, 1884-08-23
THROWING LIFE LINES.
Experiments % six Inventors Under
the Palisades.
A Line semi Up ass Feer-Itockets
Go Much Higher A Bot
tie of Air Beats the
Record.


vited all those In the employ Of the depart
nent to exercise their ingenuity In the in.
vention and construction Of an apparatus for
throwing life lines over roofs, or into win
dows- Thirty days were given in which to
complete models, and yss esday was set down
for the experiments. Pretty soon after din.
psr time about 100 men had got aboard the
FIRE steamboat Zophar Mills. Nearly all Of
them had on the uniform Of the department,
and al were patiently waiting for the
FIRE commissi toner's 70 finish their dn-
ner and come too. When the commits
sioners did ccme, the boat started
and a huge flag that was run up tapped and
snapped gayly as the boat ploughed through
tie water. Besides the fire commissioner
there were Chief Shay ard Assistant Chief
Bonner, Chief Purroy Of tie Second battal-
ion, Capz. Sheridan, Hayes, and Castle, and
Excise Cmnisioner John j. Morris, and
many others. They were going to the Pal
Sades. and all wero having a good time ex-
ccpt seven men. who sat alone eyeing one
another with di,trust, and keeping as lar
apart rs possible. These seven men wore in
ventors- Each had a machine, which ho
tenderlY caressed while casting glances OF
scorn upon the machines eeressed by the
Others. Their eyes burned with enthu iasm
while they drew strange figures IN pieces of
paper.
When the boet pulled up to an old ruined
wharf beneath tho Palisades, the seven In
ventors pr ,r,d to shoot seven lines over
the top OF the rocks that doomed up 400 fest
above their heads. The commissioner sat
on a log In the shade OF a shnnty. ASthey
sat, a fash Of blue, a flash OF red, and a fash
OF white appeared on the edge of the rocks
above. Everybody said, ''Girlsi" and six
hremen started up a steep pa b to warn the
girls to get out OF the way, while commits
sioner Purrr y took a field glass and spens Eve
minutes II trying to gauge the height OF tie
blun. When asked how high it was, he said,
'Deuced pretty" When the girls had been
showed away, the oldest inventor advanced
from the shade Of the shanty. He had gray
whiskers, and carried a short, heavy gun,
with a seven-eighths Of an inch bore A
chain, with a bullet at enc end, WINS dropped
into a barrel A long thin cord was fastened
u the other end Of the chain. The inventor
walked up q Q shore n aimed over the tree
tops for the top OF the rocks. Everybody
gave him plenty OF room, and they who went
away the furthest, and seemed the most sus
picious, were the other six inventors. Com
missioner Van Colt said:
"Let her co.
The old man pulled the trigger, n the
chain and cord went railing up and up.
while the gun kicked the inventors hat off.
The line went o hi, h that frt m the ground
1t seemed to have gone clear above the Pail
sades; but it didn't 1t fel amtng the trees.
1t carried up 2Ss ieet of cord, and every
body said it was splt n1id. 1t woull send a
line over any house in New York, and plenty
to spare.
"My name is JOIN Trevers,r said the in
ventor. Pm fr IN Albany. I've been work
I'm = n chic hr..w z.rA- .t--. 4 - -
gested in The Sunday Sun, just aft II the old
World building was burned. I've tried every
way. This plan is on the principle OF u fish
line. When you've got a heavy s,uker you
can send the line where you Iii .
Then Mr.. Trevers gave room 10 sdr. Pat
rick Ryan, engineer Of engine %. Mr.. Ryan
shot up his cord out OF a Little trlss cannon
about a foot long. Ee had to lie at full
length on the ground 10 sight it He said
that didn't matter, because no dudes went to
a lire. He sent his string up higher than
that of Mr.. Trevers had gone and it seemed
as though 1t would never stop. It drupped
TO tie earth after It had appeared 10 b, twice
as h 'gh as the bluff. 1t carried up $50 feet
Of string. After Mr.. Ryan came three
other firemen, who slot up rockets. They all
went very high, and they were the most en-
tanning. They went higher than the bluff,
ouN N1it ~ aAnheu 5ddlkuNy anu tneN ulonI
and on H.
Tho Inst man to make an experiment was
very young. He Is o. c. Rlgl, a machinist
in the repair shop Of the FIRE department. His
apparatus looked like a very large metal bot
tie with an extraordinary long neck. He
explained that the lig part Of the bottle CON
tanned air under a pressure Of ITO pounds to
the square inch. He said he could send up a
lire as high as they wanted it. and he did.
lie ent it up over 600 feet, and beat the rec
ord. Then he rel lack on beard the boat
n pumped in mole air, while the other in
eentors began over again. Pretty soon they
were all going at ONE. 1hs air was full OF
rockets and bullets, and the woods were full
of inventors gettir & back their missiles, while
hero and there could be seen an inventor up a
tree trying 10 loosen his line. The seventh
invent r lad only a model TO show. 1t was a
mortar designed to shoot a hall up ever the
cornice OF a house. The ball was to be heavy
enough TO carr a flexible steel ln6dsr behind
II, instead Of a line, and to crush its way
through a roof, and thus give a bold to the
ladder. This invention was patented by
Gs,rse W. Watts, CT Brooklyn