Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1886-10-16
A CITY'S ACTIVE FIREMEN.
CELEBRITY WITH WHICH FIRES
ARE HANDLED IN NEW YORK.
Firemen Ready a Few Seconds After
the Alarm Gong Strikes-Ma-
chinery and Methods.

city firemen In starting for fires when
the alarm gong strikes in the engine
houses, writer says in the New York
Sun: When Patrol 3 went 10 the fire on
Friday night, Lieut.. Hewson and Patrol
Sergeant Smith jumped into their clothes
SO fast that the Sun reporter couldn't
time them.
s.Twelve seconds is the average time
it takes a fireman to dress when an alarm
starts him out of bed at night, !" Sergeant
Smith said, 'sand I'll bet 800 to 81 as
many times as anybody wants to take the
odds that we have men here who can
dress in six seconds every time they
want to.
The essential thing in putting fires out
in hurry is to get the machinery there.
as well as the men who handle it. And
it is in this essential thing about the
science of handling fires that our Fire
Commissioners think the department
comes as near perfection as it is possible
for human ingenuity to reach. Improve
ment after improvement has been made,
until now the loss of time in hitching has
been reduced apparently absolutely to the
minimum. There are only two things
about it that aren't automatic. These
are the movement of the horses from the
stalls to their places beside the engine
shaft, and the swapping of the collars
over their necks by the watchman. And
both these are done in such perfect
way that they are as good as automatic
anyhow. Automatic machinery does all
of the rest of the work quick enough
to make your head swim if you try
to time the details. The instant the
operator at Fire Headquarters opens
the circuit to send an alarm the
current drops a metal ball right
beside the gong. The ball strikes,
presses down bar of brass, and pulls
steel wire that automatically unhitches
the springs at the sides of the stalls that
hold the halters of the horses. The ham
mer of the gong, simultaneously with
the first alarm stroke, stops the little
''record" clock that is perched on shelf
beside the gong, and thus automatically
keeps record of the time consumed in
going to fire, putting it out, and re-
turning. By comparing the little clock
with the big clock on the wall that is
kept going all the time, the Captain of
the company can tell at glance just
how long it took to do any given piece
of work The harness is alwavs ans
pended over the SHAFT by an automatic
iron changer" It is held in position
there by strings. When the driver grabs
the reins the tension loosens the springs,
the harnesses drop down upon the horses,
the watchman snaps the collars around
the horses necks, and automatic weights
attached to little pulleys in the ceiling
carry the framework of the hanger" up
over head out of the way. Improve
ments are steadily being made in the
collars that the fire horses wear. They
are made in two sections, fastened with
a hinge at the top, and snap together
with an automatic steel spring lock. Col
lars made of cast iron have recently been
introduced in some of the engine houses.
They are sixteen pounds lighter than the
leather collars, which weigh thirty-six
pounds each, and they are considered
more durable and serviceable. These
collars can be fastened around the horses
necks in fraction of second.
No time whatever is now lost in find
ing out where fire alarm is originally
sent from. Placards upon which are the
number of every regular alarm box in
town, with its location, are hung up ON
the walls of the engine house on the
ground floor, behind the Captains desk.
The Captain glances at the placard while
the men are getting ready, and shouts
the location of the fire to the driver the
moment the last stroke of the alarm is
struck. Many big buildings in town have
within the last few months introduced a
new automatic special alarm, which saves
the time lost in transmitting an alarm
from a regular street box. 1t consists of
an electrical contrivance hitched on to
the ceiling of each floor of the building
and attached to very sensitive wire. A
certain dangerous degree of heat in any
particular floor no matter how generated,
will cause the wire to expand and start
current that drops disk in the engine
houses of the district in which the build
ing is located, and on this disk is in
scribed not only the exact location of the
building, but also the exact part of the
building in which the fire, or the heat
that is great enough to produce fire if not
checked has broken out.
There is perennial competition among
the various fire companies in the de-
partment for the honor of being known
as the company that gets there first when
ever an alarm comes in. Engine 80,
which belongs in Great Jones street, has
been the cock of the walk for a long
time. She won the prize at the horse
show for swiltness in getting ready. The
men can get her in shape to start in less
than two seconds in an exhibition test.
and the hum drum everyday work of
hitching up and getting away is never
more than five or six seconds
Great as is the efficiency of the appar-
atus for extinguishing fires, still further
improvements are contemplated. Com
missioner Purroy is trying to have an
electric lantern perfected that will en-
able the firemen to see into buildings
through thick smoke, and that won't 90
out and leave them in darkness, as the
present oil lanterns do. The Commits
sioner's brother wants to rig up double
stage arrangement in every engine house,
that will enable two engines to be kept
in each house and thus double the ca
pacity of the depaEment to fight fires.
When one engine has gone to fire, the
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