The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-01-14
PHILADELPHIAS PLAN
FOR FIGHTING FIRES
Special Pipe Line and Pumping
Station That Will Throw 10000
Gallons a Minute
TO A HEIGHT OF SIS FEET

ing has been revOlUtionized in Phila-
delphia- Fire engines have been rem
dered obsolete and useless there by a plain,
massive-looking brick building. upon which
the eyes of the world are fixed.
This building guards all the central dis
trict of Philadelphia. In any part of the
central district. at a seconds notice. it can
discharge unheard Of streams Of water TO
unheard Of heights. Suppose a twenty-one-
story Office building in Philadelphia should
take fire. Six lines Of ~hOse-twice the size
OF any used elsewhere-could be attached
TO the nearest hre-pIug. and from this one
fire-plug six great streams could be hurled
simultaneously over the office buildings
roof. Such a miracle has never been seen
before. Hose is fixed TO an ordinary fire
plug, and instantly power enough is de-
veloped to send vast columns of water over
the roofs Of the taIIest skyscrapers.
The building responsible for this mira
Gle is the new pumping station. with it's
special pipe line eight miles long, that Phil
adelphia has just completed after three
years work. The station stands at the
corner OF Delaware avenue and Race street.
1t contains nine pumps, and three pumps
are able to discharge, at a pressure or 800
pounds, 100000 gallons Of water a day.
Before it was completed the station had re-
duced the Philadelphia insurance rates 10
cents on the 500, and now that rate IS to
be reduced 10 cents more.
New York, Chicago, Boston, London and
Paris are watching the new station They
are already considering the erection OF sta
lions like 1t. Experts are constantly writ
Ing TO inquire into its construction. and
other OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES, engineers, fire
men-are constantly making personal in
spections OF it. For IL Is a new thing, a
great advance. 1t is as much Of an ad-
vance. indeed. as a twenty-three-story sky
scraper would be in a world that heretofore
had anNr hn1 49, nn1 aruE - liz
ings.
The station can throw upon a fire 10000
gallons OF water 4 minute, 100000 gallons an
hOur, l6,OOO,OO gallons a day. In a minute,
that is to say, there can be hurled upon a
burning building the contents OF a tank IL
feet long, II feet wide and IL feet deep; in
an hour. the contents of a tank 66 feet long,
SIS feet wide and % feet deep; in a day, the
contents OF a tank 200 feet long, 200 feet
wide and 200 feet deep.
PRESSURE AND HEIGHT.
And all this water would have a pressure
of from 300 TO $50 pounds. The water would
have. that is. a force sufficient to raise it to
the top of a column from $50 to 200 feet high.
At a point nearest to the station the water
would rise to 700 feet: at the most distant
point IT would rise to 575 feet.
To be compared with this is the fire en-
CINE. A fire engine pumps $50 gallons of
water a minute, against the stations 1880
gallons, and the pressure OF the fire engines
discharge is in the same ratio small. Fur
thermore, the fire engines pressure cannot
be regulated like the pumping station; II
can, in fact, scarcely be regulated at all.
But the pumping station can discharge sim
ultaneously from the same fire plug,
through a three and ~one-half-inch hose, one
stream strong enough To tear the iron shut
tiers from the top story-windows OF a sky
scraper. and another stream, through a
half-inch hose, gentle enough TO battle a
baby in.
John w. Weaver. engineer Of the city's
high-preSSure service. superintendent the
construction OF the pumping station. The
men to whose exertions the station is due
are William G. HaddOck. ex-director of pub
lie works, and Frank l.. Hand. chief of the
Bureau of Water. The building is of steel
and brick. It's dimensions are 72x1O feet.
Its total cost was $4,000. With its walls OF
white enameled brick. it is light. airy and
spacious within. 1t has nine gas units, or
pumps. of the total capacity of 200 horse
power. and these great engines, weighing
from twenty-fOur 70 thirty-five tons apiece.
can he started from a state of absolute inn
mobility into full speed in eighteen seconds.
Running, pumping 100000 gallons of water
a day. they make no more noise than as
many sewing machines.
Two of the engines or units are small;
they are each of 80 horse power and they
ha re each a pumping capacity of $50 gallons
OF water "A minute under n 30-pOund pres
sure. The remaining seven units are large
and their pumps will each deliver l,4OO gai-
Ions OF water at 3O-pOund pressure per min
ute. The cost OF each large engine and
pump complete was $22.000. The cost of each
small one was $500. The pumps were built
by the Deane Pump Company, OF Holyoke.
Mass. They are OF the double-acting triplex
sort The engines were built by the West
tnghOuse Gas Engine Company, of Pitts
burg Engines and pumps all have been in
stalled and tested 10 300 pounds pressure
with perfect success. Their ~erectors were
NJ. r Ruckle, jr.. q Co.
Each small engine consumes in operation
1.50 feet OF gas per hour, and each large en-
CINE consumes 5000 feet. but they will never
need TO run an hour continuously. for no fire
In the world pOul6 Withstand so long the
Niagara of water they will throw.
These great pumps are started electrically
and the pressure they put upon the water
can be regulated to a hair. Thus it may be
one minute 800 pounds, the next 100, the next
25O. as suits the engineer. The engines may
all be standing cold and still. and in eight
cen seconds they can be running at full
speed. while in forty seconds they can be
supplying a SO-pounds pressure. Gas Is
used rather than steam in this huge pump
Ing station for ecOnomy'S sake-ecOnOmy in
time, III men. in space, in cost, in every
thing. For with steam the fires would need
10 be KEEP going all the time, and full speed
could not be generated quickly. while great
ccal sheds would be required, with tracks
FOR coal cars, and the force of men would
have TO be doubled or tripleG. But now it's
power comes to the station through one sin
gle pfpe-a gas pipe thirty inches I'm diam
eter, and with this pipe each OF the nine en-
gines has its separate connection. To show
the unusual size OF a thirty-inch main, 1t
may be pointed out that the mains used by
private houses are only one-inch.
SOURCE OF POWER.
The fuel is composed OF six parts OF
air to one of gas. The sparks for the
engines are obtained with electricity. and
there are four ways to get a current. Thus.
In an emergency. should one way fail, an
other may be turned TO: and should that
fail. too. there is a third way, and still a
fourth and quite infallible resort. The first
current that may be used is the Edison. The
second Is the stations own, from its own
dyna-motor. The third is the emergency
current that the city supplies. The fourth
Is from the stations battery-a little group
OF white jars that are capable. without
any renewal. OF keeping the engines going
for four months.
One Of the small engines. while it is
pumping water, will. without a cents worth
of additional expense. run the air compress
sor and the generator OF the station. thus
Keeping up always the supply Of compressed
air and electricity. The air. compressed to
300 pounds. is stored in great tanks.
The gas engines are of the fOur-cycle
pattern They go through. that is To say,
four movements 10 make one completed
movement. The first movement or cycle is
gas The second cycle Is the pistOn's as
cent. cOmpressing the mixture. The third
cycle. descending, ignites the air and gas.
and the fourth. ascending. discharges the
ignited mixture into the exhaust pipes. To
run steam engines like these gas ones would
cost for fuel alone per engine $50. where IL
now costs with gas but $3.50. this being
exclusive OF such additional expenses as
more men and more space, together with
the tremendously important fact that with
steam the fires would need To be kept al
WAYS going. whereas with gas the engines