Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-10
FIREPROOF THEATERS
MORE DEPENDS ON ARcHITEc.
TURE THAN CHEMISTRY.
Weakness Of the Asbestos Curtain
Vents Over Stage for Escape
Of Smoke.

From the Literary Digest
In a discussion of this important matter
IN his presidential address before the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers,
John r. Freeman expresses the opinion
that notwithstanding all thu agitation OF
the past year or two, our theaters are still
inadequately protected against fire. He
points out that the problem Is simple
enough. The stage is a mass of combust-
ibie material. and we have to prevent the
smoke and flame. in case this material
should catch fire. from spreading to the
auditorium. remembering especially that
deaths in such fires occur chiefly from tho
sunocatfon of persons In the upper gallery
by smoke. and that this may occur in few
minutes He says, to quote an abstract In
Engineering News:
1T Is fair and moderate statement that
| the present practice OF the art of fire pre-
vention as applied TO theaters and buildings.
OF public congregation is from ten to TWEEN
| ty years behind the fire protection of large
industrial works, and true that the fire
hazard to theater property In general, as
measured by a comparison of insurance
rates. is ten times great for the modern
theater as for the modern factory. All or
this Is unnecessary. 1t is a wrong against
| the public that should be righted. The safe
guards needed are mostly simple. The main
features of some OF them are already work.
| ed out and well proved within the great
factories which engineers build and man
age Inc duQitlOnai safeguard required 10
be worked out, or adjusted for this spe-
cfal case, the automatic smoke vents. the
safe proscenium curtain, the safe warming
and ventilation, the proper arrangement OF
automatic sprinklerS In stage and dressing
rooms and store rooms. are within the field
of the mechanical engineer and are mostly
simple problems to solve when serious at
tention and skill are once directed to
them
The first and most important means for
keeping smoke and flames out of the audi
torium Is the provision of sufficient vents
over the stage for their escape, such vents
being made to open automatically In case
of fire. Most cities now requi that these
openings shall be from one-eighth to one
tenth the area of the stage. The New York
law provides that they shall be glazed
| with thin glass and constructed as to
open when henpen cord shall have
burned apart. This is all right In theory.
but Mr.. Freeman criticises the way In
which 1t is carried out He says:
Ventilators.
1.-THE idea Of large ventilator expressed
In these rules Is all right, but the execution
is commonly all wrong, and needs some
good engineering to provide design OF
damper with careful details that will be
sure to work. Note the Anticipated sugges-
ton of the burning of q hempen cord when
fusible links have been used on the fire
doors in your factories for twenty years.
There is no good reason to expect that the
hempen cord in this position in smoky
atmosphere from which oxygen had been
largely removed would burn off until q
majority OF those in the gallery had been
suffocated.
I'm one of the newest and best of the
New York theaters l found the ventilator
had broad sheet of heavy canvas laced
tightly across it's opening with marllne,
because, as the stage carpenter told me.
the cracks around the ventilator let In too
much cold air! No building inspector had
objected, and the carpenter could not De
made to see any danger. 1t would burn
"a arv N IL
hut not until those in the gallery were
mostly dead The requirement of thin
glass In the building law is well meant,
but it would be too slow in breaking out.
Remember how quickly Inconsistencies OF
suffocation comes in an atmosphere or
smoke The wire netting called for Is a
positive danger as often applied.
lone of the most experienced theater
managers In America told me frankly that
he knew the smoke vents on the theater
which he then occupied would probably not
epen in winter, unless a man should first
pry them loose with an iron bar, but, said
he, I have not heretofore seen anything
better and so, after the lroquois, he had
set his stage carpenter at work to invent
something"
The next safeguard--the automatic sprln-
kler over the stage-Mr. Freeman commends
unreservediy and he quotes many instances
where it has worked well and has rendered
service The third protective device, the
fireproof curtain, is all right provided It
is really fireproof. The so-called asbestos
curtain seems not to be worth much, and
though Mr.. Freeman rejects the stories of
"burlap'' asbestos, he is of opinion that the
real article is not much moro valuable, Tor
1t quickly loses its strength when heated,
as shown by recent tests. Says Mr.. Free
man:
The Asbestos Curtain.
Asbestos cloth is rapidly weakened by
the heat OF an ordinary fire to an extent
that makes a curtain composed wholly OF
asbestos cloth an unreliable fre-screen for
the procenium arch of theater, IL ex-
pected to endure more than few minutes,
and it was proved that the asbestos cam
vas was SO weakened that 1t would be rup-
tured easily by a blow from any falling
material or by a strong current OF air. The
seams sewed with asbestos thread showed
no special weakness more than the canvas
Properly constructed steel curtains are
much better, and probably as effective as
anything can be. Lastly. Mr.. Freeman
takes up the question of fireproofing the
mass of combustible material on the stage
and concludes that this is practically I'M
possible. He says:
.aThe petty tests that have satisfied certain
distinguished chemists are very misleading
as guides to what will happen when the
same process is tested on the larger prac-
teal scale, and the best we can
hope to accomplish Is to 'fiameproof a fab
ric so that 1t will not ignite from match.
an electric spark or gas jet, or SO that II
ignited 1t will not burst into fame
This much of protection is of great value
and worth all that good process costs. X
il can be accomplished IN practice WITHOUT
injury to fabric or colors, for IL We can
thus prevent the little fame from quickly
spreading we have removed perhaps nine
tenths of the danger of fire starting on
the stage, but IL falls far short of what
many have believed was within easy reach.
Once get the gauze and canvas and pine on
the stage enveloped in flame, nearly every
thing 'ffreproofed' would burn TO total de-
struction with substantially as great a rush
of flame and suffocating smoke as with the
untreated material. Indeed, the chemicals
may make the fumes worse.
after having investigated the question
of fireproofing the scenery faithfully, / am
led to believe that we must, after all rely
on the safeguards Of the engineer rather
than those of the chemist
Concert at Mt. Pleasant.
The excellence of the concert of chamber