The age-herald., 1901-08-01
Test Proves SatisfactOTytO Mayor DrenOen, Chief Mu|Iin and
 CiB Officials
OTHER APPARATUS COMING
New Insurance Rate May Go In Effect About August 10-Hose Wagon and Chemical Engine To Be
 Added to the Department.

ne new ire engine, u pdfI oi tAO equipment recently purchased in order to gain for Birmingham a cheaper insur- ance rate, will be placed in commission at once. The machine was tested yester- day afternoon and found satisfactory in every particular.
 Chairman Jones of the City Council fire committee at once wrote the Ameri- can Fire Engine Co.,, of Cincinnati, from which it was bought. that the engine met the approval of the committee The new apparatus will be kept at the Northside station and the one now in use there will be transferred to the South side.
 When all the new equipment arrives the Southeastern Tariff Association will cut the insurance rate from 70 to oo cents, as agreed upon some time ago. Chief Mullin said yeterday afternoon that he expected the additional paraphernalla which includes a chemical engine ana hose wagon to be here and in WorKlng order by August TO- The new insurance ratse will then be put in effect. The hook and ladder truck which Is now idle will be in commission by January l, lsOs'
 The test of the new engine took place at the corner of Twenty-first street ana Third avenue. Mayor Drennen and the fire committee. composed of Chairman Harry Jones, Messrs. D. K, Copeianu, Greener. Stocl5mar and Gum, witnessed the test. There were also present slg- fried Steiner, Albert Stratford of the sheriffs office, City Auditor Wood' capt. Reuben F. Kolb, and a crowd or several hundred persons The test was conouce- cd under the direction of John P. Ahrens, the delivering engineer and sales agent or tba companv. MT. Ahren's father Is the inventor of the engine.
 Threw Stream 325 Feet.
 The engine was attached to the "ater nlug at 4 o'clock and here are some or inc things that occurred in the next hour and half: nc .....
 Tho engine started pumping Witn my hounds of steam In five and one-nail iiih- utes after the torch was applied
 Tn seven minutes there was 60 pounds of steam and in eight minutes 40 pounds,
 The first water was thrown at 4'lV o'clock It was through one line or nose with A one and quarter inch nozzle and the stream was thrown 26O feet.
 Next A stream was thrown 25O feet through a two and one-half inch nozzle
 By the Siamese system or oiVer1ins loui streams to a center and through one noz- zla one and one-half inches In size stream was thrown twenty-five feet above the flag staff on the court house building. The top of the flagstaff is 175 feet rom the ground.
 A stream through a nozzle one and one fifth inches went forty feet oyer the nag staff, and one through three and three ouarter nozzle went thirty feet over,
 The longest distance stream was thrown was 325 feet through one and five-eighths nozzle.
 Pumps 300 Gallons Minute.
 Here are some points about the en- gine
 It weights, equipped to go to fire S'7oo pounds
 It will throw as many as six streams of water at the same time
 It cost the city $5,2OO.
 It pumps 5000 gallons of water per min ute.
 It is said to be the largest and most powerful engine in the South.
 The steam cylinders measure eight by nine and the water cylinders five and one half by eight.
 The boiler Is rated at ninety horse power.
 Duplicate Of Prize Winner.
 There is only one engine in the South which is claimed to approach the one just purchased by the city. It is an im- mense machine weighing 17.00O pounds. but MT. Abrens claims the engine he has delivered here Is far superior. The new engine Is a duplicate on large plane Of the famous Kansas City engine which took all the prizes at the Paris exposi- ton. He has just delivered a similar en- zine at Fl Paso, Texas. During the progress of the tests the oc- cupants of the offices at the southwest corner of Twenty-first street and Third avenue were very .much annoyed by the smoke and cinders puffed out by the en- zine in large quantities. The awning in front of the office at the Ivy Coal and Coke Company caught fire, but was quickly extinguished. Chief Mullin and every member of the fire department were pleased with the test. They had nothing but praise for Mir Abrens and the work of the engine. 
 More Warrants Issued. ~.