The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-12-27
Did Water Start Blaze In Hose
 At Boston Fire
Public Wants to Know, So Experiments Will Be Conducted

Boston, Dec. 27-So much public interest has been aroused by the phenomenon developed in tests of fire hose here when flames broke through cotton coating of the hose through which water was being forced at high pressure, that the Fire Commissioner, John R. Murphy, has been receiving requests for information from all over the country.
 Ignition of a fire hose while water was being pumped through it though no fire was near, is something new to those who consider the fre-fghtins business as a science. To determine the cause of this peculiar incident and ascertain how to avoid it, the Boston Fire Department will undertake a series of tests and experiments.
 Professor Augustus H. Gill, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technol- ogy at the request of Commissioner Murphy examined the hose burned and, without making chemical an alysis, reported his belief that the hose was ignited from excessive fric- tion caused by vibration between two cotton Jackets. The hose was of the new standard two-and-one-half inch rubber lined double cotton jacket type, made according to the specified tions of the Boston Fire Department, which conform with those of the National Board of Fire Underwriters
 A 750-gallon pumping engine was being tested under the direction of
 
 Fire Underwriters and officials of the I}oston Fire Department For four hours the engine had drawn water from the Charles River Basin when the order for the high pressure test was given.
 Two lines of hose were used one from each side of the engine and each about 300 feet long. Morse gates second length of each line and the gates were checked down to about one-third capacity, the gates on the engine outlets being similarly re- duced.
 About Is minutes after the engine was started with a pump pressure of 250 pounds, smoke came from th hose about foot from the courIrng at the engine connection. Investi- gaGon showed that the hose was very hot and in a moment flame burst through the outer covering. Within a minute the same thing happened to the hose on the other side of the en- zine. It was decided by the chiefs and experts that the checking down of the gates had resulted in tre- mendous amount of water being fore ed through a small opening. The water in passing through the engine the coupling was forced in at an an gle, striking one side of the hose with fine sharp point, with suf- hcient force to generate heat.
 This point of water, together with the friction caused by the two cot ton jackets rubbing against each oth- CT apparently caused the flame.
 The fire did not injure the rubber lining, which was not even charred, the flames working entirely In the cotton mixture. This was scorched for several inches around the burn ed hole. s.
 The conditions under which the engine was working when the hose ig- nited were said to be such as would never occur while fire was being fought and for that reason the fire irhterS have only a keen academic interest rather than serious thoughts of their hose burning during a fire unless4it comes in contact with flames or sparks.