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Article

Physics of chimneys

DEC 01, 1949
Where there’s fire there’s smoke. How chimneys remove it is told in this article.
Paul R. Achenbach

Greek and Roman architects used chimneys in kitchens and baths, though they took great care to conceal them from view. Yet it was not until the twelfth century that the practice of allowing the smoke from a fire to pass out through a hole in the roof was changed in northern Europe to the use of a hollow flue leading upward from the fireplace by the wall.

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More about the authors

Paul R. Achenbach, National Bureau of Standards.

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This Content Appeared In
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Volume 2, Number 12

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