T X THE KITCHEN FIRE AND HOW TO RUN IT BY SAMUEL SEWARD WRIGHT ""^No Item in the Housekeepers' Domain k. more reckkiuly mimianaged than the Cod Mange/' Class Book. -Q^^f CoipgMIJ"- COEXRIGHT DEPOSm THE KITCHEN FIRE AND HOW TO RUN IT. A Manual for the Housewife showing how to save Coal, Gas, Labor and Health BY SAMUEL SEWARD WRIGHT FEATURES ECONOMY OF FUEL EFFICIENCY OF STOVE CONVENIENCE OF OPERATION SAFETY AND SANITATION Copyright 1912 By Samuel Seward Wright CCU327715 PART 1. CONTENTS. Page Preface 4 Introduction 7 Chapter 1. Water — Air — Fire 12 Chapter 2. Fuel—Wood— Peat, Etc 16 Chapter 8. Oxygen the Friend of Carbon 24 Chapter 4. Stoves — Wood^ — ^^Coal — Gas 27 Chapter 5. Chimneys — Dampers — Drafts 34 Chapter 6. Fuel Gases — Smoke 41 Chapter 7. Safety and Sanitation 46 Chapter 8. Fuel Burning — Fuel Saving 52 Chapter 9. Super-Heated Oxygen and Fuel Savino- 58 ILLUSTRATIONS. i!5 Pa2:e Fioure 1 — Cabinet Dockash Ranse 32 Figure 2 — Transit of Gases to Chimney 39 Figure 3 — Transit of Gases Around Oven to the Chimney 40 Figure 4 — Dockash Gas Range 51 THE KITCHEIN FIRE PREFACE The Author's conception in presenting in readable form the facts gathered from a decade's experience with questions of Fuel Economy has not been to offer the pubHc a scientific treatise or dissertation, but to present in simple every day terms a book which all housekeep- ers can read and understand. The Greatest of all Waste in the World Occurs in the Cooking of Food in the Nation's Kitchen. Economists assert that as a nation we are far more extravagant and wasteful in our use of the necessaries of life than the people of any other nation. Fuel, like food, is a neces- sity of life, and our profligacy in the consumption of fuel is even more marked and more to be deplored than our wastefulness in the preparation and consumption of food. The aggregate value of food consumed by ninety-three millions of people for three hundred and sixty-five days, computed at twenty-five cents per day only for each indi- vidual, amounts to the enormous sum of eight billions of dollars. The fact has been deduced after most care- ful and painstaking research that there is a spoilage or waste of ten per cent, in the cooking of food for the family consumption. Ten per cent, of the total value of the annual food consumption is eight hundred millions of dollars, which represents spoilage or waste. Cooking is the most general manufacturing business in our country. The money value of the output of the ])roduct is far greater than in any other industry. The HOW TO RUN IT ^ loss in the value of the food spoiled or wasted is not the only loss,— great as it is in the aggregate. This food in the eighteen millions of homes and in the hotels, clubs, restaurants, etc., is cooked in stoves or ranges where wood, coal, gas or oil is consumed as fuel. It can be demonstrated that the waste of fuel is far greater than the ten per cent, of food waste, that is approximately forty or fifty per cent. Our annual fuel bill, shown by United States Govern- ment statistics, is nearly five hundred millions of dol- lars. Forty per cent, of this amount is two hundred mil- lions of dollars, which represents fuel loss or waste in the nation's cooking stoves. It is possible, therefore, to save one billion of dollars in each five years in fuel value by adopting and practic- ing correct methods of operating and maintaining the kitchen fire. The Author has demonstrated and observed demonstrations in thousands of homes, North, South, East and West, where, by practicing improved methods of maintaining fires, approximately one-half the usual amount of fuel consumed has been saved with more and better sustained heat, and greater efficiency from the stove has been secured. The kitchen stove or range is the machine used to produce the manufactured product, the fuel is necessary to supply the motive power, while the cook is the engi- neer or skilled mechanic who operates the machine. Upon him or her rests the responsibility for the success of the manufacturing process. A single quotation from a letter received by the Author from a far-off Northwestern state, being only one of hundreds received, follows: 6 THE KITCHEN FIRE ''If I could have had the lesson thirty-five years ago that I have had this week, in using and controlling the heat problem in the cookstove, I honestly believe that I could have saved in the neighborhood of one thousand dollars in fuel since wq went to housekeeping. I am astonished to think that I have lived to be over sixty years old and to find that I knew so little about so simple and yet so important a matter as the control of the kitchen fire." The writer of the letter is a gentle- man above the average in experience and intelligence, being an architect and builder who is successful in his vocation. Having made the diagnosis, located the trouble, and prescribed the remedy, the Author submits this produc- tion to the consideration of an interested public with the hope that the information furnished between the covers of this small volume may be put to the practical test in order to secure the comforts and conveniences certain to follow. SAMUEL SFAVARD WRTG?IT. HOW TO RUN IT INTRODUCTION FLAME. In modern civilization, after Air, Water and Food, nothing is more important than Fire, to the happiness and prosperity of the human race. If all present knowl- edge of artificial means of producing- fire were obliter. ated and not rediscovered, civilization would relapse into barbarism Business could not be transacted, railroads and steamboat lines could not be operated, manufactories would close, our homes would become desolate without heat and light, and chaos would reign supreme. Those heroes of invention, whoever they were, who first kindled flame, did more for human welfare than any who have succeeded them, for it was their success that has made all progress possible. WHAT IS FLAME? The flame of a fire is really nothing at all. It is not what ancient Greeks thought, an element like air, water or earth. But the early Greeks did not understand that air water and earth were not in themselves elements, but a mixture or compound of elements, for air is now known to be composed of a mixture of two elements- two gases-known as Oxygen and Nitrogen: that water is a compound of two gases known as Oxygen and Hydrogen, and that earth is a mixture of many gases and solids— all being simple elements. All the gaseous and solid elements are known as matter-substance-something that can be weighed, 8 THE KITCHEN FIRE measured, seen, felt or tasted, and which may be utilized in some form for human needs. The flame is not an element of different kind or nature. It is simply what the elements — the gases look like when they are burning and glowing under the influence of heat. WHY IS FIRE HOT? Heat comes from Carbon, which is mostly the solid part of Coal, Wood or other fuels, and the Oxygen of the air. A wonderful amount of power and energy is stored lying dormant in Carbon and Oxygen. When flame — fire — is applied to a union of Carbon and Oxygen the wonderful energy locked up in both is released, becomes active, shows itself in rapid motion, communicates itself to the surrounding air, making it hot, and continues to move, producing radiant heat. WHAT IS CARBON? Carbon is a solid lying in mass in the earth, being stored there for ages for the use of mankind in the form of mineral like coal, or in liquid form like petroleum, or as the so-called natural gas. All vegetation spring- ing from the earth is composed largely of carbonaceous matter. Nature has stored immense quantities of car- bon in our forests, upon which our ancestors have drawn for their fuel necessities until our nation's wood supply has become seriously depleted. FUEL AND ITS KINDS. Fuel is the name give to any material which may be burned for domestic purposes, or in the arts or sciences. It appears in many different forms and under many dif- HOW TO RUN IT 9 ferent names, and for convenience will be classified as follows : First — Solid fuels, including wood, charcoal, peat, coal and coke. Second — Liquid fuels, including petroleum, tar, etc. Third — Gaseous fuels, including coal gas, oil gas, pro- ducer gas and water gas. The value of any of the fuels named depends upon the amount of Carbon stored in the substance and the quantity of heat that may be generated when it is sub- jected to the high temperature of flame or fire. The nature and composition of the more prevalent fuels will be treated in following chapters. BURNING FUEL IN STOVES AND RANGES. There is a right way and a wrong way of burning fuel in stoves and ranges. The right way is to burn it with as little consumption of fuel as possible, to secure the desired volume of heat, and to burn it in a sanitary and healthful way, which is, or should be, the first con- sideration. Also, it should be burned in a manner con- ducive to the safety of the home and the lives of its inmates. The right way to burn fuel is to burn as little Carbon, which costs dollars, and as much Oxygen as possible, which is .free, and can be had without expense. The wrong way is the common or ordinary manner in which stoves are operated in nearly all families. The most simple principles of correct burning, proper opera- tion of the stove and management of the fire are gener-- ally disregarded. This condition is well nigh universal, and as a result nearly twice as many dollars are expend- ed in the average family for fuel as i s necessary. 10 THE KITCHEN FIRE This book is written with the purpose of supplying cor- rect and needed information on the care and mainten- ance of the kitchen fire, and a consecutive reading of its several chapters will furnish such information. WHERE THE WASTE GOES. Fuel is wasted or lost in two ways. Its burning is often so incomplete and imperfect that large quantities of Carbon are found in the ash box in the form of cinders and clinkers, which are sometimes reclaimed by sifting of the ashes. A great loss occurs through the smoke pipe and chimney as, if the fire be not properly controlled, many of the gases after being generated in the fire are allowed to escape through the smoke pipe and chimney before the process of burning has been completed. Losses in both directions — the ash box and the chimney — may be almost wholly obviated or reduced to a minimum by acquiring correct information concern-, ing the use of drafts and dampers, which will also be discussed in other parts of this book. SMOKE PIPE AND CHIMNEY. The smoke pipe which connects the stove or range to the chimney flue is a very important feature of the kitchen heating system, but its importance is frequently overlooked, and stoves and fire troubles are endured which might be readily obviated. The proper flue con- nection is very important, and the course the smoke pipe must take from the stove to the chimney is often susceptible to change with most beneficial results. The chimney and its flues are a study in themselves and their correct understanding and care of much consequence. HOW TO iRUN IT 11 HOW TO BURN FUEL PROPERLY. The proper manipulation of a stove or range is not at all difficult or irksome where conditions are favorable for satisfactory fuel burning. The practical manage- ment of the stove and fire will be discussed in all its detail, and any reader who has unusual or peculiar prob- lems to be solved is invited to communicate with the Author by letter. NEW ACCESSORIES TO STOVES. Since the great coal strike in 1902 more attention has been paid by writers and inventors to Fuel Saving Prob- lems. Many devices have been invented to be used as accessories to coal and gas ranges and heating stoves. Some have actual merit — others are worthless. A brief description of some of them and the principles involved will appear at the end of Part Second, which is devoted to practical application of the information herein sub- mitted. 12 _ THE KITCHEN FIRE CHAPTER I. WATER— AIR— FIRE. Well informed people frequently express their sur- prise that the general public remains so illy informed concerning the important yet very simple matters of everyday life. How few can explain that the most prevalent liquid known — Water — is a combination in certain exact proportions of two most prevalent gases, viz., Oxygen and Hydrogen, or that the atmospheric air which we must continue to breathe in order to exist is a mixture in other certain fixed proportions of Oxygen and Nitrogen. All know that water and air are supers abundant — co-existing in all regions of the earth, and that both are essential to human and animal existence. The air we breathe being all prevalent, provided for all His creatures — human and animal — by an All- Wise Creator, costs not a penny. Water being a liquid instead of a gas like air, is more controllable, more easily mobil- ized, and in densely populated communities is controlled by a few individuals, and through artificial means is made a commodity and sold for money to the general public. The housekeeper who pays his dollars for the water his family must consume, provides ways and means for controlling and conserving its waste by using meters, faucets and other necessary devices so that fewer of his dollars shall find their way into the cofifers of the muni- cipality or company who has the water to sell. By similar means the supply and waste of light, either gas, oil or electricity are controlled, for light, like water, has become a commodity and must be purchased, and is therefore a fixed charge upon the income of every family. HOW TO RUN IT 13 FIRE. Likewise all know that heat is produced by fire, that coal, wood and other fuel when ignited will burn and generate heat, and that draft so-called — air— is necessary to cause a hre to burn before heat can be evolved or produced. All are familiar with the phenomena of fire — its uses and purposes — but what the actual process is in transforming wood or coal into heat remains to them in the category of the unknown. Nothing is commoner, nothing is more necessary to civilization than Fire, which was to prehistoric man a luxury both costly and precarious. Before man knew how to produce fire he observed fire coming from nat- ural sources, like volcanoes, oil wells burning like those on the shores of the Caspian Sea, which have flamed or smouldered for centuries. He must have observed a tree set afire by the lightning stroke, a meteorite setting fire to leaves and underbrush, a storm driving the stems of a bamboo groove against each other imtil fric- tion excited flame. He, no doubt, saw fire from such causes sweep through forests, burning animals and birds, and his first knowledge of cooking might have been gained from a feast of the flesh of such primitive cooking. ARTIFICIAL FIRE. How and when man first produced flame and fire by artificial agencies will never be revealed. The rubbing of sticks of wood together until flame was produced is probably the oldest known method. Then pieces of stone or other mineral were doubtless employed. Cen- turies passed before man knew how to strike the cheap plktsphorous match which was perfected as recently as 14 TPTE KITOT-TEN FIRE 1840. In fact, not until the principles of chemistry be- came understood was man able to produce and control flame at will. The actual process of burning or combustion was not known until the latter part of the Eighteenth Century. It was then discovered that atmospheric air is composed of two gases instead of one — Oxygen and Nitrogen — the proportion being one-'lifth Oxygen and four-fifths Nitro- gen. It was also discovered that Nitrogen is an inert gas without definite qualiiy, that Oxygen is essential to the existence of all humans and animals, and that with- out a sufficient supply of Oxygen a fire cannot burn. Therefore a fire is primarily a union of two elements. Oxygen and the substance to be burned, which may be either solid, liquid or gaseous, and is called Carbon. The Oxygen and Carbon must be brought together in proper proportion and placed under ignition before a fire, which produces light and heat, can burn. By ignition we mean producing a flame, and the flame is gas in process of burning. As pure water is composed in certain exact proportion of Oxygen and Hydrogen, and pure air is composed of Oxygen and Nitrogen in exact proportion, so in order to effect in a fire proper or economical combustion or burning of the substance to be burned, there must be preserved the necessary proportion of Oxygen and Carbon. It is because of the lamentable general lack of knowl- edge by men and women of the principles and facts be- fore stated, that such great trouble. and annoyance is so often experienced in maintaining the kitchen and other fires, and which results in the enormous waste of expen- sive fuel. HOW TO RUN IT 15 Fire — combustion — is a simple chemical process. Cer- tain elements must be combined in certain quantities under certain conditions — the Oxygen of the air and the Carbon of the fuel— before a satisfactory or economical fire can be maintained. The druggist, in compounding prescriptions, must mix the several ingredients in proper proportion and under certain conditions, else the mixture will be useless and fail of its purpose. The housewife, in mixing bread or cake for baking, must combine in cer- tain proportion, by weight or measure, the flour, water, salt, sugar, butter and other ingredients, for if not prop- erly mixed or combined — no matter how well baked — the food will be neither palatable nor wholesome. Every kitchen is a laboratory, and every cook, un- consciously though it may be, practices or uses the arts or knowledge of the chemist in her daily avocation. Even the wash woman in her use of water, in the use of soda, bluing, and in the preparation of starch and in other ways, makes use of the principles of chemistry. If the housewife, cook or maid, exercised the same dili- gence and painstaking care in the operation or control of the kitchen fire that must be given to successful cook- ing and baking and other kitchen work, fire and stove troubles would largely vanish, economy in the use of fuel would take the place of extravagance and waste, and the labor involved be greatly diminished. While economy is very important in our domestic afifairs, sanitary conditions and practice are of greater importance. The kitchen fire uncontrolled and misman- aged too often is a menace to the health and lives of our families. 11iis feature will be treated in a plain, thiM'ough and practical manner in the other portions of this book. 16 THE KITOHEIN FIRE CHAPTER II FUEL. The more important fuels burned for domestic pur- poses in kitchens and homes include wood, peat, lignite, coal and gas. All are stored in greater or lesser quanti- ties with Carbon, which is the combustible material. Combustible means that which will burn when flame is applied. The higher the proportion of Carbon in the fuel, the greater its heat-giving quality, and therefore the greater its money value. WOOD. Hard woods include heavy, compact woods like oak, hickory, beech, birch, elm, ash, maple and walnut. Soft woods include pine, hemlock, poplar, willow, and many others. Freshly chopped green wood, either hard or soft, con- tains about forty-five per cent, of moisture, often more, and sometimes less. Even dry wood contains moisture of about twenty per cent. It is plain, therefore, that dry wood will burn more readily than greeij wood, for the great amount of moisture in green wood must be ex- pelled before the carbon in the wood can be burned, and it requires a great deal of heat to first expel the mois- ture. For this reason it is not economical to burn wood until it has become well seasoned. Wood contains- only fifty per cent, or less of Carbon, while the best of anthracite coal contains as much as ninety-eight per cent. The residue or ash from wood is less than two per cent., while the ash or earthy matter of anthracite coal varies from three to four per cent. HOW TO RUiN' IT 17 WOOD BECOMING SCARCE. When the Government of the United States was estab- lished about one hundred and twenty-five years ago, no coal had been discovered, and the forest seemed destined to provide wood fuel sufficient for the nation's need for centuries, but the wonderful increase and activity of our population and the wanton destruction and waste of the forests long since greatly depleted this source of our fuel supply, and to such an extent that the more populous [^".astern Section and many portions of the Middle West and South no longer consume wood for domestic pur- poses because of its scarcity and consequent high price, except it may be in certain localities where the agricul- tural po[)ulation prevails. Notwithstanding the serious depletion of our forest lands, our wood fuel consumed for domestic purposes annually reaches in value the great sum of two hundred and fifty millions of dollars, as shown by the Bureau of Statistics of the United States Government. At the present rate of increase of population and the present rate of wood consumption per capita, only a few decades will suffice to exhaust the present supply, and wood as fuel will no longer be available in any section of our country. PEAT. Immense deposits of peat exist in the United States and in other parts of the world. It is called turf in Ire- land and has been burned for fuel in that and other coun- tries for a long period. It consists of vegetable matter deposited in swampy ground, and important geological changes in its formation are still progressing. Very little use has been made of peat in this country yet, 18 THE KJTOllKN FIKE owinj^ to the a])Undance, cheapness and superior heating quality of coal. In European countries it is used for other than domestic purposes also. LIGNITE. This is classed among mineral coals being inferior to bituminous coal, yielding only moderate heat. Exten- sive deposits exist in the territory west of the Mississippi river and its use thus far has been limited, but as -that territory becomes developed it will become of greater importance as a fuel for domestic consumption. Lignite can be coked, though the product is not of good quality. It is lower in its carbon than most of the soft coals, but contains more water and gaseous matter. It crumbles rapidly when exposed to the weather, and as a fuel must be used in its natural state and near where it is mined to obtain the best results. COAL. Coal is classified as Anthracite, or hard coal, and Bitu- minous, or soft coal. The anthracite varies in degrees of hardness, and hard coal that contains as much as seven or eight per cent, of volatile or gaseous matter is known as semi-anthracite, ijecausc of this gaseous matter the semi-anthracite kindles in(»re (juickly and burns more rapidly than the hard anthracite. When coal contains as much as eighteen or twenty per cent, of volatile matter that is changed into gas when flame or fire is applied, it is called bituminous or soft coal. Other coals of the soft kinds are known as coking coal?, from which coke is produced. The process is to drive off the volatile or gaseous portion of the coal, leav- ing the solid carbon, which is called coke. It is used HOW TO 'RUN IT ^'"^ largely for melting iron in furnaces, for it yields intense heat and burns freely under a strong blast of air. Bituminous coal, under another process, furnishes illu^ minating gas, and coke is also the residue of the solid carbon, but it is not so hard and more easily ignited than the preceding coke. This coke is largely used in some sections for domestic fuel with excellent results. It burns freely and with intense heat. Bituminous coal is more generally used in manufactur- ing and transportation enterprises because it is more free burning than anthracite, and steam can be produced more quickly than by using the slower burning anthracite. It is used, however, in a large section of the country for domestic purposes in kitchens and homes. It is not as convenient to handle as the solid anthracite, and having a much larger proportion of volatile or gaseous matter, burns with more smoke and is not, therefore, so desir- able for domestic use. Bituminous coal analysis is as follows: Solid Carbon from fifty to eighty-four per cent. Volatile matter— gaseous— from twelve to forty-eight per cent. Earthy matter -ash— from two to twenty per cent. Sulphur from one to tliree per cent. The deposits of bituminous coal in the region west of the Allegheny Mountains and extending to some distance west of the Mississippi River and in Southern and South- western states seem almost inexhaustible. ANTHRACITE COAL Being richer in carbon, more compact than all others, and almost free from the light, volatile gas, and having 20 THE KITOHEIN FIRE SO little earthy matter, anthracite is the ideal coal for kitchen use. It frequently contains as much as ninety-five per cent, of carbon. Being so free from volatile gas, it is also more sanitary to burn, and although kindling slowly it can be burned slowly and a fire retained much longer than with the other coal fuels or wood. It also burns to a fine ash and without smoke. BRIQUETTES. This is a new fuel to the American public, although briquettes have been made, sold and consumed both for manufacturing and domestic use in the principal Euro- pean countries for seventy years. Germany alone pro- duced in 1908 mor^ than eighteen million tons. Briquettes are made by a patented process from the fine particles of anthracite coal known as culm, which is practically solid carbon, all slate or bony matter so often found in the prepared domestic sizes of anthra- cite being removed. It is carefully washed to re- move dirt and other foreign matter and dried, after which it is mixed in order to hold the fine particles together with a binder of coal tar or pitch, which is distilled as one of the by-products of bituminous or soft coal in the manufacture of coke. It is then sub- jected to extreme heat and severe pressure and formed into sizes corresponding to either chestnut or the larger sizes of anthracite coal, and when cooled they result in a hard product which can be transported without breakage. The pitch used consists of fifty-tseven per cent, of car- bon (pure coal) and forty-three per cent, of volatile or easeous matter. HlOW TO RUN IT .21 As a fuel it ignites more quickly, burns with greater freedom and gives more heat than anthracite coal, from which it is made. It also burns to a fine ash and without clinkers, and is, therefore an economical fuel. The Scranton Anthracite Briquette Company has already manufactured and sold more than 500,000 tons of briquettes. Possessing so many of the qualities of an ideal fuel, anthracite briquettes seem destined to become one of the leading fuels 'in the future. FUEL WASTE. The deposit of hard, or anthracite coal, which is far more desirable than soft coal for domestic use, exists only in a few counties in Eastern Pennsylvania, and so rapidly has this most valuable fuel been mined and wasted in mining and consumed, that its supply, like that of wood, is already seriously depleted. Because of the increasing difficulty and expense of mining, and the certain ultimate exhaustion of the product, the tendency of the price of anthracite per ton is and will continue upward as the price of wood per cord is already in most sections prohibitive. As the two fuels named cannot now be purchased for a less price per ton or cord, and in all probability they will ultimately be doubled in cost, it certainly behooves the prudent consumer to learn how to utilize all the heat units in the fuel to the end that the annual luel expense may be greatly reduced. Concerning economy in the use of tlie three necessities of life — Food, Clothing and Fuel — there is a notable dif- ference or distinction. An individual or a family cannot economize or lessen food cost or expense except by eating less food or food of a cheaper price or poorer quality. 22 ' THE KITCHEN FIRE Likewise with clothing expense, less clothing must be purchased or clothing of a cheaper price. A family may, however, greatly decrease fuel expense without sacrific- ing any of the volume of heat or any of the comforts and conveniences at present enjoyed. i\nother reason other than saving fuel — which costs money — for the welfare of the present generation, should prompt all to practice fuel conservation. It is for the welfare of those who will follow us — our children and childrens' children — our posterity. When food is pur- chased it is consumed, of course, but more food is pro- duced — grown — each and every year. The fields bring forth their annual crops of divers kinds. The animals are fattened on the herbage of the fields and nature per- ennially provides subsistence for mankind. The cotton plant, and skins and wools of animals, and other pro- visions of nature supply our needs for clothing. But when a ton of coal is mined and burned it is totally lost — destroyed — and cannot be replaced from year to year by the chemical action induced by the copi- ous rain of Heaven filtering through the fertile soil of Mother Earth. For this reason the wanton waste of fuel is more de- plorable — a waste that will not be restored by natural forces — than the waste of the other necessities of life or of any luxury. It is easy of demonstration that from one-third to one- half — frequently a greater quantity — of coal consumed is needlessly burned, and if that one-half or one-third has a money value of one dollar per week, it would be no more reckless, foolish or extravagant to throw the dollar in the fire at the beginning or end of every week than to throw its value from the coal pail into the fire day by HiOW TO RUN IT 23 day. The loss, measured in dollars, is the same in either event, but when one-third of the fuel is needlessly thrown into the tire the time and effort spent in handling that one-third unnecessarily is also lost. It follows, therefore, that a housekeeper who would burn the money weekly, and learn to save one-third or more of fuel, would actually practice economy of time and labor and secure other benefits which can readily be named. How to burn fuel economically and in a healthful man- ner will be ])resented in Part Two. 24 THE KITOHEiN FIRE CHAPTER III. OXYGEN THE FRIEND OF CARBON It has already been shown that fire is the result of a union of the elements of Oxygen and Carbon exposed to the heat of flame. Each is as important as the other, and without both the Oxygen Gas and the solid Carbon no fire could be produced. Oxygen is just as essential in producing and maintaining fire as it is to the existence of all plant and animal life. The source of Oxygen is the atmosphere. One-fifth part of the air is Oxygen. Eight- ninths of water is Oxygen, and it is found in lesser quan- tity in the earth. It also exists in all the fuels, particu- larly wood, in greater or less degree. Oxygen, when pure, is colorless, tasteless and without odor. Oxygen has weight, and is about one-tenth heavier than atmo- spheric air, of which it is a part. It is the most abundant of all the elements. Oxygen in science is called a supporter of combustion, which means it is necessary in order" to burn carbon — fuel — to have present a constant supply of Oxygen. Oxy- gen can be separated from air. The remaining four- fifths of air is called Nitrogen. If pure Oxygen is con- fined in a jar and a piece of burning iron is placed in it, the iron will be entirely consumed. If pure Oxygen with- out its companion. Nitrogen, were supplied to a fire of any of the ordinary solid fuels, the grate itself would be burned, because it would be more combustible than either coal or wood. Man himself could not exist very long if he were com- pelled to breathe only pure Oxygen, for he would be so stimulated that he would lose control of all his vital organs and senses. HOW TO RUN IT 25 It is well known that Oxygen is often administered to very sick people, but only temporarily with beneficial results. It will be readily understood, then, how very valuable and important a factor Oxygen is in the process of pro- ducing heat from burning any of the carbon fuels, either coal, wood or gas. NITROGEN. Both in volume occupying space and by weight. Nitro- gen is the principal constituent of the air. It is without color, taste or smell in its natural state, and is slightly less in weight than air. It does not support combustion of fuel like Oxygen. It will not burn, no matter to what extreme heat it may be subjected. It simply occupies space and does not change in form. If Nitrogen only is supplied to burning fuel without its companion, Oxygen, the fire will immediately die, just as all animals and humans would die if they only inhaled Nitrogen. It does not dissolve in water. In the atmosphere it is like a diluent. It dilutes air, lowers it down, and makes it moderate and useful for us. Nitrogen is an active element, but a very safe one. It carries away and dispenses poisonous fumes of any kind through the atmosphere until they find place where they are needed to perform some important purpose for the good of mankind. Nitrogen performs the important function in the proc- ess of burning fuel in stoves, of carrying away through the smoke pipe and chimney the fuel gases, which will not burn at the rate of from three feet to ten feet per second. It thus assists to produce draft .'^o necessary to proper fuel burning. 26 THE KITCHEN EIRE HYDROGEN. This gas is the lightest substance known, but performs an important part in fuel burning in stoves and ranges. Like Oxygen and Nitrogen, it is also, when pure, color- less, tasteless and without odor. It is not found in a free state, and although it is one-ninth part of pure water, it may be separated from the Oxygen, but not without much trouble and effort. Pure Hydrogen burns with a faint blue light, but gives off intense heat. In fact. Hydrogen is the best fuel known. It gives off more heat than by burning any other substance. Hydrogen is found in varying quantities in all the fuels — the greatest in the oils and gases. The three gases, Oxygen, Nitrogen and Hydrogen, are most important elements in the phenomena of fire as well as in human existence. All are colorless, tasteless and odorless in their natural state. We are continually inhaling and swallowing them with benefit instead of injury. Unlike some of the fuel gases, they have no dan- gerous quality. Their practical use in burning fuel will be described in the following pages. HOW TO RUN IT 27 CHAPTER IV. STOVES— WOOD— COAL— GAS. It would require a volume of hundreds of pages to describe the immense number and variety of stoves the ingenuity of man has constructed during the past five centuries in Europe and the United States. It requires but little speculation and imagination on the part of the reader to conclude that stoves were designed to super- sede fireplaces because less fuel is required where it is ignited and burned when inclosed than when ii is burned in the open atmosphere, and less air is required in the process of burning. The first stoves used in Europe were made in France about the time that Columbus dis- covered America, and in Holland later. The Holland stove came much later and was small and of the box shape, and being used only in the milder climates, was designed for wood fuel and moderate fires. In the colder countries of Russia and Sweden larger stoves and greater heat were required, and they were constructed of iron and brick. Neither of the patterns mentioned became popular in England because of the prejudice of the peo- ple in favor of open fires, wiiich also furnished light as well as heat. The first receptacle for fire known to have been made in America was cast in Lynn, Mass., soon after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. The exact date is said to be 1642. It is not a stove, but a small round bottomed kettle with a cover. It was a little more than one hundred years thereafter that Benjamin Franklin, in 1745, invented what he called the Franklin Stove, or Pennsylvania Fire Place, which was more of a fireplace or a hot air furnace than a stove. It was not designed for cooking but for heating purposes 28 THE KITCHEN PIKE and for the consumption of wood as fuel, no coal having then been discovered in America. The Franklin Stove was a great improvement in heat- ing devices, and the Governor of the State of Pennsyl- vania offered Franklin a patent for the control of the manufacture and sale of his invention. This Franklin refused on the ground that the improvement being for the public benefit it would not be right to deprive the public of any of the benefits of the invention. Franklin understood how necessary it is to control the amount of air to be supplied to the burning wood and he also knew the necessity of controlling the exit of the smoke and the other waste products of combustion through the chimney. He provided ways and means of ingress and egress of air with the purpose of saving fuel. He provided what he called a Register, but which was a flue or pipe damper and which he directed should be used to control the draft so that so much heat should not be lost through the chimney. He was thus able to demon- strate that large quantities of wood could be saved and more and better sustained heat had by properly controll- ing the ingress and egress of air. At that time Priestly had not discovered that air was composed of two gases — Oxygen and Nitrogen — and Franklin did not understand the composition of fuels, but he early recognized that the quantity of air necessary to a proper and economical burning of the fuel is limited and therefore should be controlled. In 1771, and later, Franklin invented other stoves — one for burning bituminous coal which would consume its own smoke and had a downward draft, and another intended for the same purpose having a basket grate with movable bars at the top and bottom. After being mow TO RUN IT 29 filled and kindled at the top, it could be inverted and made to burn from the base. Franklin was one of the first manufacturers of stoves in America, and he wrote an elaborate treatise for public use, which was widely distributed, teaching housekeepers the general principles of fire control and the consequent fuel saving, lie tried to educate those who purchased his stove how to get the full benefit from their money investment. In 1786 heating stoves of box shape were made in Philadelphia and were shipped to Providence, R. P, and Troy, N. Y., where they were put together and sold in the trade. From 1795 to 1825 no material progress was made in the construction of stoves. Wood was universally used for fuel till about 1830. Anthracite coal created a great revolution in stove construction. In 1833 Mott demon- strated that anthracite fire could be maintained in stoves with nut and pea sizes of coal, and a little later President Nott, of Union College, burned anthracite in heating stoves. STOVE CONSTRUCTION "There have been no important changes in cook stove construction," says Jeremiah Dwyer, President of the Michigan Stove Company, Detroit, Mich., "since that date (1850). Minor changes have been made to increase sales, such as Filley's Gauge Door, his return flue con- struction, the various arrangements of reservoirs and grates, the methods of oven ventilation and Buck's Stove Company's brilliant glass and enameled oven doors. Ranges as they are now called are each year more gen- erally made with one door and the pipe on the side where tlie other door was formerly. The only change 30 T[TE KITCIIBN WUIV] in ten years has been in ornamentation, the substitution of aluminum for tin in the lining of the oven door and there has been a general reduction in price, while the cost of manufacturing has increased." It will be observed that the eminent authority makes no claim that the modern cooking stove or range is more economical in its consumption of fuel than was the old- time cooking stove used in our grandfather's day. The same general method of producing heat in stoves con- tinues as it was fifty or sixty years ago. At the present time there are two general classes of stoves manufactured and sold for domestic purposes, viz., cooking stoves and heating stoves, in which char- coal, coal, wood or coke, oil or gas are consumed as fuel. According to the particular kind of fuel to be burned they are known as wood stoves, coal stoves, gas stoves or oil stoves. The wood stove has been supplanted very largely in the large cities by the coal stove or range, whereas at the present time the oil or gas stoves prin- cipally used for cooking purposes are coming into more popular use at the expense of the coal range. This con- dition exists very largely for the reason that manufac- turers of coal and wood stoves and producers of the coal fuel are allowing themselves to be outstripped by their more enterprising competitor^; for public patronage — the manufacturers and distributors of the gas fuel. The manufacturer of gas teaches housekeepers how to burn gas cheaply by properly operating the gas stove. He shows its convenience and apparent cheapness, etc., by circulating printed matter and giving free public and even private demonstrations. This is in striking con- trast to the supine indifference of the stove manufac- turer, the stove dealer and the coal operator or dealer .HOW TO RUN IT 31 who could (lemoiistrate that coal is a cheaper fuel when properly burned than gas or oil, that death or sickness always lurks in the shadow of the gas range because one-third of the gas is composed of the deadly Carbonic Oxide. Cooking stoves and ranges consuming coal, wood or coke as fuel are consiructed along the same general lines, although they may be different in shape, size weight of casting and in features of general convenience and comfort. All have grates, fire box linings of brick or metal, ash pit or receiver of ashes, lids and center pieces, the supporters of lids, ovens, doors, slide drafts, dampers and other parts, yet all may vary in construc- tion and still perform ihe general purpose for which they are constructed. Some ranges have reservoirs for containing and heating water, which is accomplished by the heat which is diverted around the oven. In other cases ranges are equipped with the accessory of what is known as the Water Back, which is attached to the fire box, pipes being connected with an upright boiler standing near the stove and the water circulating through the pipes in the fire box is heated to the boiling point. Many other features could be mentioned, but the public has general knowledge concerning them. It is for tlie housekeeper to understand the advantages and disadvantages of the respective -fuels it is within her convenience to use — wliich machines arc better suited to her kitchen conditions and how to operate such ma- chines at least expense consistent with the needed requirements and in a safe and sanitary manner, thereby being certain to conserve the life and health of herself and those entrusted to her care and protection. 32 THE KITCHEN FIRE THE CABINET DOCKASH RANGE. The above is an excellent type of the modern coal or wood kitchen range. The Dockash grate is easily oper- ated and the fire box is constructed on scientific princi- ples, has large capacity and is cemented tightly so that no cold air enters the fire box. The fuel can be changed from coal to wood instantly. It is supplied with the Hypocaust Oven, which is ventilated, and food roasted HOW TO RUN IT or baked in this oven loses but Httle in shrinkage, has better quality, while less time is required for the baking. It is also furnished with gas attachments. It is manu- factured by The Scranton Stove Works, Scranton. Pa. 34 THE KITC'HEiN FIRE CHAPTER V. CHIMNEYS— DAMPERS— DRAFTS. A chimney is a vertical structure of stone, brick or metal containing an internal passageway or flue through which smoke and the waste gases of combustion are carried off from a stove, fireplace or furnace. It may be built inside or outside of a dwelling, and it also per- forms the very important function of supplying draft for the fire from which it receives the smoke and waste gases. The action of a chimney is based upon the simple principle that a column of heated air is lighter than a column of cooler air of the same height, and as heated air rises when unconfined, the greater weight of the cooler air at the bottom forces the warm air upwar'cis and thus air ascending current is produced. This is called draft. The chimney extending from the hearth or fireplace to the roof of the house is a modern invention, and was unknown to the ancients. The Greeks had no chimneys and the smoke of the fires escaped through a hole in the roof. The first form of a chimney was a short funnel through the wall of the house. Chimneys were common in Venice in the fourteenth century, a number being overthrown in the earthquake of January 25, 1347. No traces of chimneys were found in Pompeii or Her- culaneum. Persians still retain the ancient custom of making fires in holes in earthen floors in an iron vessel, a low table placed directly over, covered to the floor with a curtain and no means provided for the escape of smoke and gases. Chimneys were unknown in Enp-l»"d earlier than the t welfth century, and for centuries after MOW TO KUN IT 35 remained as luxuries for the houses of the great. Even at the beginning of the sixteenth century they were almost unknown. In our time there is no detail in house construction so important to the comfort of its occupants as the chimney which furnishes draft to the heating devices in their home. CHIMNEY CONSTRUCTION. As a good draft is indispensable if the best service and efficiency is to be realized from the stove machine, particular attention must be given to the proper con- struction of the chimney and its flue. The chimney flue should never be less than 8x8 or 8x12 inches, and in large houses not less than 12x16 inches, especially if furnaces or boilers are used as part of heating system, not because such size is absolutely necessary, but to overcome roughness and cleaning of the flue. The straighter and more true the flues the more powerful will be the draft. If slight bends occur, the inside should not be drawn in, as that would lessen the capacity and tend to inter- cept the smoke and gases in their exit to the atmosphere. A round flue is more desirable also, because there will be less friction for the escape of the gases in their travel upward. If brick is the material used in construction, the hard- est only should be used next to the flue, for the coal gases greatly affect the brick and mortar, while wood fuel gases do not. The mortar should not extend, beyond the surface of the brick inside the flue, and it would be better still to use tile flue lining, for it does not absorb heat, and the inside of the flue would be tight and .-!»; THIE KITOHIEN PIRiE smooth and thus greatly facilitate the exit of the gases. Another important point to consider in the construc- tion of the chimney is the top and that part which ex- tends above the roof. The top of the chimney should not be drawn in or the exit of the flue made smaller, as there would be a liability to impede the draft. It would be better to increase rather than diminish the area at the top of the flue. DRAFTS. The chimney should be built high enough above the roof to obviate any down draft that might result from wind eddies or whirls of air that frequently occur where there are surrounding higher objects like other l)uild- ings, trees, hills, etc. L'sually the addition of a few feev to the height will obviate a difficulty of such character. Smoky stoves and fireplaces are due to impeded drafts and if proper chimney diagnosis is made the cause should be quickly discovered and remedied. In some countries it is the custom to cover the to]) of the chimney with some sort of a roof which may be arched or extend to a point. Openings nfiust be left for the quick and easy exit of the smoke aijd gases. A slab of stone or iron is also frequently used as a cover- ing. Down drafts in this manner are prevented and rain and nioistuie precluded from falling into the chimney. A m.echanical contrivance called a cowl, attached to the chimney top, is now used with great success for the purpose of increasing the chimney draft and thereby preventing smoke. It consists of a hood in which is a fan, it being so constructed that the fan faces the wind. HOW TO RUN IT 37 changing with it, and by its revolution produces an upward suction of the air, which greatly increases the draft. One cause for a defective or weak draft is a poorly ventilated kitchen or room in which the stove or furnace is located. Doors and windows when provided with weather strips are nearly air tight and thus prevent a constant and fresh supply of air. Such inlets of air should be allowed if it is desirable to have the draft ilnimpeded. Still another cause for weak drafts is a sooty or dirty chimney. This condition prevents the smoke and waste gases from quickly passing up the chimney, there- by decreasing its natural draft. Great danger of chim- ney fires exist from such causes, and a sooty chimney also attracts lightning. With chimney conditions favorable, the best results from present stove construction are secured when all the air that passes up the flue enters at the bottom of the fire. It is thus heated to its highest temperature by passing through all the fire, and the fire is stimulated to increased combustion by the blast thus obtained. DAMPERS. A damper is an obstruction used to either prevent air from entering into a stove below the fire or to allow it to enter in large or small volume as needed to increase or diminish draft. Dampers are also used to prevent the waste and other gases from passing too quickly from the firebox of the stove through the smoke pipe flue and into the chimney from whence these escaping products of combustion pass upward into the general atmosphere. Stoves are usually provided with one or more doors \i^ TIIK IvITOLlWN i''I'U.K which Open into the ash pan, which is below the grate, and therefore under the fire. wSuch doors usually con- tain slide drafts, so called, but which are properly slide dampers. These dampers are intended to regulate the amount of air or draft to the bed of the burning fuel. It is, however, the tendency of every cook, fireman r>r stoker, to allow too much air, far more than neces- sary, to pass through this open damper into the fire. Except when starting a new fire, it is seldom necessary to allow this slide damper to stand wide open for more than a few minutes unless the stove or chimney is defec- tive in draft or in bad condition. Also many stoves have slide check dampers over and above the fire box, which, when open, either wholly or partially allow air to pass directly upon the burning fuel. This is designed to check or diminish the rapidity of the combustion or burning of the fuel, and is directly oppo- site to the first named process. Air admitted under the grate and through the fire increases the draft, thereby causing the fuel to burn more quickly, while air admitted above the fire and upon its top surface causes the fire to burn more slowly. The reason is that the air or atmos- phere of the room is much cooler than are the gases as they arise from the burning fuel. The gases thus be- come chilled, and as their temperature is then many degrees below the point at which they can ignite and burn, their combustion or burning is eflfectually pre- vented. Cooking and heating stoves also are usually supplied with internal dampers, sometimes called oven dampers or smoke dampers, and which are designed to ])revent the heat (waste gases) from passing directly from the fire to the smoke pipe flue and from thence into the H'UW TO RUN \T :'••> chimney. Such dampers close the opening into the base of the pipe and the heat and gases must then pass over and around the oven and find their way into the smoke pipe flue after their tortuous journey at the back of the stove. ILLUSTRATION No 1 The oven or smoke damper in the illustration is open and the heat and gases pass directly into the smoke pipe and chimney where they are lost. Still another form ot a damper is frequently installed in the face of the first length of smoke pipe, which is usually oblong in sha])e. a short distance above the top of the stove. These dampers, or check drafts, may be either rectangular slides or circular in form, and are 40 THE KITCHEiN PliRE II.LUSTRATION N( In this illustration the oven or smoke damper is closed and the heat and gases pass around the oven before going into the chimney. They are thus utilized to better heat the oven. designed to intercept or extinguish the draft from the fire to the chimney. The oldest, best and most efficient damper to be used above the upper surface of the fire, is the damper in- stalled inside of the smoke pipe flue. This damper gives better control of the fire and should be installed whenever possible. Every cook, fireman and stoker should thoroughly master the subjects of drafts and dampers by experimenting w^ith the several kinds, there- by learning their uses and benefits under varying condi- tions. Large quantities of fuel would be saved and the labor would be greatly reduced, while the elimination of poisonous coal gas would be complete. HOW TO RUN IT 41 CHAPTER VL FUEL GASES AND SMOKE. The subject of Fuel Gases is not generally understood by housekeepers. The proper manipulation of the fire has a most important effect upon the lives and health of all members of the family. Many women are disinclined to learn of the nature of the gases that are generated by fire, and thus remain uninformed, whereas, by investi- gating the subject, they would quickly learn how to always insure themselves against the pernicious and sometimes deadly effect of poisonous Coal Gas. A modern stove has already been stated to be a ma- chine for converting fuel of some nature or kind into heat. When a coal fire is started or fresh coal added to a fire, the first step or stage in the process of burning is that the heat releases the several gases, of which all fuel in some measure is composed. Being so released it is most desirable that the process of combustion should be completed.' Complete combustion means burning all the gases and all the carbon or solid portion of the fuel that it is possible to burn under the ordinary stove and chim- ney conditions prevailing in our homes. It is better, so far as possible, to cause these gases to be burned inside the stove, and thus destroyed, than to run the risk of the unburnt poisonous gases escaping from the stove through holes, through open doors of the stove or where, by the most reprehensible practice of wholly or partially removing one or more of the stove lids for the purpose of checking the fire, the gases are invited to enter the atmosphere of the kitchen. If there is fire in the stove, gases are generated, and if they are not burned they must escape through the smoke pipe 42 THE KiTU'llEiN I'l'lfE to the chimney or enter the atmosphere of the living rooms. Where wood is the fuel the gases are not so deleterious to life and health. The volume of poisonous gases gen- erated from anthracite coal is far less than from any of the soft coals, while the volume of deadly gases gener- ated by burning the so-called Water Gas, commonly known as Illuminating Gas or Manufactured Gas, is sev- eral times that derived from burning the other fuels. The most poisonous and therefore the most deadly, gas produced from burning coal is known as carbon monoxide, or carbonic oxide, both terms referring to the same gas. One portion of oxygen and one like portion of carbon unite to form carbon monoxide. This gas will not burn until it takes on another like portion of oxygen, when it will burn to what is called carbon dioxide, or carbonic acid gas, which will not burn. Carbonic oxide has no color, taste or smell, and is, therefore, most insidi- ous and dangerous to human life. When breathed pure it produces almost instant coma — unconsciousness. Car- bon dioxide or carbonic acid gas is always present in the atmosphere in small quantities and supplies vegetable life with its necessary carbon. The carbon monoxide is the gas which is the product of imperfect combustion. All stoves in poor condition and those where lids are partially removed at night to check the fire can hardly fail to emit poisonous gas in some quantity. Other gases in small quantities are produced in the process of burning, some of which are combustible and others incombustible. Some are deleterious and others harmless, but the carbon monoxide is the great menace to life and health, which, however, may be utilized to our benefit if we will but exercise our privilege to be- HiUW TO IWN iT 43 come acquainted with its properties — both beneficial and life destroying — and utilize our information to the end that it be compelled to be our agent for good instead of our mortal enemy. SMOKE. When smoke issues from a chimney or from a stove, it is evidence that imperfect combustion is in progress and that there is marked w^aste of fuel. Probably there is not great waste of fuel in the smoke itself, but the real waste arises from the non-combustion of the impuri- ties that escape with the smoke. These impurities con- sist of unconsumed carbon known as soot and of various poisonous gases, chiefly Carbon Monoxide, which will burn if the proper amount of oxygen is furnished to support its combustion, and also ammonia and sulphur- ous and nitrous acids escape. The soot, which, with con- densed water vapor, constitute the visible or darkened portion of smoke, clogs the lungs when inhaled, the poi- sonous gases act chemically on the blood, injure the nerves and irritate the delicate mucous membranes of the air passages and unfit them for their most important duty — the protection of the body against the germs of tuberculosis and other diseases. The injuries inflicted on animal organisms by smoke and soot do not, as a rule, become well marked until the injurious influences have acted for a considerable time. In vegetation the efifect appears more rapidly. Foli- age becomes coated with the soot, which hinders trans- piration (l)reathing) and suffocates the plants. The coniferous trees, such as pine, fir and spruce, whose leaf surface is increased by sub-division into myriads of 44 THE KITCHEN FTRE slender points like needles, have a hard and doubtful struggle for existence in the soot-laden air of our cities. The injury is increased by acrid and poisonous sub- stances deposited with the soot or acting in gaseous forms. By proper construction of grates, air passages and other parts of stoves and furnaces, careful selection of fuel with rational methods of stoking or firing and the employment of suitable apparatus for the absorption and consumption of smoke it is quite possible to efifect a considerable abatement of smoke nuisance with a corre- sponding economy in fuel. Both on economical and humanitarian grounds, smoke should be prohibited in cities where hundreds of thou- sands of chimneys of dwellings and power plants daily emit in the aggregate hundreds of tons of soot which pollute the atmosphere and tend ;o l:)reed disease and cause the death of the inhabitants. It is estimated that nearly one hundred and fifty thou- sand tons of soot are deposited annually from the chim-^ neys of the City of New York, and that in ten cities of the United States more than four hundred thousand tons of soot fall yearly on those cities. As this soot contains thousands of tons of ammonia, chloride, carbon and tar, it is necessarily inhaled by the people, and is a direct cause of the frequency of catarrhal and lung troubles. The shopkeepers of the City of London suffered a loss of twenty-six millions of dollars ($26,000,000) in a two days' fog from the smoke and soot nuisance. It was described as the blackest in ten years, and caused influ- enza to become epidemic and deaths to be increased. THOVV TO KUN TT 45 Great financial loss is sustained in our cities by shop- men, 1)uildings are damaged, and the proi)erty loss is hardly computable because no legislation has been en- acted by municipal legislative bodies to prohibit the smoke nuisance. A Public Health x\ct in operation in the City of London comprising money fines of twenty- five dollars for the first offense of smoke emission from furnace chimneys, fifty dollars for second offense, and so on in progression, has resulted in a great diminution of the nuisance. The municipal authorities in American cities, awak- ened to the danger to life and property from poisonous fuel gases, are passing ordinances for smoke suppression. There is reason to hope that the nuisance will ulti- mately be suppressed and that our chimneys will dis- charge only the final products of complete combustion, viz. : Carbon Dioxide and Water Vapor. IMeanwhile devices for minimizing the injurious action of smoke, furnishing means for producing better and more complete burning of fuel, possess great interest. As very little volatile or gaseous matter is stored in anthracite coal, its smoke is hardly perceptil:)le. Wood is not burned in our cities to an appreciable extent, and if so burned, its smoke not containing the poisonous gases of coal, wiuild not he a menace to life and property. The softer, or bituminous coals are the principal oft'enders. 46 THE KITOHBN FTRE CHAPTER VII. SAFETY AND SANITATION. It has been stated in a preceding chapter that the lives and health of a family are often seriously affected by the imperfect or careless manner in which coal or gas is burned in stoves and ranges. Safety follows sanitation. If the fire is properly confined in the stove and the proper quantity of air admitted to the fire in the proper place and at the proper time, the fuel will be properly burned ; in other words, perfect combustion will be nearly realized. In such case the unsanitary condition of poisonous coal gas will be eliminated. The elimination of coal gas — the deadly carbonic oxide — is and always has been since coal has been burned for fuel in the home, a more difficult problem to solve, and its elimination is only possible by providing means for the complete burning of the fuel gases. Good, tight plumbing w^ill obviate the disagreeable odor which fol- lows the intrusion of sewer gas into the atmosphere of the home. The coal gas is far more frequent a visitor in the homes of the rich and poor than the obnoxious smelling sewer gas. As soon as the presence of sewer gas is realized prompt measures are taken to remove the nuisance. The plumber is called and disinfectants are liberally used to purify the atmosphere of the home. No expense is considered to be too great, if only the foul intruder can be expelled. The deadly coal gas. Carbon Monoxide, however, does not herald or give premonition of its coming. It is col- orless, tasteless and without odor, and is, therefore, extremely dangerous. Chemists assert that carbonic HJOW TO RUN IT 47 oxide gas is the most dangerous and deadly blood poison known to science. Physicians who have made extensive and protracted investigation and are familiar with the symptoms of carbon monoxide blood poisoning attribute many of the physical ills, more particularly of women and small chil- dren who remain much indoors, to the baleful effects of the constant yet unrealized inhalation of coal gas. The sufferers usually attribute their ailment to other causes, not realizing the presence of the deadly gas. Some of the typical symptoms of this blood poisoning are headache, dizziness, shortness of breath, palpitation, drowsiness, impaired energy and strength. When carbon monoxide is inhaled, as it is very often daily, the supply of oxygen inhaled is, of course, less, and serious changes are made in the heart, brain and other organs, and lesions are to be expected. When coal was first introduced in France from Eng- land, one serious objection to its use was that the com- plexion of women was injured by the inhalation of the smoke and gases. At that time it seemed a trivial objec- tion, but who can now doubt that as the inhalation of coal gas is known to deplete and shrivel the corpuscles of the blood, that the complexion and countenance of those inhaling it constantly would fail to betray its poisonous presence? It has been stated that wood fires are more healthful because of the comparatively slight presence of carbon monoxide in that fuel, and that coal gas, is and has always been, a menace to life and health since it came into general use for fuel. Also that anthracite coal con- tains a smaller proportion of carbon monoxide in its 48 TII'E KITCIIDN PTR^K composition than any of the soft coals. More gases and smoke are generated from their burning because they contain a large proportion of the volatile gases. It necessarily follows that the housekeeper must contend against more deadly carbon monoxide and smoke when burning the bituminous coal. While the coal range frequently proves to be a factor in coal gas poisoning, the danger is not always in the fact that the stove is defective or illy constructed for its pur- pose. Frequently it has been mismanaged by the cook or housewife. If out of repair, exposed fire box. or if its flues are choked with soot or ashes so that its ordinary draft is impeded, the un1:)urned coal gas will generally find its escape to the kitchen aimosphere. A foul chimney.or an accumulation of soot or ashes in the smoke pipe, more liable to occur in the elbows or where the pipe enters the chimney flue, may produce similar re- sults. The danger is greatly increased where both con- ditions exist. WHEN GAS IS BURNED? \\ liile the j)rovince of this small volume does not quite cover tlic prol)lcm of burning gas as fuel, yet many have gas ranges also, or combination gas and coal ranges, and it may be desirable for such to understand the greater danger from carbon monoxide in operating the gas range. An emJnent authority has written as follows : "There is no industry connected witli the production and sale of a deadly poison so little subject to control and regula- tion as the gas industry." HJOW TO RUN IT 49 Illuminating gas was formerly distilled from suitable bituminous coal and contained less than seven per cent, of carbon monoxide. As stated, if inhaled in sufficient quantity, it will destroy life, but such inhalation could scarcely occur without the knowledge of the affected party. The deaths from accidental poisoning due to gas leakage were quite infrequent. The present system of manufacturing illuminating gas is less expensive than the old. Water gas, as it is now known, is not distilled, but made from forcing steam on hot coal, anthracite or coke, which is partial burning or combustion. The steam changes the coal to carbon monoxide, and instead of being less than seven per cent of the volume, it is nearly thirty-one per cent, or five times the former per- centage. Measured by deaths from gas poisoning, the difference is much greater where illuminating gas as now manufactured is used. The economic feature has controlled the sanitary fea- ture. While the cost of gas fuel has been reduced, the liability to death from gas poisoning has increased nearly five fold. Most of the apparatus furnished for heating and cook- ing purposes has been constructed with but little atten- tion to the sanitary or health preserving feature. It is used ab(uU as ignorantly as our barbarous ancestors used their tent fires, except that the hole in the roof does not appear in our habitations. Any device, plate or burner, designed for burning gas. either for lighting, cooking or heating purposes in the open atmosphere of the room without being enclosed or confined, is a menace to life and health. The combustion of the gas is very liable to be incomplete, and if the car- 50 THE KITC-HBN FTRE3 boil monoxide is not wholly consumed it is certain to vitiate and poison the atmosphere of the room in Avhich it is burned. The gas tubing used to connect the plate or burner or flatiron with the gas pipe is often cheaply constructed, soon becomes leaky, and a lighted match held at the con- nections will often light a flame an inch long. The gas range requires constant attention and care, else instead of being an economical heat producing machine, it often becomes an instrument of death and disaster. Not only do many deaths result from carbon mon- oxide poisoning as a result from leaky and defective pipes and fixtures, but that fact is really unimportant compared with the efifect upon health of gas leakage in less than immediately fatal quantities. Air containing only four-tenths of one per cent, of carbon monoxide would, after a sufficient time, cause death in man, and even one-half that quantity would in many cases prove fatal. It follows, therefore, that either a coal range or a gas range is a most important factor in the life and health of any family. It may be made an almost perfectly work- ing machine, both economical and sanitary in its opera- tion, a device of great comfort and convenience; or by indifferent or careless atention it may prove not only ex- travagant and unsanitary, but destructive of human life. Too careful attention cannot be given to the following chapter on combustion or 1)urning fuel in stoves. HOW TO RUN IT 51 THE DOCKASH GAS RANGE. The Dockash Gas Range, as shown above, possesses the desirable features which all efficient gas ranges must possess if the best cooking can be done and the fuel gas burned in a sanitary and economical manner. It can be furnished to burn gasoline, but has been constructed to burn artificial or natural gas. It is manufactured by The Scranton Stove Works, Scranton, Pa. .,2 TU<\^: KTTr'HEIN FTTtiE CHAPTER VIII. FUEL BURNING AND FUEL SAVING. The following is quoted from an editorial in The Nation : "AVhen hard coal is ten dollars a ton many will study the mysteries of their furnaces and kitchen range and it will be found that with careful husbanding of heating and cooking fires, from one-quarter to one-half of the fuel formerly consumed can be saved. It will not be many generations before able-bodied Americans will be seen picking up dead leaves and dried pods along the road to cook their dinners." It is true that the last named condition already ex- ists in European countries, and that every twig of wood that can be utilized as fuel is carefully preserved for use when needed. Anthracite coal is on its way to ten dollars a ton, and soft coal is advancing toward the same excessive price. A large saving can be made in any home by simply controlling the tire. Fuel is wasted because the fire is not controlled, but is usually allowed to shirk for itself. It either is allowed to burn too fast, thereby forcing the largest volume of heat through the smoke pipe and chimney into the air where its only purpose is to warm the atmosphere, or it is allowed to smoulder and die out, making it necessary to rekindle or light afresh, both of which conditions result in a wasteful expenditure of fuel. The great volume of heat lost because of its escape through the smoke pipe and chimney is not realized by the housewife. No thermometer used in the home for measuring the temperature is graduated or marked in HOW TO RUN IT 53 degrees nearly high enough to register or measure the degrees of heat inside the smoke pipe. When the tern-, perature of a kitchen is at eighty or ninety degrees only, and a brisk fire burning in the range with an oven hot enough for baking and roasting, the temperature inside the smoke pipe frequently registers five hundred or more degrees. This escaping heat is a total loss so far as its usefulness for cooking and baking is concerned. A greater volume of heat exists inside the smoke pipe, where it is not needed, than in the oven, where it is needed. The heat radiated from smoke pipe and chim- ney may serve to partially warm other rooms through which either or both may chance to pass, but aside from this benefit no useful purpose is served in allowing such large volumes of heat to escape without any attempt to control its exit. If it were possible to confine all the heat which escapes from the top of the chimneys of an ordinary dwelling into one room covering the area of the top of the dwell- ing, that room would, even in zero weather, be warmer than any room in the house. It would be a summer gar- den in which tropical fruits and plants would grow and thrive. The remedy for such gross waste of heat lies in its control after it has been generated in the stove ma- chine by pre\xmting its free exit from the stove. This is dcMie by a pr(^])erly constructed and properly installed damper inside the smoke pipe flue. ft has already been shown that in order to burn fuel properly, and, therefore, economically and with the best practical results, a certain proportion of air must be fur- nished to the burning- fuel, which is, under perfect stove, chimney and fuel conditions, with proper attention to r,4 THE KITOHBN Fl'RiE fire control, twelve pounds of air (one-fifth part of which is oxygen) to each pound of carbon, let us say, to each pound of best anthracite coal. In our domestic alTairs, however, those perfect conditions never exist, and consequently a considerably larger quantity of air or draft, so called, is necessary. It is not anticipated nor expected that any housewife or cook could, or would if she could, measure or weigh the air or the fuel consumed in maintaining the fn-e. It is, however, necessary to forcibly impress upon all the fact that far better fire and stove service may be secured from a less consumption of expensive fuel by exercising a better control of the stove machine. Better control of air admitted to the fire and better control of the heat products of combustion after the same have been gen- erated. This means more careful attention to drafts and dampers. The prevailing practice is to allow far too much air to enter the fire. The more air admitted to the fire under the grate by allowing the lower slide dampers to remain long wide open, the greater will be the intensity of the fire, but also the faster will the heat be driven to escape through the smoke pipe and chimney flue, so that only a small proportion of the desired heat is utilized. If this heat be prevented from escaping so rapidly by a proper use of the smoke pipe damper, it will be retained in the stove and utilized to better heat the oven and combustion chamber of the stove for all heatini:-, cooking and baking purposes. It will be found that less fire is needed because the chimney waste is largely reduced and less air or draft is necessary under the grate. It has been stated that fuel is carbon and that the mow TO HUN IT 55 larger the quantity of carbon in the fuel the more valu- able it is as fuel. Also, that the carbon is of two kinds, viz., solid carbon or coke, and free carbon or gas, both of which may be burned in order to produce heat. Neither, however, can be entirely consumed, for there will l)e a small residue or remainder of the solid carbon in the form of ash, and a portion of the gas is also incom- bustible — will not burn — and must be allowed to escape through the smoke pipe and chimney flue. The nitrogen of the air which enters the fire with the oxygen does not burn and escapes with the waste gases. Nitrogen is tlie largest quantity of the gases escaping through tlie chimney, but it is not poisonous. It, however, is often so large in quantity that it absorbs much heat in its passage through the fire, so that if two or three times as much air as is necessary is admitted to the fire, the extra amount of nitrogen takes up a great deal of heat and carries off just so much of the heat with it in its journey through the chimney. The solid carbon and the free carbon burn separately and distinct, there being two separate processes in the burning. When coal is added to a fire the heat causes the free carbon, the gas, to separate from the solid car- bon in the form of water, vapor, steam, in small quantity only, which is mostly consumed. Directly the carbon gases are also released, and if proper quantity of oxygen is supplied so that every atom of the fuel is exposed to the action of the heated oxygen, the carbon gas mixes in even quantity with oxygen, thus producing carbon monoxide gas which will burn to carbon dioxide gas if another even quantity of oxygen has been supplied, thus producing heat. This is at the bottom of the layer of 56 THE KITOHE)N FIRE fuel directly at the seat or place of live coals. As these gases are working upward through the fire there is less oxygen than nearer the grate, and as the fire increases there is more gas produced from the upper layer of the fuel and consequently more free carbon. There is not then enough oxygen to mix with the carbon monoxide, which, as has been stated, will burn. This gas finds its way through the bed of fuel unconsumed, because it has not found another equal quantity of the needed oxygen to support or help it to burn. It then must find its affinity — oxygen — above the fire or it will escape either into the kitchen or into the atmosphere through the chimney. In either case, it is waste, and it is also a menace to health and life. In order to be certain to burn this combustible gas known as carbon monoxide, it is necessary then to fur- nish oxygen at or near the top surface of the fire, so that the burning of all the combustible gas may be complete. The right quantity of oxygen must be supplied at the right time and right place. More still is necessary. Cold oxygen will not unite with hot carbon gas, so the oxy- gen should be heated to a high degree of temperature before it is allowed to enter upon the fire. Oxygen could be readily furnished by removing wholly or partially one of the stove lids, but the quantity admitted not only would be excessive, but its temperature would be so much cooler that the union would not take place. It will therefore be understood that the proper man- ner to burn fuel is to furnish air under the grate in regu- lated quantity, and to furnish heated air to the upper surface of the fire in order to completely burn the com- bustible gas which is always seeking to escape. HOW TO RUN IT 57 The burning of the coke or solid carbon proceeds regularly in a more simple manner and requires but little additional air. It is not the great intensity of the fire in the range, but its proper control which afifords the most satisfac- tory volume of heat. A moderate, uniform fire is usually sufficient for all practical purposes, and if under good control it can be increased or diminished almost as desired. 58 TH'E K1TC!HE Ash Sifter 88—80 Baking, Directions for 72 Bathroom Heating 81 — 82 Bituminous Coal Analysis 19 — 65 Bituminous Coal, Coke from 19 Bituminous Coal, Deposits of 19 Burning Fuel Properly 46 Burning Illuminating Gas 76 Briquettes, Anthracite 20 Briquettes, Value as Fuel 21 Carbon 8—16 Carbon Dioxide Gas 42 — 55 Carbon in Coal . .* 18 — 66 Carbon in Wood 16 Carbon Monoxide Gas 42 — 31 Carbon Monoxide, How to Burn 42 — 55 Chemistry of Combustion 14 Chimney 10 — 34 Chimney, Construction of 35 Chimney, Flues of 35 Chimney, Importance of 35 Chimney Smoky, Prevention of 36 Chimney, Unknown to Ancients 34 Clinkers, How Formed 7o Clothing, a Necessity of Life 21 — 22 Coal, Anthracite 18 — 20 Coal, Bituminous 19 — 65 Coal, Bituminous Analysis 19 — 66 Coal, Daily Consumption of 75 — 76 Coal Fire, Starting of 69 Coal Gas, Danger of 46 — 82 Coal Gas, How to Burn <6 — 82 Coal Gas in Soft Coal 47 — 48 Coal Gas Poisoning, Symptoms of 47 Coal, Kinds of 64 — 65 Coke, How Produced 18 Coke for Domestic Use 1"^ Combustion a Chemical Process 15 Combustion, Complete 41 Combustion Fuel oS Combustion Fuel When First Understood 14 Combustion, Incomplete 49 Combustion, Oxygen a Supporter of 24 Cook and Cooking 15 Control of Fire 15 Dampers 37 — 54 Dampers, Experiments With 40 — 68 Dampers, Kinds of 37 — 39 Dampers, Smokepipe the Best .~. 40 Dampers, Smokepipe, Why to Be Used 74 — 75 Dampers, Use of 37 — 68 Draft, Cause of Weak 36 — 37 Draft, Experiment with 67 — 68 Draft, How to Increase 36 Draft, How to Prevent Down 36 Draft, Nitrogen Assists 25 Draft, What It Is 34 Druggist 15 Directions for Fuel Burning 67 — 73 Earth, Many Elements in 7 Economy of Fuel 21 — 23 Economy in Necessities of Life 21 — 22 Elements 7 Elements, Mixture and Compound of 7 — ^S Elements, Oxygen Most Abundant 24 Experiments with Dampers 67 — 68 Experiments with Drafts 67 — 68 Fire, Artificial 13 Fire, Control of 52 Fire, Origin of 13 Fire, Overnight 71 Fire, Proper Attention to 62 — m Fire, Starting Coal 69 Fire, Starting Coke 70 Fire, Starting Wood 69 Fire, Why Is It Hot 8 Flame, What It Is 7 Food, a Necessity of Life 21 Food, Economy of 21 — 22 Franklin, Benjamin , 2" Franklin, an Inventor 27 — 28 Franklin, a Stove Manufacturer 29 Franklin Stove, the 27 Fuel 8 — 16 Fuel Burning 9 — 52 Fuel Burning, Directions for 67 Fuel Economy 21 — 22 Fuel, Hydrogen Found in All 26 Fuel, Hydrogen the Best 26 Fuel Saving, Conditions for 62 Fuel Waste 10 — 21 Gas 46 Gas Apparatus for Burning 4!> Gas, Carbonic Acid 42—55 Gas, Carbonic Oxide 42 — Si) Gas, Coal a Blood Poison 46 — 49 Gas, Coal Escape from Stove 41 — 4S Gas Combustible 42 Gas, Fuel Gas Not Understood 41 Gas, Fuel Gas. How Generated 55 — 56 Gas, Illuminating, as Fuel 42 — 49 Gas Incombustible 42 Gas Pipes, Leaky 83 Gas Range 45" — So Gas Range, Keeping Clean 82 — S3 Gas, Sewer 4i6 Gas, Volatile 18 — 19 Gas, Water 42 — i9 Grate 31 — 62 Greeks 7 Heat 52—53 Heat Units ry9 — 60 Heater. Water Gas , 81 Heroes of Invention 7 Hood 79 HouseAvife Practices Chemistry 15 Hydrogen 7 — 26 Hydrogen Best Fuel 26 Hydrogen in All Fuels 20 Hydrogen I^ightest Substance 26 Ignition 14 Kitchen a Laboratory 15 Kitchen Fire In Light. Its Supply and Control 12 Lignite, Deposits of ]9 Lignite. Value as Fuel 18 Laboratory 1.5 Nation The, Quotation from 52 Nitrogen 7 — 2.5 Nitrogen Produces Draft 2.5 Nitrogen Dilutes Air 25 Oxygen 7 — 5^ Oxygen, Air the Source of 24 Oxygen, Its Importance 24 Oxygen. Proportion of Air in 24 Oxygen, Super-heated . .58 Oxygen. Supporter of Combustion 24 Peat, Deposits of 17 Poison Coal Gas 47 — 50 Preface 4 Range. Cabinet Dockash .^2 Range Called Cooking Stove 29 Range Coal, Out of Order 42 Range, Gas 51 — 81 Range, Gas, Keeping Clean S2 — 88 Safety 46 Sanitation 4fi — '^1 Smoke 4^—iS Smoke, Abatement of 44 — if> Smoke, Its Bad Effect . 4?. — 45 Smoke Pipe 10 — 6S Smoke Pipe Damper 6?, — 7.5 Smoke, Prohibition of 4?> Smoke Waste 4-3 Soot 4R Stoves 27 — fi2 Stoves. Accessories 11 Stoves as Machines .50 — 66 Stoves, Construction of 27 — .^l Stoves, Franklin 27 Stoves, Gas 7!^ — SO Stoves, Kinds of .30 Stoves First Used 27 Stoves. Poor Condition 42 Super-heated Oxygen 58 Thermometer 52 Vacuum 00 Volatile Gas 18—45 Waste of Fuel 10 Water 12 Water, Composition of 24 Wood 04 Wood. Kinds of 16 Wood Fires, Starting 09 — 70 Wood, Proportion of Carbon in 16 Wood Stoves 27 Wood Supply Diminishing 17 lOV 7 1912