Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-02-16

tell whether he need worry or not
as to the location of the FIRE. If he
finds Ii is his own number, 1t is an
easy matter to call up on the tele-
phone and learn whether or not 1t is
his own home which is blazing.
Is THOROUGH IN WORK.
Chief Newberry demonstrated the
working Of the system in its entire
ty this morning for the benefit Of
representative of The Argus and
showed conclusively that the Game
well system is a thorough one in
deed To illustrate just how 1t
would work, the chief sent in call
from box go, which by the way is
not yet installed. The operation was
as follows: With a pocket knife,
pencil, or even the fist, break the
little glass front in the box. This
gives the caller an opportunity to
twist or give a half turn on little
metal lever which was protected by
the glass and the turning Of this
lever opens the door to the box and
exposes a white porcelain lever which
protrudes about half an inch through
an opening in the inner door to the
call box This lever is pushed down
and Immediately the box becomes a
thing of life.
PROVES 1T Is WORKING.
During the several minutes that
its mechanism is buzzing, it goes
through the same operation as does
the whistle at the waterworks as de-
scribed above except that the strik-
ing of a little bell takes the place
of the whistle. The bell merely
shows the caller that the box is do
ing its duty and is transmitting the
call to all the stations in the city.
The "33' call is repeated four times
before the box stops its warning. In
the meantime, a huge annunciator
at each of the six points where the
knowledge of the existance of the
fire is to be transmitted and which
are the three fire stations, CHIEF
Newberry's home, the police station
and the waterworks, has started its
work simultaneously with the little
bell in the call box. The "33" is
not only shown in numerals which
can be seen mahy feet away, but the
gong does the same thing that the
lllle DS11 Is OOlhE ~ II 5A'OS
three short, sharp rings, pauses
moment and rings three more. This
operation is repeated three times
more before the gong ceases its
warning and then there remain the
numbers to show where the fire. is
in case the ringing of the gong was |
not heard.
RELEASES THE HORSES.
The system does more, however, |
than has already been described. The !
instant the first gong sounds the /
lights throughout each fire station |
are automatically lighted and the |
doors of the horses stalls are auto
naticalIy opened. The animals,
trained as they are, are standing in
their places in front of their re-
5pective wagons in an instant and
all that remains to do is 70 drop the
harness on them and fly to the ter
-itory from which the call came. Once
here. they may have need to COM
nunicate with the waterworks or any
lther station. In this case they re-
pair to the call box and make use
IF the telegraph instrument which
I contains By means of a code of
signals they can then send word
hat the fire is out, that help is need
I'd. that more pressure rs wanted,
,r almost anything that they desire
o communicate TO others OF the po-
ice or water departments.
READY IN A MONTH.
The chief stated this morning that
lie hardly expected the new system
o be in operation before the middle
f the coming month. Many of the
,oxes are already installed and the
underground cables are about laid
While the aerial wiring has been COM
,leted for some time, but neverthe-
ess there is still considerable work =.
O do and some OF the equipment is :
ct TO arrive. The three lower cir
uits containing the boxes in the bus y
ness district and the first and sec :
nd wards can be put in operation
Don after the arrival of the remain
1g equipment but it will be month
efore the whole system is working.
HIlIEEc hICIT | 1