The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1876-01-22

Aristide Gerard, of New Orleans, has made
application for patents on 1--WE distinct appli-
ances for giving notice of danger from fire OF
water on steam vessels and means of extin.
gushing fires The President of the New
Orleans Board of Underwriters and many
gentlemen connected with the insurance and
shipping interests indorse for the value of
the methods suggested.
The inventor gives tie following descrip-
ton of his plans:
My methods or inventions are five in num-
Der, each distinct and separate:
! l. The first which l name the hydro
| scope is an apparatus indicating the occur
renee OF leak, the presence OF water, and its
progress in the hold of a vessel. 1t acts au-
! tomatically, and through its instantan
and lntalhble indications on dial, and by
the alarm bells thcreunto attached, gives
prompt and truthful notice to the officers of
the ship of the accident and its extent, thus
enabling them to meet and oppose the dan
ger.
This apparatus is tubular cylinfe inserted
III and extending to the bottom of the hold of
vessel. The lower extremity is opened, and
the upper closed by tube connecting with
the dial and manometer on the upper deck, at
the most convenient point of observation.
The needle of the dial and the 1unding of
the alarm bells are controlled by atmospheric
pressure within the cylinder, which is in ex-
act ratio with the pressure or density of water
in the hold of the ship, communicated through
the cylinder at its lower extremity.
z The second, named the thermoscope, is
An apparatus intended to indicate all abnor-
NAL variations of temperature in the bold and
comp ,rtments of vessel, its functions with
regard to fire being similar to those of the by
droscope with regard to water, indicating its
presence at the incip;ency of combustion with
un erring precision. 1t may not inaptly be
termed an atmospheric thermometer convey
ing to the indicator, through metallic lube,
the degree Of temperature in any section Of
the ship with which it may be connected, and
SO sensitive is it to any variation that the heat
OF the hand when applied to its surface will
occasiona disturbance of the alarm dial. This
last, as we'll az the alarm bells, are so regu-
lated as to give the signal of fire at degr, Q
OF temperature near the point when combu
ton is probable.
3. The third, the pyrofuge or fire extin-
guisher, is natural, though not necessarily |
a complement of the thermoscope. Hav' ng
been notified of the presence, or of the prof.
ability OF fire in the hold or any compart
ment of the vessel, and other means having |
failed to suppress, recourse is had to the py-
rouge. This apparatus is metallic reservoi-,
supplied with sulphurous acid gas in lique-
fed state. To this reservoir are attached me-
talic tubes and pipes leading to the various
and several sections of the ship. This Iique-
fed sulphurous acid gas, when discharged in
the menaced compartment, at once converts
itself into gaseous form, absorbing instan-
taneously all the oxygen present, and that
done, no fire nor combustion is possible. 1t
would be useless to elucidate here q phenom-
enon 50 we'll established. Exchange.