--_Industrial Review_.
* * * * *
BOZERIAN'S REFRIGERANT PUNKAS.
Punkas (also called pankasor tankas) are apparatus that serve for fanning
rooms throughout the entire extent of English India. These devices
consist of a light wooden frame covered with canvas, from the bottom of
which depends a fringe. These frames are suspended from the ceiling in
such a way as to occupy nearly the entire width and length of the room.
To the base of the frame is attached a cord which passes over a wheel,
and which is pulled by a Hindoo domestic. After the frame has been
lifted, a weight fastened to the lower part causes it to fall back again.
The result of the continuous motion of this colossal fan is a coolness
that is highly appreciated in a country where the temperature is at times
incredibly high, and where, without the factitious breeze created by the
punka, living would not be endurable. This breeze prevents perspiration,
or evaporates the same as soon as it is formed. Sometimes it sinks to a
light zephyr; then, if you are reading or writing, you may continue your
work, but in a distracted way, with a moist brow, and with a feeling of
annoyance that soon makes you leave book or pen.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--TENT OR TABLE FAN OR PUNKA.]
Looking around you, you find the punka immovable.
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