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Re[2]: Air at Pennsic - some ideas
- To: atlantia-l@netcom.com
- Subject: Re[2]: Air at Pennsic - some ideas
- From: Kim.Salazar@em.doe.gov
- Date: 18 Jul 95 10:38:00 -0400
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Suggestions for period looking cooling devices at Pennsic:
Long before I wandered into the Laurel Kingdoms, I had occassion to
make travels in the Holy Land. There, at the edge of a water hole in
the Judean Hills and in a hostel outsice of Acre, I saw two renditions
of a device that might be useful for Pennsic.
At the edge of an oasis in the desert, one good innkeeper had
established a large overhead arbor. It was overgrown with massive
grape vines that blocked the direct rays of the sun. We sat at tables
underneath. On the side of the square arbor from which a (negligible)
breeze was blowing, the host had tied a very large muslin sheet of
loose weave, and stretched it like a sail between the posts holding up
the arbor. At intervals, a small child threw buckets of water at the
sheet to dampen it. The combination of the overhead shade and the
water-soaked sheet lowered the temperature under the arbor quite
noticeably. Even the melon slices we were eating seemed cooler under
the arbor than outside.
The hostel keeper in Acre employed a second device was similar in
principle, but more complex in construction. The hut we stayed in had
windows that were not covered with glass. Instead, they had two
layers of cloth screening in between which was packed about an eighth
of an inch of something vegetative and absorbent. I think it was
dried moss or shredded leaves. Water trickled through a hose that ran
along the top of the screens and dripped into the stuffing below.
There was not enough water flowing to drain away or trickle out - just
enough to keep the screens permanently damp. The huts were at least
20 degrees cooler inside than out.
While we won't have time to plant and nurture a grape arbor to the
spendor of the one I remember, the combination of overhead shade and
the soaked sheet is certainly attainable (and I wouldn't be surprised
to find out - period as well). The second construction might be a bit
ambitious for temporary tenting at the War, but the ingenious might be
able to adapt its design into something more suitable.
-Ianthe d'Averoigne kim.salazar@em.doe.gov
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