Fig 1
A type of fixture which develops a partial indirect illumination, and yet which allows a certain quantity of light to come through direct to the eyes, so that the source of light is easily discernible is the most satisfying and most suggestive of home comfort. Such a fixture is shown on [page 122].
Common-Sense Solution Needed
Moreover, the lighting of a small house must be studied with common sense, and no rule of the thumb can be laid down. Certain enthusiastic illuminating engineers offer typical plans and suggestions for the wiring of houses, which plans are crowded so full of outlets that they look like a map of the starry heavens. We have in front of us now such a plan in which a small living-room is marked to contain four wall outlets containing two lights each, two more outlets on each side of the fireplace, a wall plug for attaching a portable lamp or two lights, and a central ceiling outlet for four lights. In addition to these is another base plug and floor plug. The room is about 14 by 17 feet, and if all lights were turned on at once and all base plugs attached to lamps there would be a possible grand total of twenty 50-watt lamps in this medium-sized room. Such brilliant illumination might please the jaded nerves of the tired business man, but his wife would never consent to such a garish display of wealth-eating current.
The problem of illumination for the small house can be sanely considered from five different angles: (1) General illumination; (2) local illumination; (3) ornamental illumination; (4) movable lamps; and (5) light control.
By general illumination is meant the lighting required to flood the room as a whole, and not locally in any one corner. The easiest and commonest method of doing this is to provide a central fixture, containing from two to four 50-watt lamps, or their equivalent, which are hidden in some commercial type of semi-indirect lighting fixture. The type of fixture shown on [page 122] is one of the finest, and with a silk shade around it the warm, cheerful effect of a home is greatly enhanced by this method of lighting. When this fixture is hung in the dining-room or living-room a single 200-watt Mazda lamp is employed, while in the other rooms a single 100-watt lamp is used. In the kitchen no shade is necessary. Usually in laying out the electric outlets upon a plan the central dining-room and living-room lights are shown to carry four 50-watt lamps, and those in the other rooms, in the hall, and on the porch are marked to have two 50-watt lamps or their equivalent.
But it is not absolutely essential to have a central light for general illumination. Some architects prefer to have a certain number of wall lights controlled by one switch, and obtain a general glow with these lamps. By securing the right type of fixture which shields the raw filament of light from the eyes, this method of general illumination often produces a feeling of comfort and homelikeness unsurpassed by the other system.
In those rooms where work is done under the central light, such as the kitchen and pantry, and where opaque, indirect reflectors have been used throughout the rest of the house, it is essential to provide direct lighting-fixtures, so that the light can be thrown down upon the working plane. Translucent reflectors or prismatic reflectors are used, and a frosted bulb or a porcelain-tipped bulb is most suitable with this reflector.
Local illumination is intended to give greater intensity of light over certain portions of the room where work is carried on. Either a wall light or a special drop light, protected by a reflector, is used. Such lights are placed conveniently over the kitchen-sink and side table, over the laundry-tubs and ironing-board, over the coal-bin, near the boiler and over the work-bench in the cellar, by the side of the lavatory in the bathroom, over at the side of the dresser in the bedrooms, inside of closets and alongside of the serving-table in the dining-room. These local outlets are generally planned to carry two 50-watt lamps or their equivalent.
