over the mantel. The supply of air may be regulated by moving the strip i—which directs the air upward—nearer to or farther from the ledge h.

1877.

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Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia
Knight, Ed.

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Fire′place.

Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia Knight, Ed.

This text is part of:

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Table of Contents:

Fire′place.

Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia
Knight, Ed.