The Honolulu republican. [volume] (Honolulu, T.H.) 1900-1902, 1901-05-03
FIRE ON BOARD ship Evan 81,
AED IT'S REIMBURSEMENT

s Consul Liefeld. of Freiburg, March
Is. 1901. sends to the State Depart
ment. Washington, the following arti--
Gle on extinction Of fire on shipboard
taken from the Fire Call. European
journal devoted to the Are services I
Some experiments have been made
at Bremen in connection with new
mode of extinguishing fires on board,
ship, invented by Berlin chemist by
the name of Gronwald. The objects
aimed at and said to have been attain
ed by the new system are: First, to
give timely notice, by means of a
special apparatus, of any fire which
may break out in the hold of a ship;
and, second, to promptly extinguish
the same by pumping carbonic acid
into the hold. "a
The official reports of the expert
ments may be summarized as follows:
Two piles OF wood. in all about 4
cubic meters square. were built up
in the forehold of lighter The large
logs were mixed with smaller blocks
of wood and a quantity of wood shayt
ings soaked in petroleum. On the
top of the piles of wood was spread
about q fourth of a ton Of coal and
in the hold was also placed an iron
basket filed with coke heated TO a
perfect glow The two piles of wood
were set alignt simultaneously at sew
en- minutes past four in the afternoon.
The fire developed quickly with the
I ~ 4ehDe. ok fxxro ~ mil
utes past four the matches were closed.
Carbonic-acid gas was then pumped
into the hold for twenty-one minutesl
and ten minutes later the matches were
opened. The FIRE was found to be COM
| pletely extinguished The fire alarm
worked perfectly. and the thermome;
I ter on deck showed the rise and fall
of the temperature in the hold corr
rectly. Later. another experiment was
made under exactly the same condi-
tions. except lhat steam instead of
carbonic-acid gas was pumped into
the hold after the fire had become
well developed On tbs. OCCASION the
piles were lighted at ten minutes past
nine in the morning and the hatehes
were closed fifteen minutes later.
Steam of atmospheres. falling rap
idly TO LIS atmospheres. was then dis
charged into the hold through hose
pipe attached alternately to a couple
OF steam fire engines. This went on
I for thirty minutes and the matches
were then taken of. The fire in the
| plies Of wood was apparently extin.
guished. but there was yet so much
life left in ii that one of the piles blaz.
ed up again in seven minutes and the
other Ia nine minutes The FIRE in
1.-THE basket of coke was quite out. but
a few giimmering sparks remained
among the ashes of the wood which
had been used for lighting the coke.
Without pronouncing any opinion
one way or the other respecting Herr
lGronwald's system. suffice il to say
that the only new feature in it ap
pears to consist in his employment
OF carbonie-acid gas. What he claims
its that when a fire breaks out in 8
ships hold. II his system is followed
j the fire viii be- aatonrat tcally IAN
nounced on deck: il viii be kept under
observation from the deck and extin
guished by operations carried out or
the deck His system consists In Mt
A4uE RaE&c AZ CfCA. pal tAACLAt W
the vessel communicating with tbs
deck. acting as safety valves. through
which smoke and heated air may as
cend 70 the deck in case OF fire and
give the alarm: further. Thermometers
and alarms may be lowered dowT
these tubes. thus making ii possible
TO watch the progress of fire in tbs
hold from the deck without either re
moving the matches or entering tbs
hold. and. lastly (which is the primes
pal feature Of the systeme. down these
pipes is pumped the carbonic-acid ga;
which viii extingaish the ere. The
gas can be forced among the cargo
AZ any required pressure. and il vii
ipermeate everything. even tightly
slowed cotton bales.