AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRE
Year: 1876

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Herbert William Hart at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 26th October 1876.
HERBERT WILLIAM HART, of Southampton Buildings, London, Engineer.
" AN
IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRE."
My Invention is designed to furnish efficient means for preventing the destruction
of houses and other buildings, ships, and other structures or property by fire, and
consists in the application or employment of steam or vapour for this purpose, and
in novel apparatus for generating the steam or vapour, and for introducing it into
the house, ship, or other structure for subduing the fire therein.
In carrying my said Invention into practice I generate the steam in a boiler
especially constructed for the purpose, and heated, as herein-after described, in such
a manner that large volumes of steam may be generated and forced into the flames
or incandescent portions of the building in the shortest possible time.
The apparatus I employ comprises a boiler constructed to sustain a very high
pressure; I may use either a plain cylindrical boiler or a boiler provided with fire
tubes like a locomotive boiler, or I may use a boiler consisting of a series of water
tubes.
The peculiarity of my apparatus is the arrangement of the furnace or heating
portion of the same, which is as follows:-I arrange under the boiler or pass
through the same a tube or series of tubes perforated with small holes and con
nected with a vessel containing petroleum or other spirit, which flows or is forced
into the said perforated tubes or pipes, and which burns in a series of jets, and
thereby produces an intense heat in the furnace; or I may supply the said pipes
with ordinary illuminating gas taken from the street mains, or gas pipes in the
street, or in the building.
The said boiler is provided with delivery or discharge pipes of suitable diameter,
and which consist of a series of pieces or lengths connected by universal joints and
covered with felt or other slow heat conducting material which will prevent the
condensation of steam in the pipes and allow the latter to be handled without in-
convenience.
The aforesaid apparatus may be either stationary or portable. In using the same
in the place of an ordinary fire engine, I prefer to insert the nozzle of the delivery
pipe into a door or window at the basement of the burning building; if practicable
I place the said apparatus or engine in close proximity to the said door or window

page_text: so that a long discharge pipe is not necessary; I then open a cock or valve which
is fitted in the said delivery pipe near the boiler, and thereby discharge the steam
into the building. This steam will form a dense cloud of vapour which will ascend
and penetrate into all parts of the building, and will very quickly subdue the fire,
and will prevent the further spreading or extension of the same. When it is
necessary to employ a great length of discharge pipe, the man at the nozzle
may communicate with the engine driver by signals to control the discharge of
the steam.
In applying my Invention to ships or other vessels I prefer that the steam
generating apparatus shall always be kept ready, the pipes being extended into the
hold and other parts of the ship, and provided with valves or cocks that can
be readily opened in any particular part of the ship at a moment's notice.
For mills, factories, warehouses, and other large buildings, I prefer to have appa-
ratus fixed in the basement, and arrange pipes with discharge outlets on every floor
of the building and extending into every room of the same.