PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION H. 649 



includes an opening spindle and connections for hose above the valve 

 seat, so that the Melbourne pillar hydrant may be described as a Bate- 

 man and Moore fireplug placed on top of a pillar, and having permanently 

 fixed over same a dwarf hydrant. 



Both Adelaide and Melbourne types of pillar hydrants or fireplugs 

 may be considered excellent pieces of apparatus, and each can be 

 arranged to give ample waterways up to the hose connections, whereas 

 all roadway fireplugs have necessarily to be made to fit the standard 

 portable hydrants, so that increased waterways could only be obtained 

 with them by scrapping all existing hydrants and commencing de novo, 

 The following objection has been urged against the screw-down system 

 in pillar hydrants. As the valve spindle is necessarily made of brass 

 and the body of the plug (for economy) of cast iron, the pressure with 

 which the valve presses on its seat will vary with he temperature, 

 increasing with heat and decreasing with cold ; and hence that plugs 

 closed during the heat of a hot day may be expected to leak during 

 any succeeding cooler weather, whilst those closed during cold weather 

 will be subject to excessive strains during following hot spells. This 

 is understood to have been one reason for the Melbourne engineers 

 modifying the type, and it would be interesting to learn whether any 

 trouble has been experienced from this cause in Adelaide. 



The Adelaide and Melbourne pillar hydrants may be considered 

 satisfactory but costly, and hence an effective and economical substi- 

 tute for them becomes desirable. To provide this the writer has 

 designed an arrangement by which a fireplug (preferably wi'h large 

 valve chamber as already described) is placed on the kerb-line, the 

 hydrant seat being about Sin. above the footpath level, or at least 1ft. 

 above gutter-level. In this position the plug would form a dangerous 

 obstruction unless suitably protected ; but this is done by covering 

 it with a movable dwarf pillar standing about 3ft. above the kerb- 

 level. Alternate types are in use, one being a detachable pillar pro- 

 vided with internal arms to engage the fireplug lugs and a locking 

 pawl worked by a suitable key, by means of which the cover is locked 

 in position. The other is a hinged cover which is normally locked in 

 place by a weighted catch, but which can when required be thrown 

 back, leaving the fireplug available for use. The latter is undoubtedly 

 the more convenient arrangement, but is slightly more expensive. 

 These fireplugs are effective in stopping pollution. They can be 

 readily found and are easy to connect to, whilst they are much lower 

 in first cost than either Adelaide or Melbourne pillar hydrants. It is 

 further to be noted that during hot weather the water temperature in 

 the Adelaide and Melbourne pillar hydrants will be much higher than 

 in the case of the Fowler pillar fireplugs, the water chambers being 

 much more exposed ; and hence in them bacterial growth will neces- 

 sarily be more rapid. 



Tests as to times required to couple up a hydrant and 50ft. of hose 

 to Bateman and Moore fireplugs and Fowler pillar fireplugs with de- 

 tachable covers, and to couple up 50ft. of hose to the Melbourne pillar 

 hvdrants were made on October 4th, 1905, at the Melbourne Fire 



