The Sun.
London, England, 1848-01-27 00:00:00

EXTINCTION OF FIRE.

An admirable contrivance for speedily extinguish-
ing fires has been adopted by Mr. Alexander Annan-
dale, at his large paper- mill at Polton, near Edinburgh.
The following is an account of this ingenious appara-
tus : —The apparatus may be said to combine, in itself,
a complete fire-brigade. It consists of two pumps,
with capacious air-vessels, one of these pumps
being worked by a steam-engine, the other by a
water-wheel. These being the movers of the
machinery of the mill, are consequently in con-
stant action and always ready for the accident
of fire. The original objects of these pumps was
to raise water from the river into a reservoir for

the supply of the mill; hut, by the addition of
a valve, the desired results are effected. On the
orifice of the pipes connected with the pumps,
where it delivers the water into the reservoir,
is placed the valve, which is equal in diameter
to the pipe. It has the ordinary lever which is
generally attached to the safety-valves of steam-
boilers, and indeed resembles them in every
hreyspetcnte.vinTghisthle-alvw-eeigcahnt beeleelgoadtehde to any
.ebxuttenfs,
regulatedemp s e r
es o that
subjected i t will
t e opensh baeforsetraithne paispe
ma.
an;
endangeri their bursting. Attached to the pipes
from the pumps (and in such a situation as may
command with ease every portion of the works},
are the means of fixing a number of leather
hose-pipes, with their conductors. In one situa-
tion in front of the building six of these hose.,
pipes can be attached. On lifting a wooden
cover, which is level with the ground, we find
the six nozzles, with water-tight caps screwed
upon them, which are removed to give place to
one or more of the hose-pipes, when wanted. A
slide-cock admits the water at once to all those
nozzles from the main pump pipe. Two of these
leather hose being brought out and fixed upon
this pipe, the weight drawn along the lever of the
valve and the slide-cock opened, an unbroken jet
of water from each of the nozzles is projected
over the highest part of the building, equal in inter)-
, city, and superior in steadiness, to that of any two Of
the best fire-engines. But this is not all ; at the same
time the other four hose-pipes can be attached
and brought to act in the same manner, and
with the like efficiency, and the mill ryiety be thus
reciily deluged, The whole operation doss not
occupy two men five minutes. Had such an ap-
paratus been in existence two years ago, the whole: Of
this valuable property,
,which was then burnt to the
ground, might have been saved. In many places,
advantage has been taken of the water-supply pipes,
as a means of extinguishing fires, and where a
competent head
,of water can be obtained,
and the pipes are of sufficient capacity, and
laid for that purpose alone, nothing more
need be desired ; but this cannot always be
obtained but at an immense expense, and in
some situations not at all. The finest feature of the
Polton Mill apparatus is its applicability to towns as
well as mills; for any desired pressure may be given
to water without resorting to the expense of having
elevated reservoirs. Take for example the city of Edin-
burgh, which has many sources of water in its neigh-
bourhood, which might be made available for the cleans-
ing of sewers, streets, closes, and other sanitary pur-
poses, as well as for the extinction of fire. An
engine placed at the canal basin, and a train of pipes
laid through the principal streets, with the necessary
means of attaching leather hose-pipes, might be used
for these objects. The engine could be made to work
a number of pumps, discharging water into one large
air vessel, the safety-valve as it may be termed, ar g
series of valves, to be placed, not at the remote ex-
tremity of the pipe, but at the pumps under the
control of the engineer. Supposing the whole train
of pipes filled, and the pumps discharging a small
portion of their water through the satety-valve,
which may be loaded to such an extent as may
be equivalent to a head of water, limited only by
the power of the engine and the strength of the
material, it is evident that such pressure and such
quantity of water as the pumps can deliver will
be transmitted through the whole train of pipes,
subject
pipe,on
only to
andthat
the deductionth e l arisingload
n
e thefrom the
enginef friction
twlin
in the
always be equal to the load on the valve and the
quantity of water delivered; and this need never be
more than what is necessary for the purpose in hand.
To any one at all conversant with the principles of
hydraulics all this will be evident. To render the
whole arrangement complete for a large city, might
not the electric telegraph or some concerted signal be
introduced to transmit intelligence from any distant
locality to the engineer at the engine, when instantly
the pumps could be set in motion. The system has
already been adopted at the Liverpool Docks, where
nine miles of pipe for fire extinction alone have been
laid. It is even projected to carry such pipes through
the whole streets, with a hose connexion at every
lamp-post.—Scotsman.

REVIVAL OF GREAT GRIMSBY PORT.—In the reign
of Edward the Third the port of Great Grimsby my-
plied eleven vessels for the armament against Calais)
but it gradually sank into extreme insignificance until a
railway was projected to it. The mere prospective
advent of :the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire
Railway, which will be opened to 'Great Grimsby in the
present spring, has been to raise the Customs revenue
from 3,9291. in 1843,.t0 70,0731. in the last year, 1847.
ANOTHER VICTIM TO TUB GAME-LAWS.—In the
last month, John Heiman, of the parish of Colaton Ra-
leigh, a most quiet, harmless, and inoffensive old man,
set a rat-gin without any bait, but lightly covered over
with earth, in a rabbit run in his own field, and to his
great surprise, on visiting the gin, he beheld a pheasantth
caught by the head. The keepers were
ed watching
thee
where he
rat trap; it was enough, they pounced upon him,old
man Colaton,
case was heard before the Woobury Bench, the poor old
dmiailin
nwnasmecourndan3!,iltatedst. tolithisethceougnetnyerbarlidheelwiee
and all the surrounding parishes, that the pheasant was
placed in the gin, because no bait was there, and had it
been taken in the act of running or digging, it certainly
must have been caught by the legs.—
It Times.
A ludicrous scene occurred, not very long ago, in
a certain small chapel, situated in one of those romantic
and secluded valleys for which West Cumberland is so
celebrated. The minister, who was a man by no means
usual
juvenilee
s ite
n ,portion,
,ii
ha t
i of )f
th his
y
averse to the enjoyment of the good things of this world,
I%ivtawk, s
a nd engaged
on
in
puttingcatechising
the the
question
name?" to the girl who stood highest, a strapping wench
of thirteen, the only daughter of the village Bonifice,
received no reply. " What is thy name ?" said the
minister in a more
peremptory manner. Girl—' Nin
o' yer fun, parson ; ye kna me neamo varra weel.
Duont ye say, when ye're at our house on a neet, ' Bet,
bring in another pint o'yell !' " It is needless to say
that notwithstanding the sacred nature of the place in
which they were assembled, the congregation was on a
broad grin. his reverence looked daggers.—Lancaster
Guardian. _ _ _

ENNISIC IMFIN7 JAN. 21.—The Rev. Mr. Moore,
who had been confined in Enniskillen gaol for debt, has
committed suicide, by cutting his throat from ear to ear.
—Dublin Freeman.