Morning journal and courier., 1886-09-16
wants to take the odds that we have men
 here who can dress in six seconds every time

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 8 hurry is to get the machinery there as we'll 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. Im- provement 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 snapping 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 hammer of the gong simultaneously with the first alarm stroke stops the little s'record" clock that is perched on shelf beside the gong, and thus auto matically keeps record of the time con- sumed in going to fire, putting it out and returning; By comparing the little clock with the big clock on the wall that is kept going all the time, the captain of the compa- ny can tell at glance just how long it took to do any given piece of work. The harness is always suspended over the shaft by an au- tomatic iron ''hanger." It is held in posi- tion there by springs. When the driver grabs the reins the tension loosens the arfv %ha horses, the watchman snaps the collars around the horses necks, and automatic weights attached to little pulleys in the ceil- ing carry the framework of the F'hanger" up over head out of the way. Improvements are steadily being made in the collars that the fire horses wear. They are made in two sections, fastened with hinge at the top and snap together at the bottom with an auto matic steel spring lock. Collars made of cast iron have recently been introduced in some of the engine houses. They are six teen pounds lighter than the leather collars, which weigh thirty-six pounds each, and they are considered more durable and ser- yiceable These collars can be fastened around the horses necks in fraction of second.
 r. No time whatever is now lost in finding out where fire alarm is originally sent from. Placards upon which are the num- Der of every regular alarm box in town,
 
 of the engine house 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 new automatic special alarm, which saves the time lost in trans hitting an alarm from regular street box. It 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, matter how genera ted, will cause the wire to expand and start a current that drops a disk in the engine houses of the district in which the building is located, and on this disk is inscribed 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 a perennial competition among the various fire companies in the department for the honor of being known the compa- ny that gets there first whenever an alarm comes in. Engine 33, which belongs in Great Jones street, has been the cock of the walk for long time. She won the prize at the horse show for swiftness 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 apparatus for extinguishing fires, still further improve ments contemplated. Commissioner Purroy is trying to have an electric lantern perfected that will enable the fremen to see into buildings through thick smoke, and that won't go out and leave them in dark ness as the present oil lanterns do. The commissioners brother wants to rig up a double stage arrangement in every engine house that will enable two engines to be kept in each house, and thus double the capacity of the department to fight fires. When one engine has gone to a fire the other, by the proposed plan, can be hoisted out of the eel lar and be kept in instant readiness to an swer call for endorsements. Proud Go- thamites think that the department beats all creation now as it is. If it should get the electric lantern and the double stage they are certain that it would be far ahead of any thing ever dreamt of anywhere by anybody in creation.