New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-08-01

'nslstence of the insurance men unon
precautionary measures, but there are
enough auto fires to warrant y warn.
ing to the novice.
fires are unnecessary Almost in
'arlapiy they are the result of caro-.
iesshess or ignorance. 1t takes two
'"'nES 10 make fire around an auto-
q ga soiine vapor and a spark or
nH'"e' 'asollne vapor can only come
wren there is n drip somewhere TLn
carburetor might be flooded. but us "e
a'lH IT. comes from leak Gasoline
orips INTO the drip pan and vaporizes
~ IS not all carried out by the air
CIRCULATION of the fan Being heavier
man AIR, II lies low. If the erri,r
oackhres, spark may be blown ont
"hlch Will ignite the gas, and. in an
Instant there is a fire. There is usu-
aliy enough oil and grease around ,o
s'sa'l lively blaze, which is, of course.
1uIc'Ny transmitted to the gas in the
carnuretor and possibly to the vacuum
TANK, and the show is on.
NH9tur"lly, the way to prevent this
Wculd he to prevent the drip Of gaso-
me. II there is leak it should be
nNcd. II the carburetor is prone to
lood' have II fixed so that it will not
oo So About the only other cause
Tor fire is the exhaust pipe becominr
80 not as to ignite the Woodwork in
the CIR. especially if there be an ac-
cnmu'ntion of grease or oil. There
sEcuid be no accunfal lation at a danger
POINT. The pipe often gets red hot.
or nearly so, either from high speed
o. running with a greatly retarded
spark. occasionally the use of the
cN'-o~ has the same effect as a back
Caution in the Garage
Great caution should be observed
ABOUT the garage. Oftentimes in
wolNing about the car gasoline may
DC spilled or drip to the floor. max
ing highly infammabc vapor. +
may be that there is no drip when
ne car is running, but when STANDING
N the garage under tank PRESSURE
drops may be forced out around ths
connection. Such a leak NAV easilv
b overlooked and yet be source Of
danger. Then, when it is time ia
start up, the engine may be sluggish
and backfre; the cut-out NAV be omen.
10 heip things along, the spark cnsues
ana II Is all over but collecting the
insurance.
Or it may be that the owner is a
smoker and has not learned Droner
caution in a garage, and drops LIGHT
ed match. not thinking about there
pong gasoline fumes close to the floor
or he might set lighted lantern
down close to the floor with the Same
result. 1t has happened through over
moving the gasoline tank when filling.
ana, then, hurrying to get away, the
G'iVer opens the cut-out and gets away
faster than he expected to.
short circuit anywhere in the
'ghllloh system. which produces
spark, might easily ignite free paso-
n,ted. And at least one case is known
Where spark from a cushion spring
touching the battery ignited gasoline
v&por coming from the tank under the
seat. ''N
Static electricity, caused by strain
inF gasoline through chamois. has
peer known to cause a blaze. but all
ttat is necessary to prevent this is
I, make sure that the funnel touches
the metal tank
Don't Run From It
although every precaution should be
'aAen TO prevent fire the novice
Should remember that if fire does
come 1t is not necessary to jump and
run. 1t is taken for granted that
every driver will have an approved
nre eS'ingulsher where it can be in
sl&ntly grasped in case of fire. There
ar are many Kinds which are approved
oy the fire underwriters The worth
while kind uses a carbon tetra-chlor;de
compound. This is used in all the
LIQUID eNtnguishers The comnound
1olms heavy gas or smoke which has
no oxygen and therefore smothers OFF
the flame
Having an cxtinguisher, one must
act Quickly, directing the stream from
the eXtlnguisher to the base of the
name DO not be afraid of an eX
pp.los'on. The first puff, when the caso-
me vapor lgnites, will be all the
explosion there is, in all probability
at least until the flames reach insids
the tank, which is nearly empty. Do
not run. Stay and fight Remain near
enough to the burning car to be able
10 dlrect the stream from the fire
eXtln&lsher properly and work it for
all it is worth.
1t Is no use trying to throw water
onto this kind of fire. Sand and
salt would do it if YOU could ret
enough of them in the right place
quick enough, and there are some drv
eXtlngulshers which have the same
!'mltasion' but the liquid extinguisher
is sure if used intelligentl, at the
beginning. This is expensive but onlv
a trif1lng proportion of the cost Of
the car, and it does the work if the
owner will keep his head and work
the eXtingusher
There is a new kind put on the mar
ket recently IN glass container which
may be hung up inside the hood If
there is blaze the heat almost in
stantly breaks the bottle or melts the
seal, and the eXtingusher works auto
matically, But one should always have
a mechanical eXtinguishev to be nor
fcctly safe
Prevention of Fire
1hs article is intended to saw 10
the owner that fire may be prevented /
though one cannot always prevent an
other person from throwing down a
match which would ignite drippinp
gasoline. And it is also intended to
inform him that fire may be over.
come after it has started if he will
think and act quickly enough II
might be worth while for the owner
OF high-priced car to practice little
wlth the eNtinguisher to know just
now 1t works: Any agency selling a |
tire extinguisher will give a demon
stratlcn to show how it is used.
10 know these things is much bet
ter than having an insurance policy
because, after all, what you want to
DO is to avoid the trouble of collect
ing insurance; but it is always wis.
to carry policy, and you will fnd
that there is an Improbable reduc- t
ton IN cost if you carry a good ex-
tlngulsher on the car. If | were run