The Nevada journal., 1851-12-04
Thursday Morning, Dec. A.
Phillips Fire Annihila.or,

tion in the relations of man to the ele-
ments that surround him, is exciting
much interest in this State at the pre-
sent time, as it has in the Atlantic and
European world for two years past. An
invention for which its patentce claims
the power of instantly quenching the
fercest and most extensive fires, annihi-
lating both flame and Goals, and purify
ing the atmosphere of all smoke and de-
leterious gases evolved by fire, is one
which the world has always needed,
and if achieved is the greatest miracle
that art has ever accomplished. Man
is no longer the helpless being, gazing
despairingly on the destruction of his
property, or seeking by inadequate
means to save it. He is new the mas
ter of his fercest foe, and like God can
say to the tide of fame "Here shall
thy proud waves be stayed" A disco
very that will accomplish the speedy
suppression of fires, can be regarded in
no other light than as a great social be-
neft. That it has this power We have
the evidence of the English papers most
unressrvedly rendered. They speak
not only of small fires being extinguish-
ed, which might be quelled by bucket
Of water or q wet blanket. hut Of fires
purposely rendered fierce and by ordi-
nary means, sngovernable, by the ap-
plication Of innamable substances For
instance, the London Times, speaking
Of an experiment by the patentee, which
was made on tho 18th of January, 1851,
says:
"A public demonstration of this in.
venticn took place yesterday afternoon
at tho London Gas Works, near Vaux-
hall bridge. The principal object was
to show its efficacy in cases Of fire in
houses, though some other experiments
were also shown, as we shall describe.
In order to exhibit its action on house
on fire. a rough three stery building was
erected ut the end of one Of the COM
pany's retort houses, made Of boards,
with open spaces for the windows and
doors. The different floors were laid
with joists, and the whole edificc nearly
filled with planks and shavings, covered
with tar, turpentine, and other infama-
Bile substances. The building in which
this was constructed was of brick, and
rooted with iron, SO that there was no
danger Of setting fire to any part of it.
The interior of the experimental house
was then fred, and allowed to burn un-
til the flames issued forth, roaring like
q furnace, and running for several yards
along the iron roof Of the external house.
One of the men then brought forward
one of Mr.. Phillips patent machines
which have been often described before,
and the effect Of the gas on the flame
was almost instantaneous. The flame
Immediately subsided, and by continu-
ing to allow the vapor to permeate
through the building, the fire was Who'll
ly extinguisbed in few minutes. The
almost magical way in which the large
sheet of fame was subdued was very
striking, and was loudly applauded by
the numerous spectators"
We find in other London papers de-
tails Of the same experiment, all con-
curing in its complete success To
show the value Of this agent in cases
of confagrations at sea, we quote the
following from the London Morning
Post
"A very successful demonstration OF
the power Of this machine took place
yesterday, on board hulk, meorcd be-
tween Greenwich and Blackwell. The
hold of the vessel $50 tons had been
previously laden with sugar hogsheads,
tuIpsntine barrels, tar barrels, saltpetre
bags, and other combustible materials
and when the parties invited to witness
the experiment had assembled, the car
60 was fred from the lower part of the
hold. The fire was allowed to burn
twelve minutes, at the expiration of
which time the flames had made their
way through the deck The hatchway
was thon withdrawn, and the flames
instantly shot up to the height of twelve
or fourteen feet above the deck of the
ship. Mr.. Phi lips at this moment d.
rected his men to apply two of the
machines charged with the vapor; and
no sooner had they been brought into
action, than the whole of the flame was
instantaneously subdued. The FIRE con-
tinued to shoulder for some minutes,
but before third machine was exhaust
ed, not a spark was to be seen. The
experiment was witnessed by great
many persons from the shore, all Of
whom manifested, by their plaudits,
their surprise and qualification at the
extraordinary result exhibited. Of the
usefulness OF the machine on board all
ships, it is impossible to descant too
highly; but fortunately for the inventor,
he has obtained the patronage of the