Originally published in Bradshaw's Journal (William Strange) vol.2 #10 (08 Jan 1842).
The time is now drawing near that is to put an end to the employment of children in sweeping chimneys, and it therefore becomes the imperative duty of every one to see whether his chimneys require adapting to the use of the machine, and whether there are persons in the neighbourhood into whose hands the machine, which was submitted to the Parliamentary Committee may be safely put, as it will be too late when the act comes into operation, and the informers are catching at the penalties all over the country, to make those arrangements which ought to have been settled in the the two years allowed by the Legislature for that purpose. If any district is without an experienced mechanical chimney-sweeper, the inhabitants should select an honest intelligent man, and send him to London or elsewhere, to be instructed in the use of the machine, or serious consequences may arise; and after he is taught, he should be furnished with the brushes and other tools that he will want. A clever man would acquire the necessary information in a week or ten days, at a cost in London of from twenty to thirty shillings.
Straight chimneys, or chimneys nearly straight, want no alteration, and will only require an intelligent operator accustomed to the use of the machine, but it is of immense importance that this should be provided for. Some chimneys have an angle in them which prevents their being swept from the fireplace, although the same chimney may very generally be effectually cleaned from the top. If the chimney is carried up much above the roof, so as to make it unsafe for the man to reach the chimney-pot, a soot-door, in a strong iron frame, fifteen inches by twelve inches, should be placed in the chimney, about three feet above the gutter, where the man can stand safely, and through which door the machine may be worked up and down with perfect security, and boards, two feet wide, should be permanently fixed upon the roof, with ledges nailed across them after the manner of a chicken-ladder, if the man has to cross the slates.
If going to the top of the house is objected to, the same kind of soot-door, placed two feet from the angle in the horizontal part of the chimney, will overcome the difficulty. The soot-door ought not to be placed in the angle, that is, under the upright part, because in that case the soot which falls down is found to fly out unpleasantly, from having nothing to confine it. These soot-doors should, of course, be placed on the outside of the house, if possible, and generally this may be done; but a little care and a little ingenuity will point out a place in the inside, if necessary, and this, too, without danger or inconvenience. If the wall is battered, it will be desirable to cut away the laths to a greater extent than the door requires, so as to admit of common tiles being cemented round the door, and these being brought out to the surface of the wall, will be found much better, and of course much safer, than the ragged ends of the laths, and the hollowness connected with them. If the part is in sight, a double door is recommended, the inner one to confine the soot and heat, and the other to take the paint of the apartment, both being air-tight, as they will be if properly made.
It sometimes happens that a chimney runs under the floor of a room; if so, this may be the most convenient place for inserting the soot-door in the solid brickwork of the chimney; and a trap-door even with the floor will give direct access to it afterwards. It may be necessary to introduce trimmers in the joists, so as to keep the iron-work and the wood-work sufficiently apart. The space between the iron door and the flooring boards may also be filled with sand if any danger is apprehended, though there can be none if the work is well executed. If these doors are objected to, the chimney may be opened, and the angle or angles rounded off, which will be a complete cure, unless there are long horizontal parts; if there are, the doors give the chimney-sweeper more power over the soot lying in such places, although the chimney can be safely swept from the top, if the angles are sufficiently rounded off, notwithstanding the flatness. Many crooked chimneys are made so, that they may all come out in the centre of the building. These chimneys are frequently straight till they reach the roof of the house, where doors can be placed with perfect ease; or the chimney may be carried straight through the roof at a moderate cost, if it is preferred.
It will be found necessary to remove the four bits of slate, which many persons have placed at the top of their chimneys in some country towns, and to substitute the more sightly chimney-pot, because the points of these slates catch the brush which forms part of the machine, and because the brittleness of the slate, and the slight hold it has of the chimney, lead to other inconveniences. The coring of chimneys can be effectually done by leaving three bricks out in the shelving slanting part of the chimney, through which the bricklayer can remove the deposit and put in the bricks, and make it all good when that is done.
Those who feel the importance of the foregoing remarks, and may wish for information, and those who desire to make slight alterations in their chimneys, under the guidance of persons who have had some experience, or who may wish to have the most approved soot-doors, are advised to correspond with Mr. Glass, Fore-street, London, from whom they can obtain every direction.—Plain Hints on Chimney-sweeping as connected with the 1st of July, 1842.