Evening star., 1899-03-11
Districts New Equipment for Sound
ing Fire Alarms.
no. IA ENGINE Observation-Disclosures
Avoids Call to Men Whose Ser
vices Are Not Needed.
FEATURES OF THE PLAN

protection of life and property, $1,000 Of
which has been expended in building an
additional story on No. IA engine house,
Sth street between D and E, where the new
fire alarm headquarters will be located, the
balance being used for the purchase and
installation Of new apparatus and appli-
ances therein.
One Of the most important features Of
the new system will be the means afforded
the operator at headquarters to send out
to the various houses of the fire depart
urent an alarm without calling out any
more Of the companies than those required
to respond to the particular box from
which the alarm has been received. Under
the old method, each alarm sent out
through the system was sounded on the
large gong in each engine house, and the
Eorses automatically released upon the
first stroke of the gong. This resulted in
each company hitching up and being in
readiness to respond to an alarm often be-
fore 1t was known from which box 1T
came. That this plan was a bad one can
be readily seen, for to be aroused from
sleep or rest for fire, often remote from
their district and which required not more
than one company to extingmsh It,, tells
upon the nerves and health Of the men.
The new method overcomes this difficulty,
or at least minimizes 1t. by calling up for
each fire only those companies required to
respond to 1t on the first alarm. This is
accomplished both through the apparatus
at headquarters and that newly installed
in the engine and truck houses
Tap BcIl and Register.
Under the new system, a man will be on
watch at desk in each house of the fire
department, having in front of him a small
tap bell and a punching register, besides
a telegraph key, a sounder and relay for
testing and signaling purposes. All this
- ic
placed a separate circuit from that
which includes the large gong. An alarm
is first sent out from headquarters over
the joker circuit, the number being sound
ed on the small tap bell in front of the
watohman and simultaneously punched on
tho tape in the register AS soon as he
can adjust the instrument designed for
that purpose, the operator at headquarters
throws in the alarm on the large gong
circuits. .s-
Should the watchman at the engine house
find upon counting the strokes on his small
tap bell that his company is not required
to respond to that number he presses a
button on the desk in front of him, which
cuts out the large house gong, preventing it
from ringing, and also preventing the horses
from being released from their stalls and
the men from being aroused. If, however,
the beEi is one to which the company
responds, the house gong sounds, the trips
on the stall doors are released and the Gem
pany goes out to the fire. ...
Another instrument newly installed in the
engine houses to assist in indicating the
box struck is the visual indicator, located
at a CONSPICUOUS place on the wall in the
front part OF the apparatus ROOM This is 4
placed in circuit with the house gong, and
automatically registers the box number in
large figures on a; dial face, easily hread
from any part of the room. A telephone
connected directly with fire alarm head
quarters is also placed upon the watch
mans desk, thus providing him with five
different means of receiving an alarm Of
fire. Should he fall for some reason to
count the box number his tap bell, he
can refer to the tape on the register. Should
that, too, network, he ean7wait for the
second or third round of the alarm to be
struck on the house gong and carr then
compare the number he counts on that with
the one shown by the visual indicator
ters over the telephone and receive the
number that way. '- I'8
An Interesting Study.
So much for the engine houses. Head
quarters furnishes a still more interesting
study. Here 1t Is that all the various cir
cults are centralized and all alarms received
and transmitted. The new switches, RELAYS
keys and transfer devices are mounted on
large slabs of slate set in beautifully carved
mahogany frames, arranged on three sides
or the operating room. The register and
transmitting Instruments are covered with
handsome beveled glass cases set on large
mahogany pedestals and placed in the CEN
provided for testing the circuits for con-
Meeting them up in different ways in case
OF trouble, and for indicating on which
circuit alarms are received On the main
are arranged drops similar in principle to
those In annunciators in hotels one for
each box circuit. An alarm being received
from a box on any circuit, the drop falls
showing the number, and an electric lamp
just above 1t is automatically lighted call
ing attention to that portion of the board
The operator then throws a lever iust he
low this number, which sends in the alarm
over the joker circuit mentioned above. He
then adjusts the manual repeater, to which
the large gong circuits ar cepnected n
send out the number Of the box
Another advance has been made by sub-
stituting storage batteries for the oId-styIe
gravity batteries in connection with the sys-
TEN. There are two sets of the formar 3or
the capacity of the present equipment. CON
sisting of $50 cells each, one to be used on
the lines while the other is being rechareed
me arrangement and adjustment of the
cells are controlled by numerous switches
and resistances mounted, like the other ap-
paratus, on slate slabs set in mahogany
frames. The storage batteries are mounted
renewal Of acid and changing of connec-
tions and set up in room Immediately ad
Joining the sWitchboards.
Automatic Circuit Tester.
A very unique and serviceable piece of
apparatus is the automatic circuit tester.
by means of which all the circuits are reg
ularly tested every twenty minutes for
grounds. breaks and leaks. A large clock
is connected with this testing instrument to
insure It's regular operation at the stated
interval. 1t can also be used independently
Of the clock at any time, should the operaf-
or desire to ascertain the condition of his
circuits.
A new telephone switchboard of the latest
and most approved type has also been in
stalled. to which each engine and truck
house. the chief of the fire department. his
two assistants, the police department, the
District building, the water department and
the exchange of the telephone company are
directly connected.
In a corner Of the' battery room another
large slate slab is mounted carrying suf-
ficient terminals for 100 metallic circuits
This board is the connecting link between
the outside and the inside wires and serves
as a protector for the switchboards. It is
equipped with two fuses in each circuit SO
adjusted as to nelts and open the circuits
upon the passage of an excessively heavy
current dangerous to the delicate switch
board instruments. From the back Of the
board the wires enter two lead-coyered ca
bles and are carried under ground through
the alley in the rear of the engine house In
a pole on street, where they are joined