Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1882-12-06

An Invention which. 10 II Claimed. VIII
Prevent DISASTROUS ConAa grations.

Fire !" shouted William C.. Shaffer, the
inventor, at his room on Locust street, Phil
sdelphia, the other day, as he proceeded tc
demonstrate to company Of gentlemen how
electricity could be made to prevent serious
fires in theatres. In one corner Of the room
shouted fire rs tiny fame was seen to
shoot upward from the floor Of the structure
In few moments gong in another part OF
the room sounded an alarm; the drop curtain
slowly descended a fan went into motion and
sucked the smoke through trap doors in the
rO"f; the gas was lighted; the stage was
flooded with water. and the exit doors were
thr0 IN wide open. Mr.. Shaffer stated that
he was the coinventor with DIR. Samuel NJ
Plush, the electrician, and that what the in
vention was intended for principally was to
prevent asphxia in the event of theatre fires,
which was really more prolific Of fatality
than all other causes in fires of this kind.
In the first place he explained that the in J.
ventiOn was electrical The circuit is main
tanned through thermostads. which are dis
tributed at distances of from 10 to Is feet
apart on the stage. TIL. small fire which
broke out on the stage while the inve ntor was
talking to the company came in contact with
one of the thermostads on the left side. at
l25 degrees Of heat. The circuit was broken
and the machinery at once put in motion. In
the flies on that side of the stage was a train
of wheels acting on the same principle as a
clock movement. The breaking of the cir
cult released the hold Of an amature on the
cogs of one of these wheels. and this in turn
released the curtain, which. being heavily
weighted, descended slowly; the descent put
in steady motion other wheels. which set fan
in revolution; the two movements being de-
pendent one upon the other, the descent of the
curtain 10 retarded by the movement of the far.
The curtain being made Of asbestos is inds :
structible by fire, and when down it shuts out
draughts to the stage from the auditorium.
The fans suck the smoke from the auditorium
through the prosceniuT arch into large pipes,
and it then finds its way to the open air
through trap doors in the roof, which are
thrown open by the broken electrical current.
The detached circuit also throws open the
exit doors, and lights up set of jets in the
exits, which are supplied by an extra gas
meter in the event of the regular lights hav-
ing been put out by an explosion Of the reg
ular meter on the stage. The falling of a
weight in a trough sets an alarm in motion a,
the nearest engine house, and one of the
wheels in the clock movement turns a water
cock and the stage is flooded with water. In
order that the system may he available in
whatever part of the stage the fire may oc.
cur. strings or ropes are stretched through
the flies, and the burning of one of these will
disarrange the adjustment and set the ma
chinery in motion. The movemen. is entirely
automatic, and when once adjusted it cannel
be disarranged except by the breaking of the
circuit or the burning Of one of the strings
stretched through the flies.