The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-24
THEATRES BEING
 MADE SAFER
 Technoogy-Proper Possibility Flames Reacnng Understanding Suggested as Danger of

l heat 1t red hot, and the idea of prevent ing fire from passing through the cur tain plane by hanging on asbestos cur tain is the blindest folly. For one req son. asbestos cannot be woven alone, but must be adulterated with cotton, the amount of which is difficult to determine
 by any one except the manufacturers
 And for another, asbestos itself, all though fibrous when woven becomes So
 frail at a red heat as to be blown away
 b. a draft or crumbied to dust at the slightest touch as has been shown by many experiments in the Massachusetts
 Institute of Technology. Its only virtue
 lies in its non infiammability, in the fact that it will not burn although 1t will
 go to pieces under intense heat. even
 when reinforced by web of brass wire;
 "Nevertheless.'' says Professor Norton,
 T believe we must make our curtains,
 in part of asbestos. To have the cur
 tain as efficient a fire stop as possible I
 would make it, strong and solid of any
 material that experience. has shown to be mechanically excellent and I would provide 1t with the most thorough im- aginable equipment of automatic and
 manually operated sprinklers... The our protection. tthe very heart of complete ly efficient sprinkler system. It should have substantial facing of asbestos, to withstand the attack of possible minor fire which might burn holes in a cotton curtain before the heat had become suf- ficient to open the sprinklers. All thea tre woodwork, moreover, especially in dressing rooms, should be covered with metal, and the regulation requiring the equipping of the stage with thin glass skylight. readily opened by hand if not automatically opened by the fire, gives the audience great additional safeguard against the danger of suffocation by smoke. and hot gas. Tho natural draft away from. the audience; without such an opening the draft is. inevitably to- ward the top of the auditorium" :" N
 Except in the comparatively very few theatres in which smoking is permitted and in Professor Norton's opinion the practice is one that should be altogether discontinued, as should also the practice | of allowing tobacco, or ,"ny merchandise. to be sold in. theatre Hobbies or at the ] back of theater auditoriums-theater fires | start invariably on the stage, and here | the danger should be reduced to a mini
 mum. even when other precautions make it practically impossible for the flames | to reach the audience. The danger on NhG oSa6S thCS OpNiou.Sls hioNdOtC SOh 'bustible material. movable lights. and particularly. in the use of naked, unpro- l tected arc lights liable to give out in- l tensely heated sparks. The amount of
 portable lighting apparatus should there- fore be reduced to the lowest possible figure and unprotected arc lights wholly eliminated. As for the scenery itself ii has been suggested that all wood. can | vas, and ropes should be treated with some chemical fireproofing solution. Pro- lessor Norton believes this an error
 first because he doubts the actual ex-
 istence of any such method of perma- | nently fireproofing; second, because ma. terial so treated is not well fitted fol ! regular stage service; and. third. because
 1t cannot be satisfactorily inspected i Canvas and wood cannot be made alto gether fireproof. We may. however, eas
 fly and cheaply render them less likei,
 to ignite. to say nothing of making then
 burn more slowly, by painting with fir, | retardent paint. There are many sue.
 paints, cheap, possessing a power of no
 burning and thereby keeping the al
 from getting to the material underneatl
 and without air fire cannot progress These paints are a sort of refined white
 wash and nothing except water colo
 should be tolerated upon the front O
 show side of scenery, while the back