New-York tribune., 1872-11-16

and subjected to pressure. But those
earlier inventors sought rather to ad-
vance the arts of war than those of
peace, and the flames they proposed to extin-
guish were chiefly those kindled by fiery mis-
siles in siege and battle. The dearth of
| invention in the whole history of means for
| extinguishing fire, though remarkable, is not
inexplcable. The cities of Europe were not
tinder-boxes like our own; the architecture of
| the Mediterranean civilization was almost fire.
proof; and in modern Europe inGammabe
materials formed very much smaller proper
| ton of all kinds of buildings than in this
country, and consequently accidental fires
| were rare, and the need of means for quench
| ing them not often impressed. COnstanbuopie
offered the principal exception to the rue, anu
there even frequent and disastrous fires iaileu
| to arouse the Moslem fatUitY which Is popu-
larly though enormously believed 10 1oiu lts
hands while the fire RACES, ana plOusy OK
claim, l" Great is Allah ~ The fact Is that
there, as elsewhere under the paternal Gov
ernments of Europe, fires are regarded as
affairs of state with which private citizens
never interfere.
Outside of the fre-engine and the use OF
ordinary water, the record of inventions, pos
sibly excepting those of very recent date, Is
exceedingly discouraging The water-bomb
was among the most persistent, and held Its
ground, with various notifications, for more
than a hundred years, its secret being at one
time purchased by European prince for
large sum of money. It's essential feature was
considerable volume of water, or medicated
solution, inclosed in a receptacle that could be
|
were included with IT; and the operation con-
sisted in introducing the bomb into the burn
ing building, where the explosion scattered
the liquid. 1t would weary the reader to tell
of the various solutions and mixtures which
have been substituted for water, of their tenn
porary success and final abandonment; but
within the the last few years the Babcock
sef-acting engine meets with better fortune
than its predecessors, and appears to be
| regarded as fully established at Cincinnati
and Chicago, where the machines are OF such
dimensions that horses are used to drag them
to fires. The liquid in these machines con-
| tains large quantities of alkaline carbOnates,
| to which sulphuIic acid is added to put the
machine in operation, thus liberating carbOnic
acid gas so as to give the pressure with which
the solution is forced through the hose. Three
fire-extinguishing substances are thus brought
to bear at Once-Water gas that does not
support combustion, and an alkaline material
which, it is claimed coats or saturates COM
bustible matter so that extinguished flames
will not relight. Each of these substances
has been tried separately with unsatisfactory
results, but their combination seems promis-
ing. Their chief excellence, it is asserted is
in accomplishing the extinction of fire with a
smaller quantity of water and less consequent
damage than is otherwise possible. The pipe
and hose are of small diameter.
What is known as the Holly system pro-
vides water from the street hydrants under
great pressure, which is maintained at the
city water works by the action of a gang Of
force-pumps, instead of head of water from
"A reservoir In Lockport, BinghamtOn, Dun
kirk, and other cities where this system is
adopted, there are no fre-engincs. OF the
force and volume of water obtained by this
system there seems little room for doubt
Where the water was supplied Gj feet below the
street surface these water-wOrks raised it and
threw it in a perpendicular stream, from a
discharge-pipe three inches in diameter, 17S
feet in air About the same hight in air was
obtained in a trial when the water passed first
engine, a steady stream could not be maintained
at such an altitude; although under high
pressure it is often accomplished for short
spurt in competitive exhibitions, but with
discharge pipe not usually exceeding II inches
The question as to the value of the Holly
system in large cities is as To She force OF the
water in lydrants at considerable distances
from the water-works. How much force is
lost by friction may be estimated from the
circumstance that our best steamers, if using
a long hose turned around two or tbree cor
ners can scarcely throw a stream 20 feet per
Dendicular. A series of valves in the street
pipes, operated under telegraphic orders, have
been suggested to supplement the Holly sys-
TEN, by somewhat concentrating the pressure
of the water in the streets leading from the
pumps to n fire.
Both tho Holly system and the BabcOCk en-
CINE seem to offer advantages over our present
method by facilitating the great essential of
promptly pouring water upon the flames 1t
was tho loss of 3j minutes, more than any
thing else, that burned Boston. Careful eX-
periments conducted by NJ. Van Marum of
Holland have shown that even small Quanti-
ties of water can be relied upon to extinguish
large and intense COnflagratiOns. if applied
continually to the edges of the fire, keeping
the burning materials wet and gradually dim
inishing its area But when fine has so in
creased in size and heat as to be unappr0aCha-
bic, the greatest volumes of water are so rap
idly dissipated as TO be of comparatively little
avail. IL is to this point that the whole atten-
ton Of those who are interested in this mat
ter-and who is not2-should be directed.