The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1900-07-13
PROTECTION OF PIERS.
New York and Other Insurance
Men Still Discussing It.
HOW BIG FIRES ARE STUDIED.
Story OF an Investigation of Fires on
cotton Carrying Ships - Strange
Discovery Made In Steamships


Cotton Carrying Ships - Strange
Discovery Made In a Steamships
Hold.
NEW YORK, July 10.-[Special. 1.-The
public's horror at the Hoboken fire has
begun to subside, but steamship men
and insurance men are still bordering
over it most seriously.
One OF the most important problems
which the steamship men are now
studying is the fire protection of piers
1t is stated that the North German
Lloyd Steamship company had taken
every possible precaution. There were
fire plugs with hose coiled about them
every 20 or 80 feet, and, while it might
have been we'll to have them at small
er intervals, it is fact, as testified to
by all who saw the conflagratiOn, that
no number of plugs and no amount of
hose could have saved the piers after
the names were once started.
1t takes time to uncoil hose, and the
cotton and alcohol the presence of
which contributed so fatally to the
disaster, burned so rapidly that moth
ing could be done
Steam the Finest Extinguisher.
1t occurs to the layman naturally
that the best precaution against such
rapid pier fires would be the subStitu-
ton Of stone, concrete and iron for
wood in pier construction. But experts
say that neither stone nor concrete nor
iron could have saved the steamers in
this instance. They did not catch fire
from the burning piers, but from the
burning cotton and alcohol, and these
materials would have burned as fierce
~ on stone piers as on wooden ones.
Il know of only one way by which
the Hoboken fire could have been con-
trolled," said a professional inspector
yesterday after having investigated
the situation thoroughly. eff a series
of steam pipes two inches in diameter
and not more than three inches apart,
perforated at short intervals, had been
run under each pier, and if another
series of similar size and arrangement
had been run overhead and steam had
been turned on both instantly the fire
would soon have been smothered.
There are no piers furnished with
this sort Of protection in America, but
there are several so fitted up on the
other side of the water. They are
much ahead of us over there in pier
building and pier protection, and /
have been trying for years to have the
steam system of pier protection intro
duced here. For such a set Of piers as
those of the North German Lloyd at
Hoboken the steam pipes should con-
meet swith@a boiler of at least 100 horse
power. 1t should be located on the
land, and steam should be kept up at
all times. On the breaking out Of a
fire all the man in charge would have
to do would be to open the throttle
valve and let the steam go. Steam
extinguishes flames much more rapidly
than water, and there could have been
no great loss of property had this sys-
tenn been installed and in working or
der at Hoboken the other day. There
is one drawback to be considered how
ever-any human beings caught on the
piers when the steam was turned on
would have been parbOiled."
Facts About Fires.
There are many unsupported occupa-
tons in the United States, and one Of
these is followed by the man whose
words are quoted above.
It is his business to visit the scenes
of every great fire in number OF
large cities as soon as possible after it
has occurred He gives especial at
tention to fires on ShipbOard, and in
the course of II or IA years he has
learned a lot of interesting things
about fires. Some years ago after
series of very annoying fires on ships
laden with cotton he was directed to
drop everything else and find out the
cause of the fires.
He worked six or seven weeks with
out learning anything and was begin
ming to feel discouraged. One day he
was crawling around over the bales
of cotton which formed the cargo of
steamer plying between Savannah
and New York. His attention was at
tracted to the fact that certain disks
glass SET III Tic UcCh III OlOCA W t1O-
NIT light to the hold were convex, and
he Immediately suspected that these
disks might act as burning glasses.
This could never happen, of course,
unless the sun was hot and the dis
lance between the glass and cotton
was just right, so that the focus of
the suns rays falling through the glass
would strike the cotton. This was not
the case on that ship at that time, and
there was no fire. But he determined
to test his suspicion without delay.
He therefore went on deck, got big
tin pan and returned to the hold, TAX
ing along with him quantity Of sand
and a hand grenade. Then he picked
up lot Of loose cotton, put it in the
pan and held the pan SO that the suns
rays would focus on the cotton. After
about an hours patient waiting the
cotton began to smolder and presently
burst into fame. Quickly smothering
the fame with the sand, he wrapped
the whole business up in burlap, pack
ing it so that the charred cotton and