The Health bulletin [serial] - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

December, 1921
The Health Bulletin
gravity ventilation installed in the Sherman
School of that community in 1913.
The system was so satisfactory almost
from the start that it attracted wide
attention not only in Fairfield but elsewhere.
Ever since that time all the
new school buildings in Fairfield have
been equipped with the same system.
The superintendent of schools calls it
the most satisfactory and economical
system of ventilation he has ever encountered.
Fresh air is admitted at bottom window
openings and tempered by radiators
extending the full length and beyond
the windows, and then is deflected
upward by glass window deflectors.
Overheated air is removed
through ducts in the walls at the
opposite side of the room.*
The Wheeler system of windowgravity
ventilation was thoroughly
studied by the New York State Commission
on Ventilation and is endorsed
as the most promising method of ventilation
for schoolroom use.
Another experimenter claims that
windows are opened most successfully
for ventilation by lowering them from
the top. He sets the window shades
down a half inch or less and then opens
the window the merest crack in winter.
Two or three windows set open in this
manner will ventilate a room, provided
the heat is well controlled. It is advised
that heat be checked just before the
room becomes warm enough, as at 66
degrees F. It usually is found then
that the temperature will not rise above
68 degrees F. In other respects the
system used by this experimenter is
much the same as the first. These two
systems of ventilation are known as
window-gravity ventilation because they
depend upon the gravity of air currents
for their results.
Window-gravity ventilation is practical
for one-room schools. Care must
be taken in cold weather not to allow
too wide openings of windows. The
high exhaust outlets should be placed
• See "Ventilation and Health" by Wood
and Hendriksen, D. Appleton & Company.
at either end of the room, opposite the
windows. They can be allowed either
to open into the attic or they may
he carried up through the roof, opening
outside the building. A full description
of this type of ventilation is
contained in Ventilation and Health, a
hand-book on ventilation for teachers
and others in charge of indoor air
conditions, written by the authors of
this article, and published by D. Appleton
& Company.
In schoolroom ventilation the temperature
of the room should be recorded
hourly. A model temperature
chart together with a pamphlet describing
its use have been prepared for
teachers by the authors of this article,
and may be secured from the Public
School Publishing Company, Bloomington,
Illinois.
From the experiments which have
been conducted, there is ample proof
to show that both health and school
progress are benefited by a good air
condition in schoolrooms. This is a
matter which should interest both
parents and teachers.
The first step in any community is a
temperature survey of schoolrooms to
see how serious the problem is ; the
second step is definite action to bring
about a better ventilation practice in
schools either by changing the system
in use or by a more efficient operation
of the existing system.
Four Months Old and Already Doing- His
Own Thinking