Evening star., 1895-10-24
TRANSMITTING FIRE ALARMS
A New Machine to Repeat and Send Out
the Numbers.
How the Calls Are Sounded ON the
Gongs-An Integesting Piece
of Mechanism.

superintendent Miles of the District fire
alarm and telephone service a few days
ago mad put in the service one Of the latest
improved manual repeaters, said to be
the only one of its kind in service any,
where. This new instrument, 1t is claim
ed. Is the best Of its kind, and Superin-
tendent Miles says that in sounding fire
alarms 1t is great Improvement over the
dial repeater in the saving of time as well
as in it's accuracy
Speaking of this important service Su-
perintendent Miles told a Star reporter
that the Gamewell system of fire tele-
graph, which was erected in this city in
the year 1864. served q good purpose for
over ten years. and was superseded in
! 1s0 oy the then greatly improved sys-
tenn OF the same company, with seventy
I'VE improved signal boxes located in
Washington and Georgetown. The GEN.
tral office was equipped with an automatic
repeater, with capacity for seven signals
and four alarm circuits, and a single dial
manual repeater, with provisions for four
alarm circuits This outfit was the very
best then known and for twenty years has
worked with almost perfect success.
Extending the System.
But with the rapid growth of the city
new boxes had to be added year after
year, so that at the beginning of the pres
ent year some ninety additional boxes
have been crowded into seven signal cir
cuits-an average of more than double the
number of boxes desirable on a circuit.
Meantime the necessity for fire alarm pro-
lection for the valuable property ip the
suburbs became SO urgent as to induce
Congress to make at its last session a
small appropriation for extending the fire
alarm telegraph; extension, however, car
ried with it the necessity for additional
troduced without switchboard and repeat
ers in the central office and provision for
large number of circuits, so that two
new repeaterS and new switchboard had
to be purchased Early in the current year
the Commissioners contracted for new
switchboard and an automatic repeater,
each having capacity for twelve signal
and six alarm circuits, and three-dlai
manual repeater with capacity for SIX
alarm circuits and for twenty-seven fire
alarm boxes, which have been put up re.
Gently in the suburbs. This new manual
repeater or rather transmitter, is the first
of it's kind.
The New Repeater.
Briefly described it represents to the eye
a somewhat massive front behind bevel-
edged plate glass case. standing about
forty inches long and nearly forty inches
high, having three distinct dials, each
within an oblong opening in its upper front.
ais can be seen when set to transmit an
alarm, and each dial capable Of transmit
ting any one signal from one to nine. The
dial on the extreme right the unit diaD Is
arranged to strike from one to twelve
consecutive blows as may be desired, and
so is capable of doing its own part in
transmitting alarms, and is also used Tor
special signal purposes, such as special,
second and general alarms, and also for
striking the hour of IL at midday. The
simple electrical mechanism of these dials
SO act and react on each other that 1t Is
only necessary TO set them to represent the
number of the box received at central office
and then set the transmitter in motion by
turning the indicator to strike the number
of rounds that should be sounded on the
gongs and bells of the fire department.,
which may be once, twice. thrice or four
times generally the lattef).
How an Alarm is Sent Out.
Suppose an alarm comes to the central
office from box 63S. The right, or unit
dial, is set at the figure 8, seen through the
small opening at the upper edge of the
dial: the middle dial Is set at the figure B..
and the dial at the left is set at the figure
8; the index pointer, or Indicator. as We
have called it, is turned. or set at the fig
ure 4, as 1t generally is. and acts as a
starting lever. and the left dial strikes six
of the alarm circuits; the tranSmitter
max the proper pause of about five sec
onds, and then the second or middle dial
sounds three in the same manner: another
pause Of the same length as the first and