The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-10-25 00:00:00

THE POLYTECHNIC SOCIETY.

The general monthly meeting of this society took place on
the evening of the 11th instant, at the Royal Institution;
John Grantham, Esq., the president,'in the chaii. The at-
tendance, both of members and visitors, was nu►nerous,
and the proceedings of the evening of more than ordinary
interest.

ON THE PREVALENCE OF HARMONY IN THE SYSTEM OF

NATURE.
Mr. C. F. SALT, the secretary of the society, read an ad-
mirable and ingenious paper " On the principles of Harmony
as prevailing in the System of Nature, and as exciting the
pleasing ideas of proportion and beauty, when applied to
works of art." The theory advocated by the lecturer was at
once curious and interesting. He explained the vibrations
of the stretched cord of a musical instrument, which are not,
as is usually supposed, equal over the whole, but divide
themselves into thirds, fourths, fifths. &c., over various
lengths of the string, the whole producing harmony, and
showing the disposition of the air itself, when so acted upon, to
produce, as in the iEolion harp,' a concord of sweet sounds."
The same proportions of chords that held good in music, for
the production of harmony, he then clearly demonstrated by
mathematical diagrams, to apply equally to the beautiful,
proportionate, and harmonious, in architecture, sculpture,
and even in landscape painting ; and, were applicable, also to
the harmony of the heavenly bodies, as had been maintained
to a certain extent by Sir Isaac Newton himself. In well
proportioned interior architecture the same theory held good,
as exemplified in the proportions of a fine apartment, which
he illustrated by a diagram of a room, the length, breadth,
and height of which, corresponded precisely, and in propor-
tionate gradation geometrically, with the musical notes which,
sounded together, produce harmony, and were capable of the
pleasing modulations. He showed the extraordinary coinci-
dence in whatever delights the eye or ear, by a number of
diagrams, &c., with comparative tables, and concluded by an
eloquent peroration on the harmony of the universe. lie
was listened to throughout with profound attention ; and the
thanks of the society were awarded to him, by acclamation,
at the close.

MODEL AND DESCRIPTION OF A PLAN TO STOP THE
PROGRESS OF FIRE IN WAREHOUSES.
Mr. H. Green, of Leece's-street, being called on by the
chairman, then proceeded to describe a large model or ske-
leton of a warehouse, fitted up with apparatus of his invention
for the speedy extinguishment of any fire that might break
out in one or other of the stories, and which, as it excited
much interest, from the recent lamentable destruction of life,
and property in the town, we shall endeavour briefly to ex-
plain. The principal object which the inventor sought to
attain was to render his apparatus se!''-acting, or, in other
words, so contrived that on the fire breaking out, and reach-
ing a certain degree of heat only in any one room or story of
the building, the valves or cocks in that room would imme-
diately open, without any one being in attendance, and sub-
ject that apartment, or that potrion of it only which was
ignited, to a heavy shower, or rather deluge of water, which
could be stopped at any moment after the fire was discovered
to have existed, without unnecessary damage to the goods by
an inordinate quantity of water. To effect this his plan is,
without entering into details, as follows :—A large tank, to
contain 6 or 7 tons of water, left constantly filled, is fixed at
the top of the warehouse, either over or, to prevent the ac-
tion of frost, immediately under the roof. From the bottom
of this tank pipes for the conveyance of the water are placed
down the sides of the building interiorly, and ending in hori-
zontal pipes, one running longitudinally in each room, close to
the beams or ceiling above. These latter pipes may be either
fixed over the centre of each room or close to the wall; and
from them diverge smaller branch pipes, fixed to the beams
or ceiling, crossing the room in parallel lines, and perforated
with holes. At the neck or bottom part of each descending
pipe, which is to supply those thus perforated, there is a cock
or tap, which is kept closed by a small bar-handle or lever,
with a weight at the end, hooked or tied up, in a horizontal
position, with a piece of soft mettle which will melt and fall
off when exposed to a temperature of 180 to 200 degrees ; and
the weight, being disengaged, falls to the perpendicular, and
thus instantaneously opens the tap. The water then imme-
diately rushes into the perforated pipes at the ceiling, and,
by the hydraulic pressure from the cistern, falls in jets pretty
equally over the whole surface or area of the room in
which they are fixed. Should the fire be discovered and
appear to be subdued, the communication with the tank may
be stopped to prevent unnecessary damage, by means of a rod or
handle outside of the warehouse, and accessible to the police-
officer or watchman. There is also, on the same principle, a
vertical perforated pipe crossing the top of the warehouse front
outside, which, in the event of the building being in danger
of ignition from the exterior by the burning of a building on
the opposite side of the street, will discharge a heavy down-
ward shower upon the walls. To facilitate the melting of the
soft metal that keeps the taps closed, a piece of string, satu-
rated in saltpetre and gunpowder, is attached to each piece
of the metal, and may be left hanging down the wall, or be
laid on the top of the goods across or along the room. This
string, the inventor of the plan states, would speedily ignite
in the event of contact with flame or sparks, and the fire run-
ning up it to the valve, the soft metal hoop would more
readily dissolve, and the water be let on. The same plan is,
of course, applicable to all the rooms down to, and including
the cellar. In the model, strings of the description stated
were attached to the tap handles, and these being ignited, the
metal gave way, and several of them were opened nearly si-
multaneously—fire being supposed to be in several rooms.
The immediate result was a deluge over each room, the ap-
pearanceof which elicited much applause from the audience.
An interesting discussion ensued on the merits of the plan
to which, however, some serious practical objections were
started.

The CHAIRMAN was apprehensive that the complexity of
the apparatus and its consequent expense would be a bar to
its adoption, although it was certainly worthy of the serious
consideration of the mercantile community.
In reply to questions by Mr. Cunningham and others, Mr.
GREEN said, that he proposed the pipes to be of cast iron,
and that he thought damage to the goods by leakage might
certainly be avoided. It was suggested, that in removing
goods the strings might be accidentally pulled or broken, and
that a deluge might be the consequence when it was not
wanted. The inventor said, that even if the strings were
twisted or broken, the metal hooks had sufficient tenacity to
remain undisturbed.

Mr. ASFILIN,—the proposer of the admirable plan of ex-
tinguishing fires by having an immense tank of salt water
supplied from the river, by a steam-engine, and at such a
height in some locality in the outskirts as would send the
water many feet above the warehouses, which should have a
eornrymnieating pipe in each rnorri,—wee of opinion, that in
frosty weather the water in Mr. Green's descending pipes
would be frozen, and the whole apparatus be rendered un-
available. Another gentleman apprehended that severe frost
would freeze the water in an exposed tank, particularly if it
were mounted on the top of a high warehouse.
Mr. GREEN did not apprehend the freezing of the water in
the pipes, as they would be within the warehouse; and with
respect to the tank, it might be fixed under the roof. In
reply to Mr. Whitty, he said he proposed that the perforated
pipes should be six feet apart, and the holes one inch in
diameter.

Mr. Wntrrir said that a great body of water would be
required, otherwise it would soon he expended, and he was
of opinion that too much water could not be thrown into a
burning room. The contrivance was, however, very ingeni-
ous, and much superior to many he had seen. He objected
to the mode of supplying the water from a tank, as not equal
to the plan of Mr. Ashlin ; but the mode of its distribution
was good, and perhaps an amalgamation of both plans would
be highly efficient, provided that, in place of the proposed
taps to let off by combustion, there were a cock at the back
of each warehouse room, which should be known to the fire-
police, and might be turned on and off as required.
A GENTLEMAN (we believe Mr. Smith) said that he had
some knowledge of pyrotechnics, and the proposed slow
matches or strings could by no means be depended upon, as
the slightest damp would render them altogether ineffectual.
The CHAIRMAN said, the society was certainly much
obliged to. Mr. Green for the exhibition of the model, and
hoped that with some modifications his plan would lead to
something beneficial to the public, as well as to himself. He
proposed that the thanks of the meeting should be awarded
to him,—which was agreed to.