IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF EXTINGUISHING FIRES IN SHIPS, STEAMBOATS, VESSELS OF EVERY DESCRIPTION, HOUSES, WAREHOUSES, STORES, OR OTHER BUILDINGS OF WHATEVER KIND, AND IN THE MACHINERY CONNECTED THERE WITH
Year: 1859

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henry Edwin Drayson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd December 1859.
J, HENRY EDWIN DRAYSON, of Bridge Street, Westminster, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF EXTINGUISHING FIRES IN SHIPS,
STEAMBOATS, VESSELS OF EVERY DESCRIPTION, HOUSES, WAREHOUSES, STORES, OR
OTHER BUILDINGS OF WHATEVER KIND, AND IN THE MACHINERY CONNECTED THERE WITH,"
to be as follows:-
At present when it is required to put out a fire, water is applied by forcing it
through pipes and leather hoses by means of force pumps from ordinary fire
engines used for that purpose, or from pumps attached to the machinery of:
steam engines for throwing water to the parts on fire.
Now my first improvement consists in the direct application of a jet or jets
of steam to the part or parts of a ship, steamboat, or vessel of whatever kind
found to be on fire, for the purpose of extinguishing the flame and putting out
the fire. These jets of steam are caused to issue from any existing boiler or
boilers that are or may be fitted in ships, steamboats, or vessels, where steam
is or may be generated, by means of pipes, tubes, or flexible hoses attached to
certain parts of a steam boiler, or (which I prefer) from steam chests to be
fitted or that are fitted in connection with a steam boiler or boilers. These
steam chests will regulate the flow of steam through the pipes, tubes,. or

page_text: flexible hoses with greater regularity, and by this addition all the pipes, tubes,
or flexible hoses fitted to the steam chest or chests, and passing in and around
the ship, steamboat, or vessel for the purpose of conveying the steam to the
place on fire sufficient to fill any part or parts of a ship, steamboat, or vessel,
with the full amount of steam for putting out and stopping the progress of the
fire. Stop cocks to be fitted to each of these pipes, tubes, or flexible hoses for
the purpose of cutting off the steam from any one or all of the pipes, tubes, or
flexible hoses that pass in, through, or around the ship, steamboat, or vessel,
that the steam may be conveyed down any one or more pipes, tubes, or flexible
hoses for the purpose of concentrating the steam to any one point or spreading
the steam over various parts as may be found expedient, the steam being
supplied to the steam chest or to such pipes, tubes, or flexible hoses, by suitable
mechanical arrangements, as are well understood. These pipes, tubes, or
flexible hoses I prefer should be permanently fitted round and through the
interior or exterior of the ship, steamboat, or vessel, as may be found most
convenient according to the internal or external arrangement of the ship,
steamboat, or vessel, but I do not confine myself to this, such pipes, tubes, or
flexible hoses to be fitted with stop cocks if required at all places where an
escape of steam may be needed, which must be regulated to suit the
requirements of the ship, steamboat, or vessel, for conveying the steam from the
boiler or boilers where the steam is generated to the part or parts found to be
on fire. These pipes, tubes, or flexible hoses may be of any metal or sub-
stance that will withstand the heat and pressure of steam, and of various
lengths and dimensions, as may be found most expedient, to suit the vessel in
which they may be fitted. At the end of these pipes, tubes, or flexible hoses,
small pipes, tubes, or flexible hoses, be provided of the required lengths and
dimensions to fit on to the ends of the pipes, tubes, or flexible hoses already
described, for the purpose of more immediately conveying the steam to any
particular part or parts of a vessel found to be on fire, to be removable at
pleasure.
In ships or vessels, where no steam boiler or steam generator exists, I prefer
that a small steam boiler of sufficient size to generate steam for extinguishing
fires be fitted near the cooking apparatus or to any other more suitable part, to
be always filled with the necessary quantity of water, and ready to be heated as
emergences may arise, that at any time a plentiful supply of steam may be
generated to act upon the part or parts of a ship or vessel found to be on fire,
and to be fitted in all respects with suitable pipes, tubes, or flexible hoses in
all respects as if the ship or vessel were supplied with a steam boiler similar to
a ship or steamboat that may already have them as described above.

page_text: My second Invention consists in applying a jet or jets of steam for the
extinguishing fires in houses or other buildings. For this purpose an ordinary
locomotive boiler to be fitted on four wheels to travel on common roads would
be used, or any ordinary boiler for the generation of steam, so constructed as
to make it as light as possible. To this boiler is attached a pipe or pipes,
tubes, or flexible hoses, with stop cocks complete, to be used in conveying the
steam from the steam generator to the part or parts on fire; these pipes,
tubes, or flexible hoses, to be made of metal or any substance that will
withstand the heat and pressure of steam.