The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1914-08-29
FIRE ALARM SYSTEM

The work of installing the fir,
alarm system is progressing very
satisfactorily. The switch board
! has been set up in the little iron
clad building, formerly used az al
office. Linemen have been busy
stringing wires and locating fixtures
to serve the alarm boxes in the
various parts of the city. The 10
eating the various stations IL be
ing studied with view of so dis
tribuling the stations as to get
the best possible service.
There are many interesting fea
lures about the new alarm system,
it being one of the best approved
systems up to date. Our people
Will have to accustom themselves
to the new style of signaling.
The old "wild cat whistle, which
has served us for many years and
was first installed by Mr. Geo. w
Dallas, will pass ont and not be
heard anymore. The whistle at
the plant will be used, but it's
hair raising scale of tones and
screeches will be eliminated. In
order that the people may become
thoroughly acquainted with the
voice of the alarm whistle, it will
be blown twice a day-at 6 O'Clock
~ the morning and al Il O'clock in
the evening This Is for the fur
ther purpose of testing out the
SYST m, so as TO know that it is
responsible to every call at all
times.
/ he districts, as OF old, are TO
be preserved. The number of The
district will be first sounded by
the whistle, followed by the sta
ton number next. TO illustrate:
AT the corner of Main anu J ffer
son streets is a fire alarm box.
On the door of this box Ia a mum
ber, % The first figure (2) repre-
sents the district, and the next
figure, (3) announces at what box
or station in the district 9 the
alarm came from. An alarm,
turned in at the box, would be an
nounced by first two blasts of the
whistle and after short interval,
followed by three more; thus,
If the scene
of trouble was in district No. !,
then the first blast of the whistle
would be but one, followed by the
number of the station. If the
alarm originated in the 3rd dis
trict, then the whistle would be
blown three times in the first secss
tiOn of the alarm, followed by the
station number.
One great advantage of such an
arrangement is the fact that just
as soon as the fire companies get
The first section of the alarm they
may start for the fire, if ready,
and can pick up the box number
en- route.
On the face of the box appears
a small sheet of glass, covering a
key in the big outer door. This
glass Is quite thin and may be
easily broken. In the event il
becomes desirable to turn in an
alarm, break the glass, when the
frame holding it will fall forward
ont of the way. This Will expose
the key in the outer door. Turn
the key and open the door. An
inner door will then be exposed,
in the upper part of which ap
pears a lever handle. Pull this
handle downward and let it go.
The system will do the rest auto
matically.
Alarms turned in will be simul
taneously sounded in the truck.
rooms of the several fire compa
nies and at the plant. A mechan
lcal arrangement will be set IN
motion, automatically blowing the
whistle, sounding the number of
the district and box from which
the alarm eminated. The alarm
will be repeated when the
mechanism will come to rest. A
second alarm will convey the in
telligence of our present General
Alarm"
OShould two alarms be turned in
in the same quarter minute, the one
having precedence III the smallest
fraction of time would be sounded
first and the second alarm would
automatically await the clearance
of the first, after which it would
follow regularly and without con