The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-26
A NEW ALARM SYSTEM
MAYOR CARR SIGNS. A CON-
 TRACT FOR IT.
Gamewell Fire Boxes are to Be Put in All Over Montgomery and in Suburbs-Will Cost
 S2, 300.

A new, up-to-date Gamewell Fire Alarm Telegraph System will be installed in Montgomery within the next sixty days. doing away with the old fashioned sys- tenn now in use and giving the city safer and better fire protection.
 Mayor Thomas H. Carr signed the con- tract for the new system yesterday morn- ing and the work of installation will be carried on as rapidly as possible. The price to be paid by the city for the new fire alarm system is $500. The payment. however, will be divided into three an- nual installments of $76s so as to make the outlay touch the city treasury in a way to make the payment easy.
 A contract was also signed with the Montgomery. Light and Water Power Company, by which they agree to fur nish free the electric current for the stor- age battery of the new system on condi- ton that an alarm box be placed in front Of their property on North Court Street.
 The Gamewell system is in use in near ly every city in the country of Mont gomery's class and 1t Is believed that, while 1t will be a great improvement over the present system it will still be a great deal cheaper to maintain.
 City Electrician B. A. Blakey in a com munication to the Mayor some weeks ago said in his statement of the condition of the present fire alarm system tha: the cost of maintaining 1t amounted to at least 1850 a year. This was for current repairs to the blue stone and zinc bat teries used. The new storage battery will not only do away with all this ex- pense now ne :essary but will have It's current supplied to the city free. thus saving the city s350 a year. Within five years the new system will have paid for itself in the saving of the present ex- pense and will be kept running without expense to the city.
 The contract with the Gamewen com pany also stipulates the placing of new improved switch board and repeater.
 The matter was brought to the atten- tion of the Council at the regular meet. ] ing on February 1. at which a communi- cation was read from the City Electri- elan saying that tae present system was old and out of date. badly worn and ex- pensive to maintain. He stated further that it did not have the capacity to take care of the annexed territory of the city. The matter was referred to the Fire Committee, which reported at the next meeting, authorizing the Mayor to pur- chase a new system.
 The contract provides that the system must be in place within 12O days but o. P. Crocker. the Southern sagent of the Gamewer Fire Alarm Telegraph Com- pany, who came to Montgomery from At ianta to sign the contract TOT ms com pany, said that he expected to have the system in working order within sixty days.
 There are forty-two street fire alarm boxes employed by the fire department in the city at present. With view to pro viding the annexed suburbs. Chief John F. Browder of the Montgomery Fire De- partment said yesterday that he esti- mated the department would require fif- NN 1So YN10 nAS in that locality.
 The location of all the present boxes will be the same In the placing of new ones. The new alarm boxes will have a glass covering immediately over the key which will be kept in the lock. To send in an alarm all that will be needed Is to break the thin glass covering over the key, open the box and pull the lever. The firemen more than anyone else Is happy over the change as the old system played queer pranks on them now and then.