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A jalousie window (, ) or louvered window (Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Southeast Asia, United Kingdom) is a window composed of parallel glass, acrylic, or wooden
louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
s set in a frame. The louvres are joined onto a track so that they may be tilted open and shut in unison to control airflow, usually by turning a crank.


Etymology

''Jalousie'' is the French word for "jealousy". It originated in 18th century France from the Italian word ''geloso'', which means "jealous" or "screen", as in to screen something from view. Because of their slatted louvres, jalousie windows protect the interior of the house from jealous, peering eyes (when not made of a transparent material like glass).


Design

Joseph W. Walker of
Malden, Massachusetts Malden is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 66,263 people. History Malden, a hilly woodland area north of the Mystic River, was settled by Puritans in 1640 on la ...
applied for a US patent for a basic louvered window in 1900. He was issued patent no. 687705 on November 26, 1901. A popular hand-cranked glass, aluminum and screen window combination was later designed by American engineer
Van Ellis Huff Van Ellis Huff (1894 – 1987) was a University of Florida trained engineer who popularized residential use of a combination jalousie window. Drawing inspiration from common wooden slat windows he'd become familiar with in the Bahamas, he designed ...
and found widespread use in temperate climates before the advent of
air conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...
. Jalousie windows were a popular feature in mid-century modern houses, especially those built in warm and humid climates.


Use

Jalousie windows maximize natural ventilation by allowing airflow through the entire window area. Historically made only of wooden slats or glass panes, they are well suited to mild-winter climates. With mass production they became very common throughout homes in mid-20th-century
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
,
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
, southern
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, the
Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion in the Southern United States. The term was first used to describe the states most dependent on plantations and slavery prior to the American Civil War. Following the war ...
, and Latin America. In cooler regions they were used in porches and sunrooms. They were also widely used in
mobile home A mobile home (also known as a house trailer, park home, trailer, or trailer home) is a prefabricated structure, built in a factory on a permanently attached chassis before being transported to site (either by being towed or on a trailer). Us ...
s during the 1950s and 1960s before most manufacturers began switching to sliding and
sash window A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned window (architecture), paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double gla ...
s in subsequent decades. Modern jalousie windows may be high-performance architectural windows, and some have even been featured in buildings which received awards for excellence in residential design and sustainable living. Jalousie windows have evolved over time and these days can be seen as a design element as well as a technical device to utilize natural ventilation and temperature control. They are also used more widely in commercial projects.


Efficacy

A commonly accepted advantage of jalousie windows is their ability to be left part-way open in heavy rains as a way to maintain desirable ventilation, whether a
sunshower A sunshower or sun shower is a meteorological phenomenon in which rain falls while the sun is shining. A sunshower is usually the result of accompanying winds associated with a rain storm sometimes miles away, blowing the airborne raindrops int ...
or prolonged
tropical storm A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...
. An experiment in 1960 tested the efficacy of jalousie windows in tropical climates to exclude rain while still allowing for air flow. A major issue with excluding rain while allowing air flow is that both tend to come from the same direction. The angled slatted jalousie windows give the impression of solving this issue, however, the actual efficacy of the windows to let in air while keeping out water was deemed unsatisfactory by the study's authors. Jalousie windows also have several other drawbacks. Traditional style jalousie windows offer poor overall resistance to water penetration and drafts and are difficult to positively secure, as their slats are easily and silently removed. In addition to the inability to keep out water, they do not provide a secure barrier to keep air conditioned air inside. Also, the metal parts which make up the windows moving mechanism are prone to corrosion in humid environments, leading to damage such as broken or missing cranks. Jalousie windows are objects of scorn for many Floridians, as the windows are unable to keep out human and insect home invaders. Modern manufacturers have improved their designs of jalousie windows to address these problems. Many market their products as having greater security and energy efficiency compared to earlier versions.


Mid-century modern advertising

Many companies manufactured jalousie windows during the 20th century, and there are multiple surviving examples of advertisements from this period which demonstrate how the windows were marketed to consumers. The advertisements tended to stress how jalousie windows provide ventilation, privacy, rain-proofing, and an extra room in winter. Companies like StormMaster claimed their jalousies provided "winter warmth and summer comfort". Others, like Ludman WindoTite, promoted their product by declaring how the brand's windows have "transformed the Jones' front porch", which is a reference to the concept of
keeping up with the Joneses Keeping is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Charles Keeping (1924–1988), British illustrator, children's book author and lithographer * Damien Keeping (born 1982), Australian rules football coach * Frederick Keeping (1867– ...
. The VentVue company took a different approach to their advertising copy, instead stressing how their jalousies make "every window a picture window", and states that they are fashionable choice for new constructions and replacements.


See also

*
Louver A louver (American English) or louvre (British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". Mor ...
*
Window blind A window blind is a type of window covering. There are many different kinds of window blinds which use a variety of control systems. A typical window blind is made up of several long horizontal or vertical slats of various types of hard mater ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jalousie Window Windows Architecture in Barbados