Ventilator
Odessa, Delaware, area
1840-1875
Measurements
12 in x 7-3/4 in x 7-1/2 in
Materials
Iron
Credit Line
Historic Odessa Foundation, gift of H. Rodney Sharp
Accession Number
1959.3897
Provenance
Ex coll. H. Rodney Sharp
Comments
This ventilating device, an architectural fragment called a “ventilator” in the object records, was found in the Corbit-Sharp House during restoration in 1938. H. L. Lindsey, who restored the house for H. Rodney Sharp, wrote a long, undated and unpaginated report entitled “The Restoration of the William Corbit Mansion, Odessa, Delaware.” In it, he writes, “In the ceiling and extending up into the hearth of the dining room fireplace above was found a peculiar wrought iron device with a telescopic arrangement.” He offered no explanation or further information about it.
The device has a tubular body below a wide, square flange, now heavily rusted. A smaller tubular body originally telescoped in and out, although it has now rusted in place. The smaller tube ends in a circular flange with a wrought iron ring mounted in the center. A rectangular opening at the top of the smaller tube allowed air to pass through the round piping. The device was retrofitted into the fireplace, probably in the mid 19th century, to provide the fireplace with oxygen. By drawing air from the basement level, cold air would not have been drawn into the fireplace from the dining room windows to replace the consumed oxygen that rose up the chimney as smoke. Eliminating the need to draw fresh air into the room allowed heat to remain.
