, 1888-10-31
SELF REIMBURSEMENT OF FIREsI

Automatic Sprinklers-A Tinsmlth's Ex-
periencc-Seyeral Curious Instances.
The apparatus which is most promptly
used in cases of burning buildings, and
also with the least efficacy, is the human
voice, Notwithstanding the historical fact
that blowing has accomplished nothing
since the days of Jericho. Yet there are
numerous instances where fires ave been
extinguished through causes connected
with their origin, and 20 completely out-
-sfde-e- precedence that they serve as in
stances of the happening of the unex-
pccted. In this connection wd do not
refer to the fires eXtinguished by auto
matte s]prinklers, where the result is
clearly what has been expected to happen.
Notwithstanding the fact that when a
fire occurs on property protected by aHto-
matte spriuklers, those present avail them
selves of all the means of grace in the
shape of the usual fire apparatus at hand,
yet there are numerous instances where
fires nave occurred at night or in rooms
vacant at the time, where the fact has
been made known only by water per-
colating through the floors, or the sound
of the automatic fire alarms, or from the
sprinklers which have already come into
active operation, the fire having called
down means for self extinguishment.
But the instances which we have in
mind are those where the means of eX-
tinguishment were not expected, as in
the well known cathedral building in
Boston, where a fire, caused by sponta-
neous ignition in a storeroom, melted the
lead water pipes, and the water issuing
from them extinguished the fire. A sim
liar instance happened in n building in
horlyot efraat philo1a1nhia Soma ghaot
metal pals were returned by the pur-
chaser to a tinsmith in Chester, Pa, with
the complaint hat they were not tightly
made. The manufacturer resoldered
them, and in order to test his work filled
them with water and hung them upon
hooks at the ceiling. While the men
were at dinner during the moo hour, a
fire heated the upper part of the room
30 that the balls connecting the handles
to the pals became unsoldered, and the
dropping Of the pals of water dashed out
the fire.
Some waste left upon the top of a
steam pump at Watertown, Mass,
blazed from spontaneous ignition, and
this in turn set fire to the tagging around
the steam cylinders and the feed pipe,
where it melted the soldered attach
ments of a continuous automatic oiler.
The steam from the feed pipe was dis
charged through the small tubes formerly
leading to the oiler, and eXtinguished the
fire. There ave been numerous in
stances of fires which nave ceased for
want Of air. During the war of the re-
bellion attempts were made to burn New
York city, as the result of a conspiracy.
fires being started in several hotels; but
in order to prevent premature detection
the culprits closed up therooms so tightly
that the fires were smothered. AT a
hotel in Woonsocket the steam pipes
caused a fire in the spaces in the walls of
the building, which was extinguished for
want of air to support combustion. The
time of the fire is unknown, as its occur
renee was not discovered until some time
afterward, when in the progress of some
alteration to the building the facts were
made apparent.
1t may be interesting to know hat
in this instance the steam heating service
was ordinarily used at a pressure Of about
four pounds to the square inch during the
coolest weather, and that the safety valve
was SO arranged that the pressure could
never exceed ten pounds. A spark of
static electricity proceeding from a belt
ignited leaking gas, and this in turn set
cottOnpn fire, which operated the automa-
tic s~prinklers and extinguished it. An at
tempt was made to destroy a block of
new dwellings at Brookline, Mass, before
the buildings We're entirely finished.
Some people, alarmed by the smoke
which was seen in each division of the
structure, rushed in to save doors and
portable fixtures, when it was noticed
that the fires did not appear to gain any
Roadway. and when the smoke had en-
tirely died away, it was found that the
incendiary had placed lighted candles in
sawdust and other i~nfiammable material
in drawers and closets, but with such
limited supplies of air that combustion
could not be supported and the fires be-
came smothered. Engineering.
The DenunciatIon of Noise.