12-09-2005
( Reply#: 225 ) |
Bill Bucko |
At our house (about 6 blocks from Shep's, and roughly 27 years later--I'm referring to the early to mid '50s) a dump truck came once a year. We'd roll up the wire fence by the alley, so the truck could back up through the yard to our house, and unload its coal through a small metal trapdoor, into the coal bin that took up one corner of our basement. That was always a day to remember! The furnace itself reminded us kids vaguely of an octopus, with its several big air ducts branching out of the top, nicely wrapped in asbestos. The heavy door where the Old Man shovelled in the coal was bright and shiny, and made a good loud clang when you shut it. That's about all I can remember.
The furnace was replaced by an oil-burning one in the mid or late 50s.
Bill
Warren G. Harding Class of '63 |
12-10-2005
( Reply#: 226 ) |
murdock |
My parents had a coal furnace too when I was growing up. The coal truck would come and through a chute which went through the basement window delivered it to the coal bin, a boarded short wall on one side and cellar wall on other.My old man didn't just burn coal in that old coal furnace but trash and scrap wood, just about anything that would burn. I use to love watching him feed the furnace and he would use a big old monkey wrench to turn these bolts that would sift the ashes to lower part of burner. We would put the larger cinders out with the trash and there was a spot in yard where the ashes would be scattered. We had big old raditors through out the house and with no thermostat to regulate heat the house could be hot as hell but in the morning floors and house could be quite chilly until furnace was fired up again.With all the coal, trash and garbage that thing burned up I'm amazed today that the build up of creosote never caught fire. |
12-11-2005
( Reply#: 227 ) |
m10bob |
We lived in a big house in the early fifties, like the one in the film "A Christmas Story".
There were holes drilled in the hallway floor so chains hanging near the baseboard could be adjusted to adjust the furnace damper.
The coals would only stay lit for a few hours without tending, so if we went visiting during the winter, we always returned to a freezing home.
Just like Sheps' dad, my father would "be the man" and go to the basement to re-kindle the furnace.
The furnace was very large, the door itself was probably 30 inches across and maybe 20 inches high ?
Dad was not prone to curse like Sheps, but his favourite terms could be heard when we first returned home to a cold house.
Usually "BALLS!", or "HELLS BELLS".
Both were in common usage back then, and I never heard dad utter another "curse word", ever.
I very much miss the comforting, warm smell of burning coal in the winter sky.
(If somebody made coal smelling incense, a fortune could be made.)..
The exterior of the homes always had a metal coal service door, (and in those days, they did not lock, or need to !!
The coal truck would come and the men had to wheelbarrow the coal to our coal door.
The basements always had a corner, divided from the furnace and other basement area by a small wooden wall, usually 4 ft high and extending out maybe 4 feet from the sidewalls.
A coal skuttle or shovel was always at hand.
In Indiana, we used Pennsylvania, Indiana, and West Virginai coal, mostly.[:)]
Coal yards existed in every neighborhood which had railroad tracks.
Some of the poorer families would send their kids out along the tracks to scavenge coal dropped by the trains, (also coal-driven, till approx 1956, locally.)
Those were the days.
In Hoc Agricula Conc
In Est Spittle Louk |
12-12-2005
( Reply#: 231 ) |
Cfrank |
Slightly off topic, but when I was a kid, there was a large old Charles Addams type house in town, only much more scary. Everyone knew it was haunted. One Saturday a group of us kids were walking along the fence surrounding the house when a man stepped from between some bushes and called "hey, boys". We took off running. Then he yelled "do any of you want a job?" I had been desperately trying to get money to buy a bicycle, and with "job", he had me.
The job was to take care of the furnace, coming every day for $2.00 a week. He took me to the back of the house and down some steps leading to the furnace. The house did not have a basement, and there were about 3 feet between the bottom of the house and the ground. Very dark. The gigantic furnace was in a large "room" dug in the ground with a cement floor. Around the floor was a trench or moat to collect ground water, and a plank over the moat leading to a fuse box controlling the coal feeder. My job was to walk over the moat, turn off the fuse box, fill the coal feeder box, take out the ashes, and turn on the fuse box.
The first time during the day with the man was not bad. But when it was dark and no one at home, being under the haunted house was very scary. one night when I was finishing, I heard a noise coming from under the house. Trying not to look, I quickly left. The next morning my Dad received a call from the man saying I forgot to turn on the feeder box. Lectured on being responsible.
Even taking out the ashes was not easy. The ashes were so hot that the wooden bucket handles sometimes caught fire. |
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