FIRE-ENGINE. 



FIRE-ENGINE. 



valves, one of which opens upwards from the pipe H to the pipe D ; 



and the other also upwards from D to the air-vessel A. At the point I 



Fig. 2. 



in the lower pipe is situated the cock, the handle of which is seen 

 at L. 



This being the relation of the parts to one another, let us now 

 suppose the piston e and its rod o to have a reciprocating motion. 

 The air chamber being full of air of the ordinary atmospheric 

 density, we will suppose the piston to be drawn up to the top of 

 the pump cylinder r. The piston draws up with it the air which the 

 cylinder contains, and thus creates a partial vacuum beneath. The 

 valve between the two pipes having now a stream of water pressing 

 it upwards, while the space above it contains rarefied air only, the 

 valve is forced open, and the pump- barrel r and the pipe D become 

 filled with water. When the returning stroke of the lever forces the 

 piston down to its former position, the water is driven before it into 

 the air-vessel A. At the second upward motion of the piston a partial 

 vacuum is again produced beneath it ; but the water now contained in 

 the air-vessel cannot return to fill that vacated space, on account of 

 the mode in which the valve opens. A fresh supply is therefore 

 gained, as before, from the pipe H through the valve communicating 

 with D. This supply is, by the subsequent downward pressure of the 

 piston, forced into the air-vessel, in the same manner as the first 

 portion. The air in the air-vessel has no communication with the 

 external atmosphere except through the pipe B c, which is fitted air- 

 tight into the neck of the vessel at B. When the water ascends in 

 thin vessel above the bottom of the tube at c, the air above that level 

 becomes compressed into a smaller space, as all escape is guarded 

 against. With this compression its elasticity is also increased in the 

 same ratio ; and the effect of that increase is to drive the water up the 

 tube. The velocity and height depend upon the compression ; but as 

 long as the density exceeds that of the external air, so long will the 

 water be forced up the tube ; and thus a continuous stream is insured, 

 which is the object desired. If the condensation be carrried to a 

 greater extent, the height to which the water will be ejected will 

 increase in the same ratio ; so '(hat, if the bulk of the confined air 

 i .-duced to one-third, one-fourth, or one-fifth of its original bulk, 

 the aecensive power gained would be about 66, 99, or 132 feet 

 respectively. 



Such are the simple principle* of the old fire engines. It need hardly 

 be said that improvements have since been introduced in every part. 

 Contrivances are now used for preventing mud and gravel from entering 

 the engine by the feed. Some engines, entirely of metal, have been 

 made by Mr. Tiiley. Merryweather's small or portable engines are 

 provided for the special protection of public establishments and large 

 "n. The leathern hose or tube*, usually sewn up at the side, are 

 Hoinetime* fastened by means of metallic rivets. The Americans have 

 devised a mode of weaving cotton tubes for engine-hose ; a machine has 

 been invented that will do this at the rate of 1000 feet per day ; the 

 tubes are only one-tenth the cost of leathern hose ; and if two concentric 

 tubes of this kind be cemented together with caoutchouc-solution, they 

 are said to be even more durable than leather, and to require no oiling. 

 Much ingenuity has been shown in devising a form of boss or nose for 

 the end of the hose ; the boss contains many small openings for the 

 exit of the water ; and Bramah, Baddeley, and other engineers, have 

 so coBtrived these terminal piece* as to direct the play of the stream 

 of water in any direction in a burning apartment. Captain Fowke's 

 fire-engine, patented in 1859, dispenses with a cistern, and can hence 

 be conveyed rapidly, on account of its light weight. It ha* a pair of 

 action force-pumps, fitted with metal valves; a suction and 

 delivery air-vessel ; hose, to draw water into the pumps ; and lever- 

 hiari'lles, to force it out. It may be drawn by hand, or connected with 

 a carriage drawn by a horse. A fire-engine of great power was made 

 for the London Docks some years ago, with working barrels eight 

 inohe* diameter ; it would throw a jet eighty feet high, when worked 



perpendicularly. Many other fire-engines of great magnitude have 

 since been constructed. 



Mr. Braidwood, superintendent of the London Fire Brigade Establish- 

 ment, read a paper before the Society of Arts, in 1850, in which he 

 said : " The description of fire-engines found tn answer best in the 

 metropolis are those with 7-ineh barrels and 8-inch stroke, throwing, 

 at the ordinary rate of working, about 90 gallons of water per minute. 

 If a larger engine is thought desirable, two of these can be easily 

 joined together in one stream, giving 180 gallons per minute. This 

 size is preferred, because the weight, with hose, implements, firemen, 

 and driver, is about 30 cwt., which is as much as two fast horses can 

 manage for a distance under six miles. It is not often that the engines 

 are required to travel further than this ; when they are, four horses 

 are used. For some years past, a hand-pump has been carried with 

 each engine ; they having been found of the greatest service in keeping 

 doors, windows, &c., cool. They throw from 6 to 8 gallons per minute, 

 to a height of 30 or 40 feet, and can be xised in any position. The 

 idea of these hand-pumps was taken from the old-fashioned squirt or 

 hand-engine." 



Down to the year 1825 all the Fire Insurance Companies of London 

 had their separate establishments of fire-engines ; but in that year the 

 Sun, the Union, and the Royal Exchange Companies joined their fire- 

 engine establishments, which were placed under one superintendence. 

 Soon afterwards the Atlas and the Phoenix Companies joined the 

 association. The advantage of this combined system of action having 

 been proved, most of the remaining companies joined in 1833, and 

 formed a new association, which was to be managed by a committee, 

 formed by one member from each of the associated companies. London 

 was divided into a certain number of districts, in each of which were 

 two or more stations provided with engines. The plan has worked 

 well: more companies have joined the association; and it is found 

 that all are benefited. The firemen are formed into a corps, called the 

 jire-briga.de, which is under the efficient control of Mr. Braidwood, 

 as superintendent. The men are clothed in a uniform, with stout 

 helmets; and a certain number of them at each station are ready 

 at all hours of day or night. Each company pays its quota towards 

 the expenses of the fire-engine establishment. A very marked im- 

 provement has resulted in the capability and working of the engines. 

 It may here be observed that, in by-gone years, the parishes of 

 London provided fire-engines, under the compulsory provisions of two 

 Acts passed in 1768 and 1778. About 300 of these small parish- 

 engines still exist, but they render very little assistance at fires ; it is 

 found that the insurance companies, with their well-organised brigade, 

 manage the business much better. The brigade now possesses about 30 

 large engines, and 10 or 12 smaller drawn by hand. It has a well- 

 drilled staff of upwards of a hundred engineers, sub-engineers, firemen, 

 and drivers. There are about twenty stations in the Metropolis, each 

 with one to four engines, and a proportionate staff. 



The remarkable aptness and celerity of the men composing the 

 London Fire Brigade enable them to render an amount of service 

 truly surprising. The police, cabmen, and poor persons out at night, 

 are always ready to give notice at the engine-stations when a fire occurs 

 since they receive a fee for so doing ; and thus the necessary intelli- 

 gence is conveyed as quickly as in continental cities, where there are 

 night-watchmen on elevated buildings to look out for fires. When the 

 superintendent or foreman at any one of the twenty engine stations 

 hears of the locality of a fire, five minutes' time is deemed sufficient to 

 horse and away. Each of the large engines carries an engineer, four 

 firemen, and a driver, besides the following apparatus : several 

 lengths of scaling-ladder, each 6 4 feet long, all of which may be readily 

 connected end to end, forming in a short space of time a ladder of any 

 required height; a canvas sheet, with 10 or 12 handles of rope round 

 the edge of it, to serve as a fire-escape ; one 10-fathom and one 

 14-fathom piece of 2J inch rope ; six lengths of hose or leathern water- 

 pipe, each 40 feet long; two branch-pipes, one 2J feet, and the other 

 4 or 5 feet long, with a spare nose-pipe ; two 6-feet lengths of suction- 

 pipe ; a flat rose, stand-cock, goose-neck, dam-board, boat-hook, saw, 

 shovel, mattock, pole-axe, screw-wrench, crow-bar, portable cistern, two 

 dog-tails, two balls of strips of sheepskin, two balls of small cord, 

 instruments for opening the fire-plugs, and keys for turning the stop- 

 cocks of the water-mains the whole, with the men and the engine, 

 weighing nearly 30 cwt. 



On the Continent, and in America, the fire-engines are not managed, 

 as in England, by fire-insurance companies ; it is with them more of a 

 government affair. In Paris, there are seven times as many firemen 

 (sapeurt-pompien) as in London, notwithstanding the smaller area and 

 population ; and yet the by-standers are compelled by law to aid in 

 working the engines. In the United States, fire-companies of volun- 

 teers are formed hi many of the towns ; the members receive, not pay, 

 but certain immunities from taxation and militia service. The 

 annual parade-day of these companies is quite a fete, to which the fire- 

 companies of other towns are invited, and at which competition trial) 

 of engines are made. Each company wears its own distinct uniform. 

 Sometimes 36 companies of 50 men each have met. The prizes are 

 umially awarded to the firemen of those engines which discharge a jat 

 of water to the greatest height ; in recent years a height of no less than 

 150 feet has been reached, by an engine with 10-inch cylinder. During 

 the continuance of the Paris Exhibition in 185S, the engine-makers of 



