APPARATUS FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRES. 603 

 APPARATUS FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRES. 



By JOHN G. MORSE. 



DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN INDUSTRIES SINCE 

 COLUMBUS. XIX. 



[Concluded. ] 



ONE of the most important modem additions to fire- fighting 

 apparatus is the water tower. This invention has so greatly 

 aided in flooding out fires that it will be no exaggeration to say 

 that the date of its introduction marks another era in the history 

 of fire-fighting in this country. Quite appropriately, in the cen- 

 tennial year, 1876, Mr. John Logan, a machinist in the employ of 

 Mr. Abner Greenleaf, of Baltimore, invented a contrivance that 

 was encumbered with the long name of " a portable standpipe 

 fire-extinguishing apparatus." For convenience this term has 

 been shortened to " water tower." Mr. Greenleaf was so sure of 

 the future usefulness of the invention that he immediately made 

 a full-sized machine which was completed in 1879. The ap- 

 paratus consisted of a firmly built crane-neck truck, in the center 

 of which rested a length of pipe supported on a pair of trunnions. 

 Two more sections of pipe that could be coupled to the first 

 section were carried detached. The three sections measured fifty 

 feet when at full length and were braced with wire ropes. By 

 turning a hand-screw at the back, the trunnions revolved and the 

 pipe assumed an upright position. The nozzle at the top was 

 controlled by guide ropes, and as the pipe was raised the lower 

 end swung under the truck and could be connected to one, two, or 

 three steam fire engines. 



The great advantage claimed was that a powerful stream 

 could be directed at short range on a fire in the upper stories of a 

 building when a stream from the ground would spray and strike 

 the ceiling, and when the heat would prevent a fireman from 

 directing a stream from the top of a ladder. The later develop- 

 ment and use of the water tower has proved this claim to be well 

 founded. If the buildings opposite a fire are ignited, one sweep 

 of the water-tower stream will be of more avail than several 

 streams from the ground. Many other advantages could be 

 named. The first water tower was put on trial in the New York 

 Fire Department, and was so successful that it was purchased by 

 the authorities. Firemen generally were greatly pleased, and the 

 press lauded the inventor in praiseworthy terms. The Fireman's 

 Journal of September 4, 1880, alluded to the water tower as 

 follows : 



" This apparatus is really the only absolutely new appliance 



