CHAPTER XII

WATER, HEAT, AIR, AND LIGHT IN THE HOUSE

233. Modern Conveniences. In no respect does modern life differ more greatly from that of the past than in home comforts and conveniences. Ancient and medieval peoples built larger monuments, and more enduring tombs and temples, than we are building; but the homes of the people were cheerless indeed when compared with those of American cities to-day. Even the wealthy could not always have heat, light, and water in abundance; consequently the winter was full of discomfort, houses were insanitary and dark, and filth and dirt were everywhere the rule. The cleanliness, light, and warmth of our houses, schools, and public buildings are due to modern scientific discoveries and their application.

234. Water in House and Town. We have already considered the need of pure water (cf. §§ 81 to 85, and 226); we must also remember that modern man needs an abundance of water. In our houses we need it for drinking, for cooking, and, as ice, for preserving food; for bathing the body, washing dishes and clothing, spraying lawns and gardens, and carrying waste matter into the sewage system. The industries of the city need it for producing steam, for washing and rinsing on a large scale,

as in laundries, tanneries, slaughter houses, starch factories, sugar refineries, gas works, petroleum refineries, dye works, paper mills, etc. The community as a whole needs it for protection against fire, and to carry away its sewage.

Some cities pump water into "standpipes," or elevated reservoirs, from which it flows, under pressure, into the street "mains," and then into the houses; others use force pumps of large capacity (cf. § 42); others, still, have a combination of both systems, using the reservoirs to assist the pumps when there is the greatest demand for water, as at meal-cooking time, or when there is a serious fire.

In order to get enough water, great cities go to enormous expense. The Romans built great aqueducts (Fig. 199) to bring water from the

lakes of the Apennines to Rome. New York City now gets its water, through an aqueduct, from the Catskills, 90 miles away. Denver is fortunate enough to be surrounded by mountains having many streams of pure water; this is allowed to flow through pipes, by gravity, to the city. Los Angeles gets its water from mountains many miles away. The cities on or near the Great Lakes use lake water; but they take great care to prevent the sewage from the city from polluting the water intended for the city. Chicago has built an expensive "Drainage Canal" to carry water from Lake Michigan into the Illinois River, and thus to empty the city's sewage into the Mississippi instead of into the lake system. Inland cities usually get their water supply from a near-by stream; but such water needs careful filtration.

Fig. 199.

HYDRANTS AND TRAPS

209

235. Plumbing.— In some cities water is sold to consumers at a "flat rate," without regard to the amount used. Other cities use a meter, or measuring device, which records the amount that actually flows from the street mains into the house. The pipes, faucets, traps, etc., through which water is carried to the different parts of the house, or away from it, make up the plumbing of the house. The word "plumbing" is from plumbum, Latin for "lead." To make lead pipes, men force hot lead, under great pressure, through steel dies having ring-shaped openings. Nowadays iron pipes, as well as lead ones, are used for plumbing. The iron is "galvanized" to prevent rusting (cf. § 222, Ex. 4).

Lead is used for pipes, sink linings, etc., because it is not rusted readily (cf. § 216). Lead pipes are also easy to bend around corners and into special shapes. Then, too, they can be cut readily where necessary, and the pieces joined by solder.

But the use of lead has one disadvantage, in that the fresh surface of the metal is acted upon, and dissolved, by water. When lead is taken regularly into the body, as in drinking water, it accumulates until it causes sickness. Painters often have "painters' colic" because of the lead compounds in paint (cf. § 229). Lead is not acted upon greatly by pure water; but air and soft water, especially if carbon dioxide is present (cf. § 80, table), gradually "dissolve" it. Hard water acts upon the inside of the pipe after a time, and produces a coating that does not dissolve. This protects the lead and the water. We should always let water run for a moment from a new lead pipe, so as to make sure that the water we drink is free from lead compounds.

236. Hydrants and Traps.- Faucets, or hydrants, are usually of brass, sometimes plated with nickel. They are generally of two kinds: (1) Those having a movable, tapered plug with a hole in it.

(2) Those in which the opening is closed by a rubber "plunger," or "gasket."

Waste water, like that from a sink or bowl, is discharged into the sewer pipe through a trap (Fig. 200). This is a bend in the pipe, which remains full of water, and cuts off connection between the air of the room and that of the sewer. Water should be run every few days into sinks and floor drains that are little used, so that the traps may always be full.

-From Sink

Sediment

Drain Plug To Waste Pipe.

Fig. 200.

A Trap.

237. Kindling a Fire. The discovery of fire came long before the dawn of history. Many primitive peoples still start their fires by rubbing one piece of wood against another. The friction gives the temperature needed to set on fire the bits of bark, pitch, dry fungus, etc., that serve as tinder (cf. Fig. 63, § 76). A century ago the kindling method used in Europe and America was to strike steel or iron pyrites (a compound of iron and sulphur) against flint. In the flintlock musket this method was used to kindle gunpowder.

The first practical friction matches were made about 1827. They consisted of wooden splints partly coated with sulphur, and tipped with potassium chlorate, antimony sulphide, and gum. Friction against a rough surface produced heat enough to make the sulphur unite with the oxygen of the potassium chlorate, and the heat of the burning sulphur set the wooden splint on fire. The "parlor" match has a tip containing paraffin or sulphur, yellow phosphorus, and some oxidizing substance like potassium chlorate or "red lead." Glue is used to make all the substances adhere to the wood.

Parlor matches are ignited much more easily than

sulphur matches; in fact, they often cause accidental fires. Another serious trouble with the parlor match is that it is deadly to the workmen (and these are largely women and children) who handle it. They are frequently attacked by a dreadful disease called "phossy jaw." For these reasons many governments forbid the use of parlor matches.

Safety matches are less convenient to use than other forms, because they must be struck against the surface of the box; but they are not so likely to take fire, and are much less dangerous to make. The reason for this is that safety matches use red phosphorus, instead of the more active yellow form, and that the phosphorus is on the striking surface instead of on the splint itself. The striking surface is red phosphorus and sand; the tip contains antimony sulphide, some oxidizing substance, and glue. A "strike anywhere" match is now being made with phosphorus sulphide, a substance that does not cause the evil effects of yellow phosphorus.

238. The Fireplace. It is hard for us to realize that modern methods of heating are of such recent origin that our grandparents, or certainly our great-grandparents, lived at a time when all of these methods were little known, and when the heating and much of the lighting of the house was done by the open fireplace (Fig. 201). No modern method of heating brings into the house the cheer and sentiment that belonged to the fireplace; hence men try, whenever possible, to use it as an ornament, no matter what system they use for the actual heating. But the fireplace is more than an ornament, for it is one of the best means of ventilation (cf. § 248), carrying out the foul, cooled, lower air, and making room for the warmed, fresh air that is so much needed for health and comfort. The accessories of the fireplace were numerous. The necessary