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CHIMNEY (through the Fr. cheminee, fr...

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 165 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CHIMNEY (through the Fr. cheminee, from caminata, sc. See also:camera, a See also:Lat. derivative of caminus, an See also:oven or See also:furnace) , in See also:architecture, that portion of a See also:building, rising above the roof, in which are the flues conveying the See also:smoke to the See also:outer See also:air. Originally the See also:term included the fireplace as well as the chimney See also:shaft. At See also:Rochester See also:Castle (1130) and Heddington, See also:Essex, there were no See also:external chimney shafts, and the flue was carried through the See also:wall at some height above the fireplace. In the See also:early examples the chimney shaft was circular, with one flue only, and was terminated with a conical cap, the smoke issuing fromopenings in the See also:side, which at See also:Sherborne See also:Abbey (A.D. 1300) were treated decoratively. It was not till the 15th See also:century that the smoke issued at the See also:top, and later in the century that more than one flue was carried up in the same shaft. There are a few examples of the clustered shaft in See also:stone, but as a See also:rule they are contemporaneous with the See also:general use of See also:brick. The brick chimney shafts, of which there are See also:fine specimens at See also:Hampton See also:Court, were richly decorated with chevrons and other geometrical patterns. One of the best examples is that at See also:Thornton Castle, See also:Gloucestershire. In the 15th and 16th centuries in See also:France the chimney shaft was recognized as an important architectural feature, and was of considerable See also:elevation in consequence of the See also:great height of the See also:roofs. In the See also:chateau of Meillant (1503) the chimney shafts are decorated with See also:angle buttresses, niches and canopies, in the See also:late Flamboyant See also:style; and at See also:Chambord and See also:Blois they are carved with pilasters and niches with panelling above, carved with the See also:salamander and other armorial devices. In the See also:Roman palaces they are sometimes masked by the balustrades, and (when shown) take the See also:form of sepulchral urns, as if to disguise their real purpose.

Though not of a very architectural See also:

character, the chimneys at See also:Venice See also:present perhaps the greatest variety of terminations, and as a rule the smoke comes out on the sides and not through the top. (R. P. S. Factory Chimneys.—Chimneys, besides removing the products of See also:combustion, also serve to provide the See also:fire with the air requisite for burning the See also:fuel. The hot air in the shaft, being lighter than the See also:cold air outside it, tends to rise, and as it does so air flows in at the bottom to take its See also:place. An ascending current is thus established in the chimney, its velocity, other things being equal, varying as the square See also:root of the height of the shaft above the See also:grate. The velocity also increases with increase of temperature in the See also:gas See also:column, but since the See also:weight of each cubic See also:foot grows less as the gases expand, the amount of smoke discharged by a chimney does not increase indefinitely with the temperature; a maximum is reached when the difference in temperature between the gases in the shaft and the out-side air is about boo' F., but the See also:rate of increase is very slow after the difference has passed about 3oo° F. In designing a chimney the dimensions (height and sectional See also:area) have to be so proportioned to the amount of fuel to be burnt in the various furnaces connected with it that at the temperature employed the products of combustion are effectively removed, due See also:allowance being made for the frictional retardation of the current against the sides of the flues and shafts and in passing through the fire. The velocity of the current in actual chimneys varies widely, from 3 or 4 to 5o or 6o ft. a second. Increased velocity, obtainable by increasing the height of the shaft, gives increased delivering capacity, but a See also:speed of IO or 12 ft. a second is regarded as See also:good practice. See also:Ordinary factory chimneys do not in general exceed 18o or 200 ft. in height, but in some cases, especially when, as in chemical See also:works, they are employed to get rid of objection-able vapours; they have been made See also:double that height, or even more.

In See also:

section they are See also:round, octagonal or square. The circular form offers the least resistance to See also:wind pressure, and for a given height and sectional area requires less material to secure stability than the octagonal and still less than the square; on the other See also:hand, there is more liability to cracking. Brick is the material commonly used, but many chimneys are now made of See also:iron or See also:steel. Reinforced See also:concrete is also employed.

End of Article: CHIMNEY (through the Fr. cheminee, from caminata, sc. camera, a Lat. derivative of caminus, an oven or furnace)

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