IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRE
Year: 1862

page_text: uge, or
cago
and Son, of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRE."-A communication from abroad by Gabrie!
Brasseur, of No. 15, Passage des Petites Ecuries, Paris, France.
Sealed the 25th July 1862, and dated the 27th March 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Gedge
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his 'Petition, on the
27th March 1862.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD GEDGE, of the Firm of John Gedge and Son, of
No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRE," (communicated to me from abroad by
Gabriel Brasseur, of No. 15, Passage des Petites 'Ecuries, Paris, France,) to
be as follows:
It is generally admitted that a continuous jet of steam or vapor at high
pressure directed into the midst of a conflagration will rapidly choke the
flames, but the application of this system in factories or other places possessing
steam engines has been much checked by the difficulty, sometimes amounting
to impossibility, of regulating at will the distribution of the steam or vapour.
To obtain an effective application it was necessary that means should be

page_text: afforded to distribute the steam or vapour at will throughout every part of the
building, such means being simple and easy, and above all distant from the
seat of the fire.
This Invention; by which it is proposed to unite these advantages, consists
of a metal tube receiving steam or vapour from the generators by a steam or
air cock, and transmitting it to an escape pipe by the aid of another cock.
Each escape pipe is made to rise and fall at will, and the distribution of the
steam or vapour is thus regulated. The special arrangement of the pipes,
cocks, and raising and lowering apparatus must depend upon the situation of
the buildings to be protected; thus the metal pipe may transmit the steam or
vapour in passing either on the ground floor, the facade, or the interior of the
building, and will vary in size with that of the workshops or apartments, and
the power of the steam or vapour generators. The raising and lowering
apparatus will usually be placed against one of the piers, that is to say,
between the windows of the facade or front of the building, to be away from
the fire, and about the height of a man, that it may be easily worked; it may
be enclosed if desired. If it should be necessary to place the pipes and cocks
within the building, the raising and lowering apparatus being outside, the
movement of this latter will be transmitted to the cocks by means of a rod
fixed to the key of the cock or tap and the upper lever of the raising and
lowering apparatas.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Gedge in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 16th August 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD GEDGE, of the Firm of John Gedge and Son, of No. 11, Wellington
Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date: the Twenty-seventh day of March, in the year
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Edward Gedge, Her special licence, that I, the said William
Edward Gedge, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Edward Gedge, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times thereafter. during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully

page_text: .
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRE," (a communication to
me from abroad by Gabriel Brasseur, of No. 15, Passage des Petites
Ecuries, Paris, France,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Edward Gedge, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals;
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention;
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be
filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that. I,: the said William Edward Gedge, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference: being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto
annexed, and forming part of this my Specification, and to the figures and
letters of reference placed thereon:-
Expérience has proved that a continuous jet of steam. directed into the
midst of a conflagration will very rapidly choke the flames and extinguish the
fire. This energetic means, the application of which appears.so simple in all
establishments having steam power at command, has hitherto proved of little
advantage, by reason of the difficulty, often amounting to impossibility, of
regulating at will the distribution of the steam. To obtain all the good effect
desired, it was necessary that a simple and easy means should be provided by
which the steam could be distributed at will in every and any part of the
building, such means or apparatus being always available without danger, no
matter where the seat of the flames, and I think it will be apparent from the
following description that such a means is provided by the apparatus forming
the subject of this Invention.
In the accompanying Drawing, A denotes a metallic pipe, which receives
the steam from the generators through a tap or cock placed within easy reach;
this tube transmits the steam to the escape pipe C by the aid of the cock B.
Each escape pipe is furnished with a raising and lowering apparatus, which
permits the distribution of the steam to be regulated at will. The arrange-
ment or position of the pipes, cocks, and raising and lowering apparatus must
necessarily be dependent upon the particular situation of the buildings to be
protected. Thus the pipe A may transmit the steam in passing either in the
basement, against the front, or in the interior of the buildings, and its
dimensions will be generally in proportion with the size of the rooms to be

page_text: preserved and the power of the generator. The raising and lowering apparatus
will be generally applied against the piers or wall between the windows, so as
to be in no danger from fire, and about the height of a man from the ground,
in order that it may be easily worked, and if deemed advantageous it might be
inclosed in a box. It is necessary to place the pipes A and C, and the cocks B,
within the building, while the raising and lowering apparatus must be outside,
the movement of the raising and lowering apparatus being transmitted to the
cocks B by means of a rod fixed invariably to the key of the cock and to the
upper lever of the raising and lowering apparatus, as shewn in the Drawing,
in which A" denotes the lever of the raising and lowering apparatus; B", the
rod; C¹¹, rod fixed invariably to the centre I" of the lever A", and to the key
of the cock D, which transmits the steam to the escape pipe E". The
raising and lowering apparatus are always placed according to the stories, so
that if a fire break out on the second floor of a building, lowering the second
lever a quarter of a turn after having first turned on the tap from the
generator is sufficient to immediately throw the steam into the room on fire.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the means by
which the same is carried into practical effect, I would have it understood
that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein given, as modifications
may be made therein without departure from the Invention, which I declare
to be, and I claim the machinery or apparatus herein substantially described
and set forth in the annexed Drawing, when used for the purpose of
extinguishing fire by the agency of steam.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Gedge, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
W. E. GEDGE. (L.S.)