Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-01-23
FOR THE FIREMEN.
Change in Fire Alarm Telegraph
System Needed Here.
The Committee on Fire Department Pays
Visit to Providence--other De-
partment Notes.

TEN was forcibly evidenced to the dele
cation from this city which visited
Providence last week. The delegation
was made up of the committee on fire
department from the city council, Chief
E. L. Vaughn and Superintendent of
Fire Alarm Telegraph w. H. Mcclure
The visit was made for the purpose of
inspecting the fire alarm telegraph sys-
tenn of that city, and it was not until
the committee finished its inspection
that the total inadequatene.ss of Wor-
cester's system was apparent. 1t is true
that we have had practically no trouble
with the system in this city, but the
fact is due more to luck and the watch
fulness of an efficient superintendent
than 1t is to the system itself Worces-
ter is a large city. constantly growing,
and what sufficed for a system a score
of years ago IS hardly adequate to the
needs of the present day. The new fire
department headquarters will be fin
ished within the year, and as the CEN
trail station of the telegraph system will
have to be moved into the building,
there is no better time to attend to the
wants of the city In this respect than
now, as it will be better to start in with
an entirely new and better system than
to incorporate the old and in a few
years have to make a complete revi-
sion.
In this city there are 10 circuits. I'm
der the present system, if an alarm
comes in from a box, it controls not
alone its own circuit, but the other nine
as well, so that while an alarm is ring
ing from any box, it would be impossi-
Bile to send in an alarm from any other
until the first alarm had finished In
case an alarm should be pulled from a
second box before the first had finished
ringing, it would get no further than the
central station and would not be sent
out on the bells at all. Under the
present system. "a seconds elapse be-
tween each stroke of the bells, and Z
seconds between each number. Twenty
seconds elapse, then, before the alarm
is repeated. AS each alarm is repeated
three times, it can very easily be seen
what length of time is taken up in
ringing in an alarm from one of the
three numbered boxes, 691 for instance.
From the time the instrument is re-
leased in sounding an alarm from this
box, minutes and 16 seconds will elapse
before the alarm is finally sounded This
may not seem great while to the lay
man, but to the firemen this lapse of
time is great as considerable damage
can be done by a fire in it's inception
start in a dangerous locality and an
alarm had just been sent in from 691 a
person would be obliged to wait more
than four minutes before an alarm for
the dangerous blaze could be turned
in.
Occasions have been few when two
fires started at the same time in this
city, but the city is growing in popula-
ton and buildings, and such case is
liable to happen any day. Because of
this, a change of system was suggested
and it is safe to say after the inspection
last week the members of the commit
tee on fire department, at least, would
like to see the present system changed.
While the larger part of Worcester's de-
partment is composed of call men, the
city will be obliged to have alarms
sounded from bells located about the
city, but as soon as the department here
becomes permanent. this sounding Of
alarms from church bells will be done
away with.
Under the system in vogue in Provi-
dence, an alarm of fire is sent to the
central station, which is constantly in
charge of an operator. AS soon as the
box shows up on the circuit the opera
tor transfers the alarm to the Taper
circuit, sending out the alarm at the
rate of a blow a second. This is sent
only to the department houses, and
when the operator has finished, he then
sends out the alarm on the church bells
at the same rate as in this city. This
system allows as many alarms as there
are circuits. Each alarm is registered
upon telegraph system, and in case two
come In at the same time, the operator
sends out the alarm from the more dam
gerous locality first.
The sending OF alarms by the operator
is from a switchboard which is an elab-
crate affair, and provides FOR any emer-
gency. 1t is provided with manual
which will show any COM
bination of figures UP to 999. 1t can be
worked either fast or slow, according
to the desire of the operator. 1t is pos
sible for the operator to signal any de-
partment house without the fact being
known outside. Each fire alarm box is
provided with a tester, which, by a code
of signals, can be worked sc that the
operator will know there is no alarm.
By this means, it is possible for an at
tache of the telegraph department to
converse with the operator
The system is governed by a storage
battery plant by which there is a saw
ing of 60 per cent in cost of operation
over the one in this city. Besides this,
the current given is steadier and there
ized AS in this city, there are $40 cells.
but in Providence only one-half are
working at a time, while here the whole
number is employed. In Providence,
ne?half .he cells are in process of
charging while the other half controls
the system. There are many more cir
suits than in this city.
Here owning to the small number of
circuits, TO- there is great danger, ow-
ing to The length of many of them.
Some are between eight and nine miles
in length and heavily loaded If one
circuit is put down, the other nine are
down until the break is repaired. Wor-
cester has been very lucky in this res
pect as the length of time when the
system has been crippled has been
short Out of 1400 alarms sent in but
three have missed. Providence never
had two alarms at the same time until
after the new system was put in With
in "a hours after it was established two
alarms of fire were sent in at the same
time. 1t was a coincidence that the
alarms were pulled at exactly the same
instant and there was only a variation
of a hair on the tape as the operator
received both alarms and then dis
patched the alarms to the houses.
The opportunity for change in Wor-
cester's system is now ripe and the need
for change urgent.
The board of engineers of the fire de-
partment held a meeting during the
week and made a thorough revision of
the running card, The details ia
many of the boxes We're revised, some
boxes being added to companies and
some taken from others. The greatest
change was in the card of Ladder |,
from which "a boxes were taken and
| 1 IL =