Part 17

_Ceilings._--If the cornices of the rooms be deeply recessed and filled with heavy plaster ornaments, they must of necessity hold dust and other impurities, which are increased by the action of damp air causing decomposition, and by mixing with the air in the room, when stirred or blown away from their resting places by draught from opened door or window, must render it impure and unhealthy. In addition to this, they are more or less choked up by every coat of so-called distemper decoration, and this again, by absorbing damp and obnoxious exhalations, adds materially to the sense of stuffiness and foulness which can be appreciably felt on first opening up the room after it has been closed for some hours. It is better, if possible, to paint all ceilings and cornices than to distemper them, so as to render them as non-absorbent as possible; by painting, the plaster-work is covered with a non-absorbent coating, on which if desired a coat of distemper may afterwards be added.

_Walls._--As a rule it is desirable as far as possible not to disturb the general flatness of wall surfaces, and to avoid all patterns which obtrude themselves too prominently upon the eye, or cause the space, whether covered with paper or painted decoration, to be broken into groups of ornament, or into distinct lines cutting it transversely or horizontally. The wall surface may be divided either by a chair or frieze rail and be treated in different shades of colour with good effect; or the upper portion may be covered with good artistic painting, which will add to the beauty and picturesqueness of the room. Where the upper space is covered with paper or distemper, the pattern or colouring should offer no startling contrasts, and the lower portion may be painted and varnished, so as to be readily cleaned. The colour of the wall surfaces of the different rooms must naturally depend upon the purposes for which the rooms are used, as the apparent warmth and pleasurable appearance of the room is materially enhanced or detracted from by the treatment of the wall-colouring; and while it is necessary to treat the surface of one room as a background for pictures, it may be desired to have another brighter and more decorative; but wherever possible, in passages, halls and staircases, it is desirable to varnish as much of the wall surface as possible, so as to render it non-absorbent and readily cleaned.

In the selection of paper or other hangings, and in the arrangement of all ornament in wall or panel decoration, it becomes a matter of importance to select none which shall have distinct and strongly marked patterns, in which the ornament stands out and repeats itself in endless multiplication and monotony. All staring patterns should be avoided. Almost all papers may now be considered practically free from arsenic; the largest printers of machine-printed papers now use little or no arsenical colours; the principal manufacturers of block-printed papers allow on colours with a known trace of arsenic to enter their factories; and, as the colours of this class of paper-hangings are more thoroughly bound with size than those which are machine-made, they are to be recommended for house decoration in preference to the cheaper kinds, as being to a certain extent more lasting.

Paper-hangings must enter largely into the decoration of all the wall surfaces of our houses; but, on sanitary grounds, all flock papers, however beautiful in design, are especially to be avoided, for, from the very nature of their design and treatment, they are detrimental to the healthy condition of the room. The patterns stand out in relief, and offer innumerable spaces for dust and dirt, while the generally fluffy nature of the material, practically powdered wool, renders it more absorbent and therefore more unhealthy; and the surface holds dust and dirt to a much larger degree than the ordinary printed papers, thus tending to a stuffy and unwholesome feeling, which is essentially at variance with all laws of health and comfort.

Stamped papers, in which the pattern is raised in relief, offer the same objections in a minor degree, as the surface is smooth and can be readily cleansed; and in the case of the imitation leather papers, the surface is varnished, and can be readily gone over with a damp cloth without injury. These papers can be well used for the dados of rooms or frieze decoration, and as such are exceedingly effective, although, of course, from the very nature of the manufacture, much more expensive than plain painting and varnishing. A good deal of illness often arises from the bad nature of the size and paste with which the ordinary wall-papers are hung, and great care should be taken that no such inferior, and practically stinking materials are allowed.

_Cupboards._--In most houses it is common to have the store places for clothes and other household goods, practically self-contained in every room, and therefore we put therein furniture sufficient for our requirements; but we all know how soon our drawers and wardrobes get overcrowded, and the nuisance and annoyance it often is to have to take out coat after coat, or dress after dress, until we reach the particular one we want, which may be stowed away at the bottom of the drawers or chest, and it surely must appeal to ordinary common sense, to utilise in every way, with constructional fittings as far as possible, all spaces which, as a rule, are practically useless. If the cupboards are taken up to the ceiling line, that is to say an extra tier added to the ordinary wardrobe fitting, increased storeroom would be provided for clothing not immediately required. There would be less crowding up of the existing cupboards and drawers, and the ills of the flat exposed tops of the ordinary fittings, to which Edis before referred, would be done away with. Why not, in the window recesses of every bedroom, provide fixed ottoman boxes which can be used as seats, as well as store places, and if covered with stuffed tops, may thus not only be made useful, but comfortable; while in the sitting-rooms they might be used for store places for papers and magazines until bound up, and thus help to do away with the littering of our rooms, or the storing away of all such things in inaccessible places, where they are seldom dusted, and only help to breed dirt and disease.

_Windows._--If instead of the usual heavy and ugly valances, which so many people still insist upon placing over their windows, as a top-finish to the curtains, we were to provide framed recesses constructed with the architraves, or mouldings, which run round the window-openings, with slightly arched heads, leaving room for a slight iron rod to be fixed behind and out of sight, with space for the proper and easy running of the curtain, we should have not only a much more artistic, but certainly a much more healthy and less expensive arrangement; and these arched heads would form part of the constructive finishing, at no more cost than the framed and panelled window linings and architraves, and if carried up to the ceiling, with the cornice returned round, would leave no spaces for the accumulation of dirt and dust, such as are now provided by the projecting boxed linings and the heavy valances, fringes, and poles, which the modern upholsterer provides.

_Bedrooms._--The wall surfaces of bedrooms should be hung with some small and simple decorative paper of one general tone, but with no particularly emphasised design, so that we are annoyed at night with flights of birds, or symmetrical patterns of conventional primroses, daisies, or fruits, which might in any way suggest a countless and never-ending procession along the walls. Any pattern or design which shows prominently any set pattern, or spots which suggest a sum of multiplication, or which, in the half-light of night or early morning, might be likely to fix themselves upon the tired brain, suggesting all kinds of weird forms, are especially to be avoided. The design should be of such a description that, saving as regards colour, it should offer no specially marked pattern.

The general wall surfaces should be varnished if possible, so that they may be easily cleaned down and be made practically non-absorbent.

The general woodwork of the doors, windows, and skirtings should be painted in some plain colour to harmonise or contrast with the wall decoration, and the whole varnished; woodwork finished in this way can be easily washed or cleaned, and the extra expense of varnishing will be saved in a few years. The bedstead should be of brass or iron, the furniture of light wood, varnished or polished; and, now that good painted tiles can be obtained at small expense, they may be used in washing-stands with good effect, or the wall above may be lined entirely with them to a height of 2 or 3 ft.

As regards the general floor surfaces, let them be entirely painted, or stained and varnished, so as to present non-absorbent and easily cleaned surfaces, or better still, finished with parquet flooring, which is almost entirely non-absorbing, and which can be cleaned by a damp cloth every day; with rugs or simple homespun carpets laid down beside the bed, and elsewhere, where required, so as to be easily taken up and shaken every day without trouble. There is one objection to square carpets in a bedroom, and that is, if you are lightly shod, or, as is often the case, barefoot, the polished floor is very unpleasantly cold; and also, as it is not every one who can indulge in the luxury of a bedroom fire, a wholly carpeted floor tends to keep out draughts and make the room generally warmer.

If you do away with all resting-places for dirt and dust on the tops of wardrobes and hanging closets, and behind and under chests of drawers and other heavy furniture, there will naturally be much less labour required in cleaning and purifying the rooms. Heavy curtains should be avoided, indeed it is difficult to see why curtains are needed at all in bedrooms, if the window-blinds be of some dark-toned stuff sufficient to hide light, and to keep out the glare of the morning sun.

_Nurseries._--In all the upper rooms of a house, which may be used as nurseries, Edis would, where practicable, construct semi-octagonal projecting bays, so as to provide for the greatest possible light and sunshine; and if this cannot be arranged, the windows should be as widely splayed inside as possible, and no light or sunshine shut out by heavy curtains or venetian blinds; and here, too, as in the best rooms of the house, should be thick plate, instead of the miserably thin glass, which is considered sufficient in the upper portions of so many houses; the thick glass gives truer light, is less penetrated by sound, and helps to retain the warmth of the room after the fires have gone out, and the house is left to cool in the long night hours.

The walls of the nurseries should be hung with some bright and cheerful pattern paper, varnished for health’s sake, while the upper portion should be distempered; the upper space or frieze should be divided from the general wall surface by a small deal painted picture rail, but the ceilings and frieze should be cleaned off and re-distempered every autumn, as nothing tends so much to sweeten the rooms as this annual cleaning off and re-doing of the ceilings, which naturally are more impregnated with the impurities of the shut-up rooms than any other portion of them. Paint or varnished papers are always more healthy than distemper, as they can be readily washed, and do not absorb and hold dirt and other impurities.

The walls of the night nurseries should be hung with a soft, general toned paper, varnished, so as to be sponged every week, or distempered all over, so as to be re-done at small cost at frequent intervals, for it is essential in the ordinary low-pitched upper rooms of town houses, generally devoted to nurseries, to wash out as often as possible, the peculiar stuffy bedroom atmosphere, which must be absorbed in the walls and ceilings of all low rooms. The tone of colouring or pattern on the walls should above all not be spotty or glaring, with strongly defined forms presenting nightmare effects to drive away sleep, or disturb our little ones in the hours of feverish unrest or sickness. But in the rooms they live in there is no reason why the “writing on the walls” should not be the earliest teaching of all that is beautiful in nature, art, or science, and by good illustrations of fairy lore and natural forms incline the thoughts of our children to all that is graceful and beautiful in nature or imaginative faculties.

=Bells and Calls.=--No house can now be considered complete without it is fitted with call-tubes or bells, especially the latter. Call-tubes are more general in places of business, but they might often replace bells in a house with advantage to all concerned. The wires for bells are carried in tubes and boxes concealed by the finishing of the walls and skirting. These tubes are often of tinned iron or zinc, but they ought to be either of brass or strong galvanised iron. Zinc cannot be depended on: in some places it will moulder away; if not soldered, it opens, and the wires work into the joinings of the tube, which stops their movement. The old-fashioned system of bells is being largely supplanted by electric bells.

_Electric Bells._--An ordinary electric bell is merely a vibrating contact breaker carrying a small hammer on its spring, which hammer strikes a bell placed within its reach as long as the vibration of the spring continues. The necessary apparatus comprises a battery to supply the force, wires to conduct it, circuit-closers to apply it, and bells to give it expression.

The Leclanché battery (Fig. 60) is the best for all electric bell systems, its great recommendation being that, once charged, it retains its power without attention for several years. Two jars are employed in its construction: the outer one is of glass, contains a zinc rod, and is charged with a solution of ammonium chloride (sal-ammoniac). The inner jar is of porous earthenware, contains a carbon plate, and is filled up with a mixture of manganese peroxide and broken gas carbon. When the carbon plate and the zinc rod are connected, a steady current of electricity is set up, the chemical reaction which takes place being as follows:--The zinc becomes oxidised by the oxygen from the manganese peroxide, and is subsequently converted into zinc chloride by the action of the sal-ammoniac. After the battery has been in continuous use for some hours, the manganese becomes exhausted of oxygen, and the force of the electrical current is greatly diminished; but if the battery be allowed to rest for a short time the manganese obtains a fresh supply of oxygen from the atmosphere, and is again fit for use. After about 18 months’ work, the glass cell will probably require recharging with sal-ammoniac, and the zinc rod may also need renewing; but should the porous cell get out of order, it is better to get a new one entirely, than to attempt to recharge it.

On short circuits, 2 cells may suffice, increasing up to 4 or 6 as required. It is false economy to use a battery too weak to do its work properly. The battery should be placed where it will not be subject to changes of temperature, e.g. in an underground cellar.

The circuit wire used in England for indoor situations is “No. 20” copper wire, covered with guttapercha and cotton. In America, “No. 18, first-class, braided, cotton-covered, office wire” is recommended, though smaller and cheaper kinds are often used. The wire should be laid with great regard to keeping it from damp, and ensuring its perfect insulation. Out of doors, for carrying long distances overhead, ordinary galvanised iron wire is well adapted, the gauge running from “No. 4” to “No. 14,” according to conditions. Proper insulators on poles must be provided, avoiding all contact with foreign bodies; or a rubber-covered wire encased in lead may be run underground.

The circuit-closer, or means of instantaneously completing and interrupting the circuit, is generally a simple press-button. This consists of a little cylindrical box, provided in the centre with an ivory button, which is either (1) attached to a brass spring that is brought into contact with a brass plate at the back of the box on pressing the button, or (2) is capable of pressing together 2 springs in the box. A wire from the battery is attached to the spring of the press-button, and another from the bell is secured to the brass plate. Platinum points should be provided on the spring and plate where the contact takes place. While the button is at rest, or out, the electric circuit is broken; but on being pressed in, it completes the circuit, and the bell rings.

The relative arrangement and connection of the several parts is shown in Fig. 61. _a_, Leclanché cell; _b_, wire; _c_, press-button; _d_, bell. When the distance traversed is great, say ½ mile, the return wire _e_ may be dispensed with, and replaced by what is known as the “earth circuit,” established by attaching the terminals at _f_ and _g_ to copper plates sunk in the ground.

The bells used are generally vibrating ones, and those intended for internal house use need not have a higher resistance than 2 or 3 ohms. At other times, single-stroke and continuous-ringer bells have to be provided, the latter being arranged to continue ringing until specially stopped. The bell may or may not be fitted with an annunciator system; the latter is almost a necessity when many bells have to ring to the same place, as then 1 bell only is requisite. A single-stroke bell is simply a gong fixed to a board or frame, an electro-magnet, and an armature with a hammer at the end, arranged to strike the gong when the armature is attracted by the magnet. A vibrating bell has its armature fixed to a spring which presses against a contact-screw; the wire forming the circuit, entering at one binding-screw, goes to the magnet, which in turn is connected with the armature; thence the circuit continues through the contact-screw to the other binding-screw, and out. When set in motion by electricity, the magnet attracts the armature, and the hammer strikes the bell; but in its forward motion, the spring leaves the contact-screw, and thus the circuit is broken; the hammer then falls back, closing the circuit again, and so the action is continued _ad libitum_, and a rapid vibratory motion is produced, which makes a ringing by the action of the successive blows of the hammer on the gong.

The following useful hints on electric bell systems are condensed from Lockwood’s handy little volume on telephones.

With regard to the battery, he advises to keep the sal-ammoniac solution strong, yet not to put so much in that it cannot dissolve. Be extremely careful to have all battery connections clean, bright, and mechanically tight, and to have no leak or short circuit. The batteries should last a year without further attention, and the glass jars never ought to be filled more than ¾ full.

(_a_) 1 Bell and 1 Press-button.--The simplest system is 1 bell operated by 1 press-button. The arrangement of this is the same whether the line be long or short. Set up the bell in the required place, with the gong down or up as may be chosen; fix press-button where wanted, taking all advantages offered by the plan of the house; e.g. a wall behind which is a closet is an excellent place to attach electrical fixtures, because then it is easy to run all the wires in the closets, and out of sight. Set up the battery in a convenient place, and, if possible, in an air-tight box. Calculate how much wire will be requisite, and measure it off, giving a liberal supply; joints in inside work are very objectionable, and only admissible where absolutely necessary. Cut off insulation from ends of wire where contact is to be made to a screw. Only 3 wires are necessary, i.e. (1) from 1 spring of the press-button to 1 pole of the battery, say the carbon, (2) from the other spring of the button to 1 binding-screw of the bell, (3) from the other pole of the battery to the other binding-screw of the bell. In stripping wires, leave no ragged threads hanging; they get caught in the binding-screw, and interfere with the connection of the parts. After stripping the wire sufficiently, make the ends not only clean but bright. Never run 2 wires under 1 staple. A button-switch should be placed in the battery-circuit, and close to the battery, so that, to avoid leakage and accidental short circuiting when the bells are not used for some time, it may be opened.

(_b_) 1 Bell and 2 Press-buttons.--The next system is an arrangement of 2 press-buttons in different places to ring the same bell. Having fixed the bell and battery, and decided upon the position of the 2 buttons, run the wires as follows:--1 long covered wire is run from 1 pole of the battery to 1 of the springs of the most distant press-button, and where this long wire approaches nearest to the other press-button it is stripped for about 1 in. and scraped clean; another wire, also stripped at its end, is wound carefully around the bared place, and the joint is covered with kerite tape; the other end of the piece of wire thus branched on is carried over and fastened to the spring of the second press-button. This constitutes a battery wire branching to 1 spring of each press-button. Then run a second wire from 1 of the bell binding-screws to the other spring of the most distant press-button, branching it in the same manner as the battery-wire to the other spring of the second button; connect the other pole of the battery to the second binding-screw of the bell, and the arrangement is complete--a continuous battery-circuit through the bell when either of the buttons is pressed. Before covering the joints with tape, it is well to solder them, using rosin as a flux.

(_c_) 2 Bells and 1 Press-button.--When it is required to have 2 bells in different places, to ring from 1 press-button at the same time, after erecting the bells, button, and battery, run a wire from the carbon pole of the battery and branch it in the manner described to 1 binding-screw of each bell; run a second wire from the zinc pole of the battery to 1 spring of the button, and a third wire from the other spring, branching it to the remaining binding-screw of both bells. It will not answer to connect 2 or more vibrating bells in circuit one after another, as the 2 circuit-breakers will not work in unison; they must always be branched, i.e. a portion of the main wire must be stripped, and another piece spliced to it, so as to make 2 ends.

(_d_) There are other methods, one of which is, if more than 1 bell is designed to ring steadily when the button is pressed, to let only 1 of the series be a vibrating bell, and the other single-strokes; these, if properly set up and adjusted, will continuously ring, because they are controlled by the rapid make and break of the 1 vibrator.