Uncovering the Hidden Secrets of the Cross House Basement Windows!
July 18, 2024
Source: Library Of Congress
Prior to the emergence of contemporary systems, what measures were put in place to heat a house, provide light, obtain water supply and hot water? Around the house there are some clues that can help to understand how these systems work and some investigation can help.
Coal was widely used up to the start of the twentieth century then oil, gas and electricity arrived and displaced coal. They were incorporated into the older houses to assist in the transportation of coal as well as its storage given that coal was commonly used for cooking and heating.
Here’s how they worked and what they were used for:Below are the features and function of the following:Coal chutes were a very convenient and efficient way of having coal delivered as it would just dump the coal right into the basement or a storeroom of the house and one would not need to carry the coal through the main living area of the house. Once the coal was delivered, it would have been stored in a coal bin or storage area in the basement until it was to be burns in the furnace or the stove.
The coal chutes were placed on the exterior part of the house, either on one side or at the back, close to the street or the alley that could accommodate the delivery trucks.
The chute in itself was a sort of inclined structure made of metal or wood that was more often used to convey the coal from the exterior into a basement coal bunker.
Deliverymen would open the chute’s shutter and would throw coal in the chute with the help of a shovel or a conveyor belt which would then transfer the coal to the storage area of the house.
In the basement the coal had to be stored either in a bin or in some specially designed compartment. The process would continue whereby the homeowners would then take the coal from the bin and have to carry it to the furnace or stove to use it for heating or cooking. This required the use of coal often and this implied that manual work had to be done often. They had to supply coal to the furnace or the stove, and then manage the fire and then clean the ash and clinkers produced when burning the coal.
This was because there was need to ensure that the fumes and the smoke resulting from burning of coal were well expelled to the outside, commonly through a chimney.
The Cross House basement features numerous windows. While not all of them were constructed as depicted, each one shown includes a written description of the glass sizes. All the windows were designed to contain glass, with none indicating the presence of a coal door or coal chute.