A MODE OF CONSTRUCTION OR ARRANGEMENT FOR ANY BUILDING, SO AS TO AFFORD SECURITY AGAINST FIRE, OTHER ADVANTAGES
Year: 1809

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CONGREVE, of Cecil Street, in the Strand, in tho County of Middlesex, Esquire,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Seventh day of February,
in the forty-ninth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said
William Congreve, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, His especial licence, full-
power, solo privilege and authority, that I, the said William Congreve, my.
exors, admiors, and assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A MODE OF CONSTRUCTION
OR ARRANGEMENT FOR ANY BUILDING, SO AS TO AFFORD SECURITY AGAINST FIRE,
OTHER ADVANTAGES;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained
a proviso, obliging me, the said William Congreve, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in, what manner the same is to be performed,
to be enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar
month after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the:
same, relation being thereunto had, may more fully and at large appear

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that, in compliance with the same proviso, 1, the said
William Congreve, do declare that my said Invention is described in
manner following, that is to say :-
The security against fire, which is the object of this Patent, is the result of
the combinations of several different agents, each of which, however, separately
is effectual to a certain extent, and to that extent therefore may be used singly,
which will together form one perfect system; I shall therefore separately
specify the parts, beginning with the most simple.
1st. This Invention comprehends a fire alarum, which, in case of fire breaking
out, shall instantly give the alarm, and at the same time indicate the precise
part of the house in which the mischief has arisen.
2dly. It comprehends an apparatus for extinguishing fire, which shall be
called into action by the fire itself at its first breaking out, and which shall be
brought to bear upon the precise part where the flames exist.
3dly. These means of extinction may be applied in conjunction with the
alarum, or without it.
4thly. The means of extinction may be either external or internal; all which
varieties of the combination may be applied according to the conveniences and
necessities of the case.
Thus in dwelling houses, especially in those of that class where a saving of
expense is an object, a good security may be afforded merely by exciting an
immediate alarm indicating the precise spot where the fire exists, because, as
in such a situation there are always people at hand, the fire might commonly
be gotten under by the inhabitants if they have but this warning, without any
means of extinction especially provided.
In theatres, however, and other buildings which are spacious, and where
there are but few persons on the spot, an alarum alone would afford but little
security, although desirable. To effect a perfect security therefore, in addition
to giving an immediate alarm, it is indispensable to provide the means of
extinction, by which the fire itself shall become the cause of its own immediate
extinction, and bring down upon itself a deluge in that particular spot where it
shall have commenced. In warehouses or other buildings which are at times
left without inhabitants, the alarum then becomes altogether a supernumerary
agent in the combination; and in such cases, therefore, it is sufficient to
provide the means of extinction alone. Such, therefore, being the general
outline and objects of this Patent, I shall now proceed to specify the modes by
which they are to be accomplished, in the order in which I have above classed
them..
Plate 1, Figure 1, is the section of a house supposed to consist of three

page_text: stories; in the upper room or in any other an alarum X is placed, the detent of
which (as shewn on a larger scale, Figure 2, Plate 1,) is connected with a lever
A, B, so that this lever being pressed down in any part shall set off the alarum;
over this lever are suspended any number of small weights, No. 1, 2, 3, &c.
according to the number of rooms in the house, each weight being marked to
indicate the particular room with which it communicates, and the bell Y being
brought in front for the convenience of placing the weights at top, but being
rung by a contrate wheel and verge as usual, under the lever A, B, a stop S, S,
is provided which, being in, the weights may press upon the lever without dis-
charging it. Now, these weights communicate each with its room, either by
cords or wires x, y, z, Figure 1 and 2, Plate 1, connected with cranks, or passing
over pullies, or without either, according to circumstances. The end of each of
these cords or wires comes into the corner of the room, and hangs there out of
the way when the alarum is not set, the weight at that time resting on the
lever. The operation of setting it, therefore, is merely as follows:-The cord or
wire, or whatever elso is used, being drawn tight, the weight is raised a few
inches from the lever, and the cord being long enough, is carried once or twice
or oftener across the room, as shewn in plan, Figure 3, Plate 1, attached to
small hooks in the wall; and the end of it made fast so as to hold the weight in
suspension. In this simple manner all the rooms in the house may be secured,
for it is evident that this arrangement having been made, and the stop with-
drawn, any incipient fire in any one of the rooms will immediately burn through
some part of the cord fixed as above described, so as instantly to let fall its
weight and discharge the alarum, while by observing what particular weight has
produced this effect, it is exactly known in what part of the house the fire exists.
Thus Figure 1, Plate 1st, supposes a fire to have just broken out in the middle
floor of the house, the string y, leading across that room is burnt through, the
middle weight supported by that string has fallen, the alarum is in action, and
it is known by observing, the weight, in, which room the fire must be. And
here I have to remark, that this self same apparatus, by merely connecting the
line with the windows and doors of the room, instead of the wall, that is, by
passing it over hooks fixed in the inside of the shutters, becomes at once an
alarum against robbers as well as fire, for it is evident that any attempt to
open either door or shutter so arranged, must slacken the cord, and by dropping
the weight on the lever, produce the same alarm as if the cord were burnt
through. This, though here considered merely as a collateral object and ad-
vantage, is indisputably one of no mean importance, since the same identical
arrangement answers both ends, and inasmuch as it is indeed more advisable to

page_text: variety of
carry the cord_to_the_window_shutters_than_to_any_other_part_of_the_room,
because, by so doing, it must pass in contract with the curtains, which are
amongst those parts of the furniture most liable to feel the first effects of a fire
breaking out. But the fire alarum thus far described.requires to be set every
night now, although from the extraordinary facility and simplicity of the
operation, this cannot be urged as any objection to the Invention; still, however,
it is by no means absolutely necessary, on the contrary, there is a
ways by which the same security may be gained, and the alarum be con-
stantly prepared. Thus the cords, wires, or other means which keep the
weights suspended may be passed round and about the room, either concealed
behind the paper, under the floor, and above the ceiling, or visibly, along
the corners, in which situation they may be made an. object of ornament,
with festoons or pendents of some rapidly inflaming natter, which shall, in
case of fire, quickly communicate with the main cord; or the leaders may
be concealed by a slight beading round any part of the room, so as to be
exposed to the first effects of fire, and so as in either of these modes.to be in
constant state of preparation. The same thing may also be effected by having
the end of the cord or wire, in the room fixed by means of certain cements,
which shall give way and release it without the immediate contact of the flames,
but merely by the effect of the heat produced by the fire in the room, the
atmosphere of which would soon acquire a temperature sufficiently high for
the purpose.
a
This arrangement is made by a small thin piece of any metal or other
substance about the size of a half-crown fixed to any part of the interior of the
room, and by a corresponding and similar piece of the same substance attached
to the end of the cord or wire supporting the weight. Now, these two pieces
of metal being cemented together by any of the following cements, the weight
will be supported in the desired position until the temperature.be raised to
the different degrees marked in the subsequent table for each nature, of
cement, so that the cement used may be fregulated according to the ordinary
temperature of the atmosphero in the room to be secured, that is to say:-In
rooms of ordinary high temperature the cements requiring the higher. tem-
perature to discharge the detent will be, used, and in those of ordinary.low
temperature those cements of greater facility of discharge shall be applied.
Table of the different degrees of temperature at which the following sub-
stances will give way with a tension of two pounds and a quarter:-Pure wax,
about 92° Fahrenheit; one part resin, one, wax, 100°; three parts resin, one
shell lac, 102°; nine shell lac, eight resin, 107°; resin, 108°;-two parts, resin,

page_text: one lac, 118°; shell lac, 142°; eight parts bismuth, five lead, and three tin, 190°.
These substances may be further varied, and other similar ones applied on the
same principle. I have been the more particular in specifying all these modes
because these detents, as will be found, apply equally to the apparatus of extinc-
tion as to the alarum.
The alarum may be constructed with an index which shall point out
the particular room on fire by the action of one weight alone. Figure 7,
Plate 1, represents such an index, where the cords or wires w, wv, &c. from
the different rooms lead to the pullies A, B, C, D, &c., keeping them while
the cords or wires are held tight in the positions A, B, C, D. These
pullies, however, over which a cord x, y, z, supporting the weight W is
strung, are contrived to slide into the positions a, b, c, d, by the action of the
weight W, according as the cord or wire of any room is discharged: Thus, if
the pulley A be kept in its position by the cord or wire w from the parlour;
when that is discharged A moves to a, and by this motion brings the word
parlour" attached to the pully A, into sight on the face of the index, while
the weight W dropping at the same instant discharges the alarum, and so on
with any other room. A mercurial or other thermometer may also be con-
structed, which being fixed in any room, shall discharge the cord or wire leading
to the alarum at any given temperature, for the expansion of mercury, or any
other fluid metal, or other substance affords an agent infinitely more powerful
than is here required. Figure 6, Plate 1, represents a thermometer so
arranged, the bulb B and tube T are rather larger than ordinary, and the tube
being left open at top a small tight piston p works within it; this piston
being set at a particular degree of temperature in the tube is connected by a
small rack r in this piston rod to a corresponding vertical toothed wheel w, and
this vertical wheel w again works into a horizontal one x, having a small
detent d on its axis. This detent holds the hook h, to the end of which the
wire or cord C, supporting the weight, is attached; when, therefore, the mercury
in the tube rises above the degree of temperature at which the piston is set, it
drives the piston before it, turns the wheels, unlocks the hook, and allows
the weight to fall. Here then the Specification of the first part of tho com-
bination of this Patent is complete, that is to say, it is thus far shewn how
an alarm may almost instantly be given upon the breaking out of a firo,
indicating also the precise spot where it exists; various means are shewn by
which this effect may be produced either visible or invisible, occasional or
constant, and various other modes might, were it necessary, be specified, but
this is needless as they can but be varieties of the same agency.

page_text: I shall now, therefore, proceed to specify the second part of the combination
hereby patented for security against fire, namely, the construction and
arrangement of the apparatus by which, immediately on the breaking out of a
fire, means shall be set in action to extinguish the flames wherever they may
be. This is accomplished by means of leaden, iron, or other pipes for the
conveyance of water to the burning part, the supply of it being directed into
the particular pipes leading to that particular spot by means similar to those
above described for exciting the alarum, or indeed by the same means when
the alarum is a part of the combination. Plate 1. Thus, let Figure 4 repre-
sent the section of a house of three stories, having a cistern A at the top of
the house in any convenient situation, either to be filled with rain water or by
a forcing pump, or in any of the usual modes; and suppose certain pipes
leading from this cistern to particular rooms, there to be disposed for the
purpose of discharging a quantity of water into that room, as will be hereafter
more particularly detailed, each of those pipes is provided with a valve or
plug, which when shut prevents the water from passing from the cistern into
it. These valves or plugs therefore being connected to the same line or wire
that discharges the alarum, when the two are combined, are contrived also
to be discharged or opened at the same instant that the alarum is sett off.
The valve V being raised by a lever L, having a weight W at the opposite
extremity, which weight is held in suspension by x or y, a branch of the cord
or wire which suspends the weight of the alarum for any particular room, so
that when that cord or wire is burnt through (or discharged by the fire in any
of the other modes above specified) so as to let fall the weight which excites
the alarum, the weight which raises the valve of the pipe P, Q, or R, com-
municating with that same room, shall also be discharged and fall. By this
arrangement therefore a rush of water to that particular room is produced at
the same instant that the alarum sounds, where they are thus combined,
or without the alarum, where the cords, &c., are connected with the valve
alone. Thus the rush of water to the middle story is immediately produced
through the pipe R by the breaking out of the fire in that story, and that
pipe being the only one opened, the stream is confined to the part where
the fire exists, by which means less water is required to produce the effect,
and the inconvenience of a general discharge of it is obviated.
Having thus, therefore, shewn how a fire breaking out in any part of a
building shall immediately bring a body of water to that part of it, it is now
to be explained how that water is to be employed for the certain extinction of
the flames which have brought it there.

page_text: There are various modes of accomplishing this object, still, however, no
variety in their application can affect this Invention, as any such varieties must
be still essentially the same, whilst they are founded on the particular basis
above specified and applied for the specific purpose above declared, that is to
say, while the water by which the fire is to be extinguished is brought into
action by the fire itself; I shall therefore confine myself to the specification
of a few of the most simple and most effectual of those modes...:
Plate 1 The system of dispersing the water throughout the room delineated
in the upper story of Figure 4, Plate 1, is that of producing an universal
shower from every part of the cieling, as expressed in that Figure "by the
streams a, a, a, a, &c.; where the cieling, as in theatres, is supposed to be a
thin lining of wood bored full of small holes, either to be concealed by some
filmy and porous paper, or to be worked into an ornamental pattern. Now,
the pipe or pipes P, from the cistern communicating with this room, being
sufficiently large, according to the size of the room, and so disposed as on
the opening of the valve or valves immediately to fill the space S, S, above
the ceiling, and to circulate water between the rafters, it follows that a deluge
will be poured down over every part of the room, the intensity of which may,
by construction, be carried to any degree, and the efficacy of which for the
almost immediate extinction of fire in that room cannot be doubted, even if it
had made much greater progress than the arrangement described can possibly
admit of previous to the application of the water, but should the fire have
broken through any part of the ceiling, it follows that the discharge of water
will thereby become greater in that part where it is in fact most wanted.
This mode appears more suited to theatres, warehouses, or other large
buildings of this description than to common dwelling-houses, as the latter
are seldom constructed with boarded ceilings; nevertheless, if the ceilings be
arranged expressly for the purpose, it is as applicable to the one as to the
other. In such buildings also as theatres, warehouses, and the like, where the
ceilings are very spacious, and where, therefore, it would be useless and even
inconvenient to produce a general shower from the whole extent of the roof;
the ceilings are to be divided into compartments, each having its distinct valves,
pipes, &c., so that in such a building, though in one large room, the extent
of the remedy shall be limited to the extent of the evil.
The second system for the dispersion of the water which I shall specify
seems better calculated for common dwelling-houses. This is delineated in the
middle story of Figure 4, Plate 1; it consists of a shower b, b, b, b,. produced
from the cornice all round the room, and of. a jet d'eau from the centre of

page_text: the ceiling to deluge the central parts. The 1st is produced by the water
being, by means of the pipes, valves, detents, &c., as above described, lct into
an iron, leaden, or wooden trunk T, T, passing round the room, and concealed
by the cornice; this trunk being full of holes, the cornice is also constructed
to admit the water when discharged from it to stream down the walls so
copiously as to extinguish any fire that may have seized the wainscott,
hangings, or furniture near themi, while the central jet d'eau is produced by
water carried into a small cistern C, Figure 4, Flate 1, the construction of
which is shewn on a larger scale in Figure 5, Plate 1, where a funnel F
is inserted into the cistern C; this funnel being connected with the cross
pipes Y, Y, X, X, forming as it were a hollow wheel, the axis of which
is the funnell F, moving in a sockett in the bottom of the cistern. Now,
at the extremity and in the side of each of these pipes, there are small
holes w, w, a, a, from which, when the cistern is full, the water rushes in
the directions x, y, and w, z, and produces a rapid revolving motion, the
pipes and funnell having a power of turning with facility, as above described;
in the centre of these revolving branches is fixed a bulb B, with holes
similar to the rose of a watering-pot, and at the end of each arm is affixed a
similar bulb D, from each of which water is allowed to stream in any quantity
by construction. This system, therefore, receives its rotation from the jets of
water x, y, z, z, and will, both by means of those jets and by means of the
roses or bulbs above described, scatter with great velocity any quantity of
water desired throughout the central parts of the room, as shewn by the
streams d, d, d, d, Figure 4, Plate 1, where the cistern C is supposed to be
concealed above the ceiling, and the branches X, X, lying close below the
ceiling, to be decorated in any way so as to become an object of ornament,
while the cornice conceals the trunk which waters the walls. Thus, therefore,
the means of inundating the room of a dwelling-house may be obtained without
any disfigurement; but the plan exhibited in the ground floor of Figure 4 will
be still less visible. The shower b, b, b, b, round the walls is produced by a
trunk behind the cornice as above, but the jets d'eau e, e, e, e, which act upon
the central parts, are here produced by pipes o, o, having their apertures
flattened and spread, or otherwise adapted for scattering water, and opening in
the angles of the cornice, or in other parts from whence may be thrown any
number of streams and in any direction about the room.
It has already been stated that in large buildings, such as theatres, &c.
where the ceilings are spacious, the application of the water is not to be
extended over the whole space, but to be confined to those parts where the

page_text: evil exists; so,. also, it must be remarked that in the larger or in any of the
rooms of a dwelling-house the remedy may also be partially applied, which-
ever mode be adopted.
Thus, in the first case, or that delineated in the upper story of Figure 4, the
shower in a room, as well as in a theatre, may be limited by compartments,
and be set in action by the detents, &c. being limited to those compartments;
in like manner, in the second case, or in the mode delineated in the second
story of Figure 4, the same partial application is practicable by exciting the
shower from the cornice on this or that particular side of the room, according
to the situation of the fire, and, instead of one central large branch, as above
described, of having a smaller one to every quarter or other division of the
room, and in that case delineated in the ground floor of Figure 4; the same
may evidently be practiced as to the stream from the cornice, and by setting
in action any one or more of the pipes in the angles; in fact, this partial
application may be limited even to particular pieces of fixed furniture, such as
a bedstead, or to the drapery of a curtain, where by having the ends of the
detent lines extended with weights concealed in tassels, or any other orna
mental devices, and combined with the drapery; these detents may be dis-
charged at the first inflamation of any part of the drapery, and either of the
effects above described may be produced, the shower being limited either to
the part itself or more extended over the room. A provision may be
made in every room by which any person may, in case of discovering the
accident before the detents shall happen to be discharged, immediately givo
the alarm and produce the shower. By similar means also a guard may
thus be afforded in particular rooms in case of those accidents to which the.
cloathes of women are so liable, and from the frequent and dreadful re-
currence of which so many lives are lost; in the first moment of any such
misfortune, the sufferer might immediately havo recourse to the handle.
thus provided, and might produce the alarm and a partial or general shower
on either of the above-specified principles, which should instantly extinguish
the flames before any serious injury had been received.
Now, it is evident that any of these modes of applying the rush of water
may be combined with either of the detents above described, that is to say,
either of them may be produced by the burning of the cord, whether visible or
invisible, or the releasing it by the fusion of the cement holding it, whatever that
may be, or by the ascent of the mercury in the thermometer, and that what-
ever these varieties of combination may be they may be adopted either in
conjunction with the alarum or without it. With regard to the different

page_text: systems of extinction, it must here be remarked that howsoever the water may
be applied no inconvenience from dampness or the breaking of pipes in frosty
weather need be apprehended, since whatever be the construction of the
apparatus for the immediate dispersion of the water, none of it is suffered to
escape from the cistern but at the moment when required to be called into
action, and therefore none of the inconveniences above mentioned can occur.
The whole apparatus also is provided with a stop similar to that of the alarum
above-mentioned, which either prevents or permits the action at pleasure.
Hitherto the source of the water to be employed has been considered
merely as internal, arising from a tank or reservoir at the top of the house
supposed to be previously filled. The external means of accomplishing the
The first of these
object even without a reservoir are now to be considered.
to be specified is by means of a forcing pump at the bottom of the house to
which on the alarm being given the inhabitants may run for the purpose of
extinguishing the fire, from which pump, by the same system of detents,
valves, &c., as above described, the stream shall be directed to the particular
part on fire.
Thus, Figure 2, Plate 2, represents a house secured on this principle, where
A is the forcing pump. Now, the water being driven by this pump into a
small cistern C, furnished with an air vessel D, and conducting pipes P, Q, R,
being carried from the cistern to different parts of the house, it follows that a
continual stream may at any time be thrown into any part according as this
or that conducting pipe is opened, and this is to be effected as with the great
reservoir by the falling of the weight W at the extremity of the lever L, which
thereby turns a cock and opens a particular pipe as the fire shall have libe-
rated the corresponding cord or wire on either of the above-mentioned
principles. It is evident that this system may be applied either as a substituto
for the reservoir or as an auxilary to it. But there is a still further and most
important external auxilary or substitute for either, which I have yet to
describe. This is to be obtained from the application of a system of conduct-
ing pipes by which the water of any number of engines in the street may also
be thrown into the house with the same determination to the seat of the fire as
that possessed by the internal means already described.
Thus Figure 1, Plate 2, represents a building provided with a close cistern C
in any part of it, having the conducting pipes P, Q, R, leading to the different
parts of the building, as in the last described case, with the forcing pump;
these pipes being as before provided with exactly the same levers, cocks,
weights, and lines (L, W, x, y, &c.,) as in Figure 2, Plate 2, and for the same

page_text: purposes, that is to say, for the determination of the water to any particular
part on fire. Now, in this instance the water is forced into the cistern
through any number of pipes M, N, leading from it into the street, and there
terminating in apertures O, P, similar to those of the common fire plugs; to
theso apertures the conducting hoses H, H, of any number of fire-engines
A, B, &c., are applied, so as force any quantity of water through this cistern,
which may be either at the top of the house (in which case it is the reservoir
above mentioned), or at bottom as in Figure 1, Plato 2. The water of these
engines may otherwise bo directed to any particular part of the building
by external or internal cocks, instead of the detents, &c. By these arrange-
ments, therefore, ten or twenty engines may be made to pour their torrents
into the particular part of the building in flames, so that not a drop of
water can be thrown in vain, and that even if the fire shall have mado head
it must soon yield to the force of water so brought to bear upon it, and
surrounding with such determined concentration the course and action of the
flames wherever they may have spread. It is indeed scarcely possible to
appreciate the importance of this mode of directing the action of the common
fire-engines, which as now applied are seldom of any use in preserving the
building on fire, not only from the impossibility of getting the stream to bear
upon the interior parts burning, but from the difficulty even of approach, which
is here entirely obviated, as the plug holes may be at any distance from the
building and yet produce precisely the same effect. This system of external
application may evidently be applied in conjunction with the reservoir, or
independantly of it. In small houses I conceive either the reservoir or
forcing pump sufficient, but in very large buildings where there is much
inflamable matter, as it is possible that it would require a cistern of incon-
venient dimensions under all circumstances to ensure the compleat extinction
of fire, in this case, therefore, it becomes of great importance indeed to have
tho external provision here specified, at the same time that it is of no less
importance to provide the reservoir also as in most cases it would be alone
sufficient, and as at all events, under the most extraordinary circumstances,
such as a fire breaking out in several parts at once, it would undoubtedly keep
the flames under till the full combination of the resources proposed, internal
and external, could be brought to act. I have only to repeat that however
these combinations are varied, it cannot affect the privileges granted me for
this Invention by His Majesty's Royal Letters Patent, as the basis of the
whole and every part is that the fire itself brings into action the means by
which it is extinguished. There remains now only to observe that a similar

page_text: security is in all respects extremely applicable on board of ship, where for the
parts under water, such as the orlop deck and hold, which are indeed the most
dangerous, any intensity of stream thus directed to the part on fire may be
obtained without either reservoir or labour, merely by the detents and valves
acting at once in the side of the vessel, and that in the parts above water the
operation of the forcing pump may be applied as above specified with the
greatest convenience and under circumstance of peculiar facility as to labour.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Congreve, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and nine.