The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1880-06-17
Curious Tools for Fighting Fires.

Hook-and-Ladder Truck No. /, that
lies in one of the double fire. engine
houses IN the City Hall Park, says the
New York San, has been supplied with
a complete set of burglars tools. Fore
man Wolfe and his men have made such
good use of these instruments that it is
now determined TO give other sets to
Trucks 6, s and 10, which, like No. /,
are mainly employed at fires below Ca
nal street Chief Hugh Bonner origi-
mated the idea of thus equipping these
firemen. He realized the necessity of
devising some means to overcome the
hindrance TO firemen arising out of the
present custom Of building stores and
business establishments with the
strength of fortresses. The builder of
to-day expends as much ingenuity in
providing means to keep out burglars
as to keep out fire. Heavy iron shut
tiers close every door and window in
the modern structures, and even the
tatchways are built as if each was in
tended to cover the companiOnway on
a monitor. The modern burglar is pro-
vided with the most practical and ar
tistic weapons with which to attack
these defenses, but until Mr.. Bonner
furnished " One Truck" with the burg
lars tools the firemen depended entirely
upon old-fashioned instruments.
No. l, for instance, had nothing more
than battering ram and crowbar.
The crowbar was a round rod of steel,
with one end pointed and the other
rounded into a handle. Its days are
numbered. The battering ram, on the
contrary, will ever be a formidable
tool. Its shaped like the piston of a
syringe, the handle being six feet long
and made Of very hard wood. The ram
is half iron and half wood, is very
heavy and is provided with leather
handles for the men who batter with it.
With half dozen men at the handle
and four men at the ram, it is easy to
knock a hole in the side of the house,
and only little more difficult to break
in an iron shutter. Now, this company
has a set of tools fashioned after the
kit that was used in the robbery of
the Manhattan Bank, the most COM
plete and costly set ever captured in
this country. For the fireman the tools
are as well made as the originals,
but they are considerably lar
ger than those the burglars used. Only
seven of the burglars tools are given
to the firemen, who had no need for the
"bit'' and other instruments that were
especially useful in safe breaking. The
largest of the implements is an octag-
onal bar of fine steel four and half
feet long. 1t terminates in a sharp
edged bent claw, and its upper end is
fitted with a socket into which another
bar for greater beverage can be in
serted. This Jimmy" as it is called,
is warranted, on account of its size and
strength, to break the way through any
door into or under which it can be in
serted. The massive padlocls that are
so commonly used would not withstand
its force when one man welded it; yet
half dozen men can work together
with it. Another Jimmy is of the
same shape, but much shorter. A third
implement is called a "dog jimmy"
On one end it has a hook with which to
tear out staples and wrench off locks,
and on the other two diverging jaws
like the magnified end of q tack-lifter
for the same uses. Then there are
rivet-cutter, a steel wedge for bursting
iron doors, and two sledges with which
to hammer the cutter and the wedges.
The sledges are made of iron, but the
burglars sledges upon which they were
modelled were made of copper, pre-
sumably because that metal is softer
la-e Y,AScx- FHhn-o tools
are kept in box that has been built
for that purpose on the forward fifth
wheel of the machine. The box is open
and a strap holds the tools in place.
Assistant Foreman James Heavy, who
was member of the old volunteer
force, says that with these tools fire.
man can effect an entrance into almost
any building in minutes time; but
with the old-fashioned tools it often
took many minutes to break down
door or wrench Offa shutter, and mean
while the fire within the building was
gaining a Roadway that increased the
difficulty in extinguishing it.
There is very little room left on the
hook and ladder trnck of to-day for
further improvements and additions.
Strapped on the body of the machine are
two fire eXtinguishers, a calcium light
burner and reflector, and the two cylin-
ders, one of oxygen and one of hydro
gen, that constitute fuel for that brilliant
light. Then there are lanterns, ard
lately there have been added red signal
lights for stopping elevated railroad
trains at night, and flags for the same
use in the daytime. There are also pitch
forks wherewith to handle hay or the
material used in mattresses, sbovels to
remove rubbish and to throw sand on
burning gas, great knives at the end of
poles with which the tin roof of a build
ing can be cut, and hooks with which
to roll up the tin when it has been
loosened. There are peculiar hose noz-
zleS also, one of which is bent and
strapped to pole for use in vaults; an
other ends in four revolving Jets, and
when let down into an inaccessible cell
lar or between the decks of vessel
win saturate everything above, below,
and around it within distance Oftwenty-
five feet from IFS center. Another nOZ-
zle is called a "Siamese," because it
combines the stream of two engines;
and still another. recently introduced,
joins four streams in one, just as the
new fire tower does. There are also ey-
tension ladders and the old-fashioned
hook, the latter still frequently used on
tOttering walls and stubborn ceilings.
Finally. in addition to the axes. poles
and lengths of hose that 90 with the
new nOZZles, there is the patent smoke
bag that the intrepid firemen wear when
entering building too full of smoke to
permit of breathing except by artificial