The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-01-31
HAMMERSTElN DEVICE
TO END FIRE PERILS.
''GridirOn" Above Stage to Consist
of Perforated Pipes.
From the New York Press.

From the New York Press.
After conferences with the Mayor,
Fire Commissioner Hayes and Chief
Inspector Baker of the Bureau of
Combustibles, Oscar Hammerstein
made public last night the details of
his latest invention. which he feels
confident will eliminate all possibility
of a serious confiagration on the stage
of theater that uses the system, and
will make practically impossible re-
petition of the Iroquois horror in a
twentieth century playhouse.
Holding that all devices now in use
are inadequate, the manager has per-
fected a plan under which the mere
turning of a valve will cause the de-
luging of a stage. All that is neces-
sary, he says, is to substitute for the
wooden or iron crosspieces of the
"gridiron" above the stage iron pipes
an inch and a half in diameter, per-
foTated at regular intervals of less
than an inch. Eight-inch headers"
on either side to connect the smaller
pipes with two 5,000-gallon tanks make
complete the simple apparatus which,
within thirty seconds after the discov-
cry of a flame amid the inflammable
scenery, can pour out a cascade heavy
enough to quench the fiercest blaze.
Two things must be acknowledged"
said Mr.. Hammerstein last night. THE
first is that in time of danger asbestos
curtains and automatic sprinklers
have proved inadequate when put to
a severe test. The second is that in
counting on the adequacy of most of
the devices in use the human element
necessary to their operation often has
been left out of consideration. The
law orders that a fire curtain be placed
in a theater. The law also orders that
it be lowered in case of a fire on the
stage.
The law evidently means that some
body or other on the stage-be it call
boy, stage manager, carpenter, actor
or chorus girls to set the ponderous
mechanism of a two-ton curtain into
motion, make it descend and shut
himself or herself or the hundreds OF
persons on the stage in cage of flame
and smoke. In plain language, the
law wants somebody on the stage to
save the persons in front and kill those
behind.
II propose this: All stages have a
rigging loft, suspended from the roof.
taking in the whole width and
depth. From this loft all
scenery is. suspended by means
of ropes and pulleys. The floor
consists of wooden Stats or in some
cases narrow iron strips. Do away
with them. Replace them with pipes,
perforated below. Have two tanks,
one in each corner of the roof. Con-
meet the large pipes with the tanks,
and have the operating rod, lever or
chain extend to the stage. A turn of
the handle or pull on the lever and a
cover of water will descend the whole
width and depth of the stage, behind
pressure of 10000 gallons. Let the
authorities direct the fireman to a
position near the operating rod or lever
on the stage during performance, and
audiences and players will be safe
hereafter
Commissioner Hayes is impressed
with the practlcability of Mr. Ham
merstein's invention. and is consid-
ing the construction of a miniature
stage equipped with the system in
the yard adjoining fire headquarters,
so that he may test it. Meantime Mr..
Hammerstein is equipping the Victoria
with the device.