The Dickinson press., 1895-06-01
a slight internal explosion, as In
miners lamps, incapable of transmit
ting fire outside.
Telephone. and Fire Alarm.

Telephones and Fire Alarms.
The efficiency of many Of the Lon
don fire brigades has been greatly pro;
noted by the adoption of a new sys-
TEN Of loud speaking telephones and
fire alarm posts and apparatus. The
principal apparatus consists of a call
point, or post, for the street and an
indicator and reply key for the fire
station. Instead of giving the alarm
by means Of the ordinary electric bell
an electric "hooter" is used. The
alarm is given ly simply breaking the
glass or opening the door of the post,
but cannot be given either by the
earthing Of the wire flor testing or
otherwise), or by contact with other
wires. This arrangement costs much
less than the ordinary method, and
minimizes the possibility of false calls.
The effectiveness of the system Is
much increased by a new method of
placing fire stations in permanent tel
ephOnic communication with the men
In charge of fire escapes at fixed street
points on the single wire. The call to
the man In charge of the escape is
loud enough to wake him, II asleep,
and it can be heard O considerable dis
lance from his box. A curious illus
tration of the diverse of this earnest
striving to secure the best results in
combining the telephone and fire sta
ton practice is found in a letter from
an Italian correspondent. In Italy they
they despise the telephone and ana
thematize the fire engine. The tele-
phone has Eve paid its way, and the
companies give the scantiest possible
service, and pray that the government
will buy their lines. They are too poor
to even put up the wires which newt
ably come down upon the first fall of
snow. So the telephone is discredited,
and the people are out of patience
with the electrical innovation which
promises them so much and gives
them so little. The stone build houses
of Italy seldom catch fire; but even If
the fire alarm telephone service were
perfect, h engines are seldom ready,
n they generally reach the spot
when the fire. is out. The inhabitants
make no secret of the fact that they
would rather have the fire than the
fireman, as, however light the fire NAV
be, by the time that official has COM
pleted his operations the hose has ef-
fected much more damage than might
be expected from the fire.
A Ready Gauge of Bicycle speed.
The recent rapid growth of the list
of fatal accidents by bicycling has
convinced the public that the local
enactments regulating the speed of
wheeling within city lines need to be
strictly enforced. To be compelled
to keep within q speed of eight miles
IN hour on q stretch of perfect as
phalt Is not q littl. irksome to the ex-
pert Whcclnan, and riders are often
tempted to exceed that speed and run
the risk Of detection on the strength
Of the difficulty tie police will have in
determining how fast q machine is
travelling. This difficulty, however,
Is only fancied. 1t is the easiest thing
in the world to measure the speed ac-
curately enough to swcal to. it, With
ont reading the :yclometer or know
ing the distance ridden. All that is
necessary is for the observer to note
carefully the number Of revolutions
the pedals make in n given period of
time, say five seconds, or a single Sec
ond, and then, il the gear is known,
the speed is known, also. To deter
mine if the rider is going faster than
the eight miles an hour allowed by
law. the gear of the bicycle need not
be known; the counting of the num-
Der Of revolutions will suffice. A very
little figuring will then show whether
the rider is breaking the law or not.
An expert rider gives the following as
safe figures to go by: Whenever the
rider revolves his pedals once in a
second, you may be sure that he is
riding faster than eight miles an hour.
If his bicycle is gcared to 10, one revo-
luton a second will carry him 1OA
miles an hour; ii at G3, his speed is
half n mile faster; at IS it is 12H
miles; at q it is almost IL miles, and
at rs it is a little more than 1874. One
revolution a second is, therefore, fast
er than the riders, of a 60 gear can
legally travel. 1t will be advisable
for, riders to test these figures for
themselves, and then they will no
longer he under a false impression as
to whether spectators know or do moi
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