IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRES
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Lloyd Wise at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 18th January 1877. A communication
from abroad by Antony Gauchet, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium,
Engineer, and Otto Stirnemann, of Zurich, Switzerland, Merchant, and Werner
Weissenbach, of Zurich, Switzerland, Engineer.
WILLIAM LLOYD WISE, of Chandos Chambers, Adelphi, in the County of Mid-
cllesex. " IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR EXTINGUISHING
FIRES." (A communication from abroad by Antony Gauchet, of Brussels, in the
Kingdom of Belgium, Engineer, and Otto Stirnemann, of Zurich, Switzerland,
Merchant, and Werner Weissenbach, of Zurich, Switzerland, Engineer.)
This Invention, as communicated to me, relates to a novel construction or com-
bination of parts of machinery or apparatus by which a stream of water under
pressure may be mixed or saturated with chemical matters, so as to be more effective
in its action in extinguishing fires.
According to one arrangement of this Invention the hose from a fire pump or
other source of water under pressure is terminated by a nozzle or "lance," in which
are disposed two injector cones. The said nozzle is carried by the fireman or
operator, who also carries one or more tanks or reservoirs (if one be used it is
divided into two compartments), one of which reservoirs or compartments contains
bicarbonate of soda, and the other a suitable acid. The top of the compartment or
reservoir containing bicarbonate of soda communicates by means of a pipe with the
said nozzle, by preference at a point behind the cones. The two compartments or
reservoirs are connected at bottom with the said nozzle by two pipes, one from each
of the said compartments or reservoirs, one of the said pipes opening into the said
nozzle beneath the first cone, and the second beneath the second cone.
The action of the said apparatus is as follows:-The water flowing through the
hose enters the nozzle, and passes partly into the reservoir containing bicarbonate
of soda, and forms therewith a solution ready for use. The remainder of the water
passes through the nozzle, and when passing through the first injector cone therein
draws in from one of the compartments or reservoirs one of the chemical solutions
or liquids, and when passing through the second cone draws into the nozzle the
chemical solution or liquid from the second compartment or reservoir, and the said
chemical matters on meeting in the nozzle form carbonic acid gas, which mixing
with the water issuing from the nozzle forms a liquid highly effective in the extinc-
tion of fires; or one or more pumps are made to pump the chemical solutions or

page_text: liquids from suitable tanks into a closed reservoir, in which is a pipe perforated
with holes within the said reservoir, which pipe passes out from the said reservoir,
and terminates by a conical injector tuyere or head in a pipe, in which water under
pressure is pumped or forced, and which conveys the said water or the mixture to
the required distance.
The action of this machine or apparatus is as follows:-The pumps being set at
work the chemical matters are pumped into the reservoir, in which they mix and
produce carbonic acid gas, which carbonic acid gas penetrates into the reservoir
pipe through its perforations, and thence passes into the injector tuyere or head in
the water supply pipe, and combining with the water produces a mixture of a very
effective nature for the extinction of fires.