IMPROVED MEANS OF EXTINGUISHING CONFLAGRATIONS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Gedge, of the Firm of John Gedge
& Son, of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MEANS OF EXTINGUISHING
CONFLAGRATIONS."-A communication from abroad by Alexandre Lelandais,
of Nantes, in the Department of the Loire Inférieure, France, Distiller.
Sealed the 5th March 1861, and dated the 8th September 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Gedge
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th September 1860.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD GEDGE, of the Firm of John Gedge & Son, of
No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS
OF EXTINGUISHING CONFLAGRATIONS," communicated to me from abroad by
Alexandre Lelandais, of Nantes, in the Department of the Loire Inférieure,
France, Distiller, to be as follows:-
The system forming the subject of this Invention may be established in'all
factories and other places possessing a steam boiler. It consists in placing a
steam pipe immediately above the generator, such pipe to lead into every part
of the establishment which it is desired to protect from fire. The stop-cock of
this pipe must be placed where most easily accessible to the engineer, and

page_text: wliere a conflagration is most unlikely. If fire be discovered in one of the
rooms or floors all communication with the exterior is to be shut off, the
engineer turns the tap of the steam pipe, and the steam enters the room and
spreading fills it in a few moments, rendering any extension of the fire to
upper stories or contiguous apartments impossible, and choking the fire by
covering the walls, ceiling, and flooring of the room with a humid vapour.
One man may by the use of this arrangement extinguish in a few instants the
most extensive fire.
This Invention will be found equally applicable to steam vessels, and may
even be applied to sailing vessels.
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 7th March 1861.
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 Eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth 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 might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS OF EXTINGUISHING CONFLAGRATIONS," a communi-
cation to me from abroad by Alexandre Lelandais, of Nantes, in the Depart-
ment of the Loire Inférieure, France, Distiller, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Edward Gedge, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument 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.

page_text: 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 :-
The improved means of extinguishing conflagrations forming the subject of
this Specification may be divided into three classes,―
Firstly, where a steam generator is on the premises, taking steam there-
from, and conducting it through suitable tubes fitting easily on the generator..
Secondly, where a locomobile or portable steam engine is at hand, taking
steam therefrom, and passing it-through tubes, as above mentioned.
Thirdly, a special portable engine so constructed as to give the greatest
supply of steam in the shortest possible time, to be easily transported to the
conflagration, and otherwise adapted to the purpose in view.
The application of these means, in the first instance, is by placing one or
more steam cocks upon the generator (or other reliable means of obtaining
steam at will from the generator may be used), and a system of tubes which
joining on to the generator and each other may conduct the steam not only
throughout the factory in which the generator is placed, but further if desired
to protect several buildings or neighbours' houses from fire. Supposing a fire
to break out,. all that will be necessary to extinguish it will be to close. all
doors, windows, or other openings, if possible, and then joining one or more
tubes to the steam cock to start the steam into the midst of the flames,
when their developement will be immediately arrested; they will. lessen or
subside by degrees, and a moment afterwards become extinguished as by a
miracle..
If a portable engine (which is preferable from the facility of transporting it
where required) is possessed, the operation is the same as above described for
fixed generators. But as it is only on board steam vessels and in factories
that steam generators or portable steam engines are at hand, the special
portable steam engine shewn in the annexed Sheet of Drawings (and which I
will now proceed to describe) has been designed to render this system generally.
applicable..
In the Drawing Figure 1 shews a section of the boiler following the line
A, B; Figure 2, plan of boiler following the line G; Figure 3, sectional eleva-
tion of front of boiler following the line C, D; Figure 4, sectional elevation of
back of boiler following the line E, F, and shewing the front of the furnace;
Figures 5 and 5*, moveable tubes (of caoutchouc or other suitable material)
adaptable to every description of boiler, and their ends furnished. with copper.

page_text: joints by which they may be indefinitely extended; and Figure 6, side elevation
(on a smaller scale) of the entire engine.
a, a¹, grating and beam or transom; b, 61, ash box; c, coupling box appli-
cable to every description of boiler. At the entrance of each of the caoutchouc
tubes shewn at Figures 5 and 5* a stop-cock is fitted in communication with
the copper coupling box c, and at the other extremity is a cylinder or pipe
mouth of copper furnished with two handles or a hook to facilitate their
use. The joints of these pipes which communicate with the steam cocks may
be screwed at pleasure upon the four faces, or upon the four steam cocks
of the steam dome or reservoir of the engine. Upon reference to the
Drawings it will become evident that this portable steam engine is combined
and arranged on an entirely new system for the purpose of producing steam in
a third or fourth of the time required in ordinary engines, and consequently to
provide three or four times as much steam. And although the boiler shewn
only represents in heating surface about twelve horse-power, it furnishes a
quantity of steam far greater than an ordinary engine of that power.
A fire brigade station being provided with one of these engines on an alarm
being given, the fire is instantly lit beneath the boiler, and if it take from
twenty to twenty-five minutes from that moment to put the horses to and
arrive at the place on fire, sufficient steam will be produced to attack the
flames. And it should be observed that by placing on the generator three or
four steam cocks, and joining thereto as many tubes, the flames may be
attacked in four apartments or floors at once. These steam cocks should (to
avoid embarassment and permit the tubes to be directed with facility on
different sides) be placed on the four cardinal points of the steam dome or
reservoir, and care should be had to provide plenty of tubing to join together.
At Figure 3 will be seen copper tubes within the boiler to increase the heating
surface; and at Figure 4 is shewn the shape and construction of the front of
the furnace.
The face of the boiler presents at one end all the necessary accessories, toge-
ther with three small water level taps and a tube with double stop-cock; it
also shows a face of the steam dome with three steam cocks attached. A
steam guage with double stop-cock also permits the safety valves to be seen.
In Figure 1 the boiler is shewn square below, the elevation of the upper
part is round, and the railing indicates the place for the stoker and the coal.
The tubes shewn rolled at Figure 5 and straight at Figure 5 are the same.
The application of this system on board steam vessels is exceedingly simple and
inexpensive, it being only necessary to furnish the generator with one or more

page_text: steam cocks, and be provided with tubing to fit thereon, in which case the
engineer could extinguish any fire without the assistance of any other person.
For sailing vessels of any tonnage a boiler balf the size of that shewn in the
Drawing (which may be taken at scale of about half an inch to the foot) will
suffice, and the form of engine may be modified to suit the ship, the framing
and chariot being suppressed, and the platform for the stoker and the coal
which becomes useless. It may here be observed that the escape of this
steam cannot occasion damage or accident, as it has been proved by ex-
perience that steam at more than a yard and a half to two yards from its
escape cannot cause burn or deterioration.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention and means by
which it may be carried into practical effect, I would have it understood that
I do not confine myself to the precise details herein described and shewn in
the Drawing, as such may be varied without departing from the principle of
this Invention; and that I claim the exclusive use of the machinery and
apparatus herein described and shewn in the Drawing, and of the methods
herein indicated for extinguishing conflagrations by forcing or injecting steam
vapour on to or into the flames.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Gedge, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
5
Witness,
JOHN GEDGE,
11, Wellington Street, Strand.
W. E. GEDGE. (L.S.)