Benjamin Franklin on Smoky Chimneys
With Engraved Plate
Extracted from the Transaction of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 2 (1786), the text is in the form of a letter written at sea, August 28th, 1785. Franklin based much of his work on chimneys and his design for a stove on the theories of Gauger. This letter, with additional material on chimneys, was published in a separate book publication in 1787. The folding engraved plate shows several figures, including an exterior view of a house with chimney, air flow diagram inside a room, floorplan of a house with fireplace in the middle, and several profiles of smoke flow within a chimney.
An excellent example of Frankin's blending of science with the practical, correcting common misapprehensions about the movement of smoke in hot and cold air, and devising an ingenious practical solution (his inverted siphon) for safely drawing smoke up and out the chimney.