Читать книгу Inventors at Work, with Chapters on Discovery - George Iles - Страница 78

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During a visit to the country one summer, we observed new examples of our familiar rule. When we compared the dimensions of a small sectional cabin with those of a large house, we saw the principal reason why the cabin was hard to keep cool in July, and hard to keep warm in December. We noticed tasks which depended upon giving wood, cloth or other material as much surface as possible, whether new forms were like old ones or not. A neighboring sawmill was busy cutting up logs into thin boards; these were piled in open tiers, so that the drying winds might speedily finish their work. In the same way we noted a laundress spreading out by itself each table-cloth and apron fully to catch the wind, instead of leaving the linen as a solid heap in her basket, where only the edges would be dried. When the farm-hands went haymaking they followed the same rule; they tedded out their gavels to give them the utmost supply of sun and air; when all was as dry as a bone they reared a haycock of compact form so as to expose the least possible surface to rain and snow.