Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, November 1899: Volume LVI, No. 1Various
Science
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, November 1899: Volume LVI, No. 1
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
Among well-ventilated American theaters is the Madison Square Theater
(now Hoyt's), in New York. Here the fresh air is taken down through a
large vertical shaft on the side of the stage. There is a seven-foot
suction fan in the basement which drives the air into a number of boxes
with steam-heating stacks, from which smaller pipes lead to openings
under each row of seats. The foul air escapes through openings in the
ceiling and under the galleries. A fresh-air supply of 1,500 cubic feet
per hour, or 25 cubic feet per minute, per person is provided.
The Metropolitan Opera House is ventilated on the plenum system, and
has an upward movement of air, the total air supply being 70,000 cubic
feet per hour.
In the Academy of Music, Baltimore, the fresh air is admitted mainly
from the stage and the exits of foul air are in the ceiling at the
auditorium.
Other theaters ventilated by the upward method are the Dresden Royal
Theater, the Lessing Theater in Berlin, the Opera House in Buda-Pesth,
the new theater in Prague, the new Municipal Theater at Halle, and the
Criterion Theatre in London.
The French engineer General Arthur Morin is known as the principal
advocate of the downward method of ventilation. This was at that
time a radical departure from existing methods because it apparently
conflicted with the well-known fact that heated air naturally rises.
Much the same system was advocated by Dr. Tripier in a pamphlet
published in 1864.[7] The earlier practical applications of this system
to several French theaters did not prove as much of a success as
anticipated, the failure being due probably to the gas illumination,
the central chandelier, and the absence of mechanical means for
inducing a downward movement of the air.
[7] Dr. A. Tripier. Assainissement des Théâtres, Ventilation, Éclairage
et Chauffage.
In 1861 a French commission, of which General Morin was a member,
proposed the reversing of the currents of air by admitting fresh air
at both sides of the stage opening high up in the auditorium, and also
through hollow floor channels for the balconies and boxes; in the
gallery the openings for fresh air were located in the risers of the
steppings. The air was exhausted by numerous openings under the seats
in the parquet. This ventilating system was carried out at the Théâtre
Lyrique, the Théâtre du Cirque, and the Théâtre de la Gaieté.
Dr. Tripier ventilated a theater in 1858 with good success on a similar
plan, but he introduced the air partly at the rear of the stage and
partly in the tympanum in the auditorium. He removed the foul air
at the floor level and separately in the rear of the boxes. He also
exhausted the foul air from the upper galleries by special flues heated
by the gas chandelier.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account