4. The Holland iron stove, which has a flue proceeding from the top, and a small iron door opening into the room, comes next to be considered. Its conveniences are, that it makes a room all over warm; for, the chimney being wholly closed except the flue of the stove, very little air is required to supply that, and therefore not much rushes in at crevices, or at the door when it is opened. Little fuel serves, the heat being almost all saved; for it rays out almost equally from the four sides, the bottom, and the top, into the room, and presently warms the air around it, which, being rarefied, rises to the ceiling, and its place is supplied by the lower air of the room, which flows gradually towards the stove, and is there warmed, and rises in its turn, so that there is a continual circulation till all the air in the room is warmed. The air, too, is gradually changed, by the stove-door's being in the room, through which part of it is continually passing, and that makes these stoves wholesomer, or at least pleasanter than the German stoves, next to be spoken of. But they have these inconveniences. There is no sight of the fire, which is in itself a pleasant thing. One cannot conveniently make any other use of the fire but that of warming the room. When the room is warm, people, not seeing the fire, are apt to forget supplying it with fuel till it is almost out, then, growing cold, a great deal of wood is put in, which soon makes it too hot. The change of air is not carried on quite quick enough; so that, if any smoke or ill smell happens in the room, it is a long time before it is discharged. For these reasons the Holland stove has not obtained much among the English (who love the sight of the fire) unless in some workshops, where people are obliged to sit near windows for the light, and in such places they have been found of good

use.

5. The German stove is like a box, one side wanting. It is composed of five iron plates, screwed together, and fixed so as that you may put the fuel into it from another room, or from the outside of the house. It is a kind of oven reversed, its mouth being without, and body within, the room that is to be warmed by it. This invention certainly warms a room very speedily and thoroughly with little fuel; no quantity of cold air comes in at any crevice, because there is no discharge of air which it might supply, there being no passage into the stove from the room. These are its conveniences. Its inconveniences are, that people have not even so much sight or use of the fire as in the Holland stoves, and are, moreover, obliged to breathe the same unchanged air continually, mixed with the breath and perspiration from one another's bodies, which is very disagreeable to those who have not been accustomed to it.

6. Charcoal fires in pots are used chiefly in the shops of handicraftsmen. They warm a room (that is kept close, and has no chimney to carry off the warmed air,) very speedily and uniformly; but, there being no draft to change the air, the sulphurous fumes from the coals (be they ever so well kindled before they are brought in, there will be some,) mix with it, render it disagreeable, hurtful to some constitutions, and sometimes, when the door is long kept shut, produce fatal

consequences.

To avoid the several inconveniences, and at the same time retain all the advantages of other fire-places, was contrived the PENNSYLVANIAN FIRE-PLACE, now to be described.

This machine consists of

A bottom plate, (i) (See Plate V.)

A back plate, (ii)

Two side plates, (iii, iii)

Two middle plates, (iv, iv) which, joined together, form a tight box, with winding passages in it for warming the air.

A front plate, (v)

A top plate, (vi)

These are all cast of iron, with mouldings or ledges where the plates come together, to hold them fast, and retain the mortar used for pointing to make tight joints. When the plates are all in their places, a pair of slender rods, with screws, are sufficient to bind the whole very firmly together, as it appears in Figure 2.

There are, moreover, two thin plates of wrought iron, viz. the shutter (vii) and the register (viii); besides the screw-rods, O, P, all which we shall explain in their order.

(i) The bottom plate, or hearth-piece, is round before, with a rising moulding, that serves as a fender to keep coals and ashes from coming to the floor, &c. It has two ears, F, G, perforated to receive the screw-rods, O, P; a long air-hole, a a, through which the fresh outward air passes up into the air-box; and three smoke-holes, B, C, through which the smoke descends and passes away; all represented by dark squares. It has also double ledges to receive between them the bottom edges of the back plate, the two side plates, and the two middle plates. These ledges are about an inch asunder, and about half an inch high; a profile of two of them, joined to a fragment of plate, appears in Figure 3.

(ii) The back plate is without holes, having only a pair of ledges on each side, to receive the back edges of the two

(iii, iii) Side plates; these have each a pair of ledges to receive the side edges of the front plate, and a little

shoulder for it to rest on; also two pair of ledges to receive the side edges of the two middle plates, which form the air-box; and an oblong air-hole near the top, through which is discharged into the room the air warmed in the air-box. Each has also a wing or bracket, H and I, to keep in falling brands, coals, &c., and a small hole, Q and R, for the axis of the register to turn in.

(iv, iv) The air-box is composed of the two middle plates, D, E and F, G. The first has five thin ledges or partitions cast on it, two inches deep, the edges of which are received in so many pair of ledges cast in the other. The tops of all the cavities formed by these thin, deep ledges, are also covered by a ledge of the same form and depth, cast with them; so that when the plates are put together, and the joints luted, there is no communication between the air-box and the smoke. In the winding passages of this box, fresh air is warmed as it passes into the room.

(v) The front plate is arched on the under side, and ornamented with foliages, &c.; it has no ledges.

(vi) The top plate has a pair of ears, M, N, answerable to those in the bottom plate, and perforated for the same purpose; it has also a pair of ledges running round the under side, to receive the top edges of the front, back, and side plates. The air-box does not reach up to the top plate by two inches and a half.

(vii) The shutter is of thin wrought iron and light, of such a length and breadth as to close well the opening of the fire-place. It is used to blow up the fire, and to shut up and secure it at nights. It has two brass knobs for handles, d, d, and commonly slides up and down in a groove, left, in putting up the fire-place, between the foremost ledge of the side plates, and the face of the front plate; but some choose to set it aside when it is not in use, and apply it on occasion.