1849.'| 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



127 



FIRE ANNIHILATOR. 



At the Royal Institution, Feb. 23, the Rev. J. Barlow delivered a lecture 

 " On Mr. Phillips's Fire Annihilator." The annual destruction of property 

 to the amount of more than two millions sterling, and the fearful loss of 

 human life, necessitate additional resources against fire. The destructive 

 agent of conflagration is flame. It is flame which occasions violent draught, 

 produces the most intense heat, and most rapidly generates those suffocating 

 vapours which render the burning apartment inaccessible. Mr. Barlow re- 

 marked that the origin and continuance of flame depended on two condi- 

 tions — firstly, that the combustible material should be raised to, and kept at, 

 a temperature high enough to afford a constant supply of inflammable gas ; 

 and, secondly, that it should be constantly fed with pure air. The usual 

 remedy against fire is water. But water is able to interfere with the first of 

 these conditions only. Unless the burning substance be so saturated with 

 water that it cannot give out combustible gas, within a very few minutes 

 after it has been set on fire, the heat of the flame first extends, and then 

 ignites other inflammable gases and vapours from various parts of the room; 

 the flames are thus dispersed about the apartments ; and by the time that 

 the engine arrives, the contents of the house are frequently consumed. Mr. 

 Phillips proposes to subdue flame by effectually disturbing the second condi- 

 tion of its continuance — access of pure air. The object of the Fire Annihi- 

 lator is to diffuse through the atmosphere (already vitiated by the combus- 

 tion) of an apartment on fire, a quantity of carbonic gas and steam, and thus 

 render the continuance of flame impossible. These gases and vapours are 

 generated in a portable apparatus, which, when intended for the protection 

 of private dwellings, weighs from twenty to thirty pounds; and the con- 

 struction is such that the aeriform fluids can be evolved in less than three 

 seconds on touching a spring. When saw-mills or docks and large maga- 

 zines are to be protected, Mr. Phillips recommends that larger machines 

 should be stationed at convenient situations. The effects of Mr. Phillips's 

 apparatus were exhibited in the lecture-room. A large volume of flame was 

 made to issue from models of a house, a room, and a ship and these flames 

 were extinguished as soon as the Fire Annihilator was brought to bear upon 

 thtm. Mr. Barlow remarked in conclusion that while the common fire- 

 engine was neceisarily tardy, required great power to work it, was liable to 

 be rendered ineffectual by accidental circumstances, and occasioned inevit- 

 able damage to furniture, &c., the fire annihilator was always at hand, always 

 ready for use, easily set in action, and that its coming into action when 

 required might be as surely relied on as the discharge of a percussion gun 

 when the trigger was pulled; that it occasioned no injury to turniture, and, 

 above all, that though it acted by producing fierce combustion, those who 

 used it need apprehend no injury from it. 



NOTES OF THE SIONTH. 



Sale of Ihe ' Great Britain' Steamer. — This ill-fated steamer has within 

 the last few days changed owners. It is rumoured that she has been pur- 

 chased by a company who intend to carry passengers between some point on 

 the western side of South America and San Francisco. The sum she realised 

 is said to be 25,000/. — What a sacrifice 1 



Paris. — For many years a survey of the underground works of Paris has 

 been in progress, and which is now nearly completed. It is to form an 

 atlas of five sheets — corresponding to a superficies of 500 by 300 metres, 

 and will exhibit quarter by quarter all the labyrinthine sinuosities of the 

 ancient quarries and catacombs under the city of Paris, with the correspond- 

 ing edifices, squares, and streets above ground. The labours of the en- 

 gineers in the execution of this work, have been, says the Journal ties 

 Deltats, of the most tedious and delicate nature. This may be imagined 

 when it is understood that every subterranean point has its corresponding 

 exterior point, — and that a double calculation is necessary for the precise 

 marshalling of objects without, over the tortuous lines (empty or encum- 

 bered) within. The map has been co-ordinated on the supposition of two 

 axes ; one figuring a medirian passing by the Well of the Observatory — the 

 other a line perpendicular to the first. 



Water Test. — If there be any organic matter in water, it may be easily 

 detected by a drop of the solution of nitrate of silver, which will cause a 

 precipitate of a brown colour. 



New Saw-Filing and Setting Machine. — Messrs. Norton and Cottle, of 

 Holme's Hole, America, have recently patented in the United Stales a 

 machine for filing and setting saws, enabling the operator to whet and set 

 the teelhof saws in such a manner, that every trjotb will be equal in size 

 and length, the proportion being graduated by an index, and so adjusted as 

 to suit the teeth of saws of every description. Saws that have been used 

 and become useless in consequence of bad filing, con be re-cut, and made as 

 valuable as new. The set is attached to the machine in such a manner, that 

 when the filing is completed no alteration is required in the adjustment of 

 the saw to complete the setting. The inventors have found by experience 

 that the hardest saws can he set without breaking or injuring the teelh. 

 Saws considered in a measure useless having passed through this machine, 

 are said to work perfectly easy, and perform much faster than those filed in 

 the usual manner; and the teelh being all of an equal length, will not re- 

 quire filing so frequently. 



South Devon Railway. — The permanent way from the Laira station to 

 Plymouth has been completed, and arranged to open for public tratlic on 

 the 2nd of April. 



Ventilation of Coal Mines. — Mr. Goldsworthy Gurney's plan of ventilating 

 mines by a jet of high-pressure steam, as proposed by him as far back as 

 1825, has now been put into practice by Mr. Forstcr, in one of the collieries 

 at Newcastle, and it is stated with great success. 



The Zinc Deposit of Galvanic Batteries. — It is suggested that the sulphate 

 of zinc might be turned to a valuable account by the following process : — 

 To a solution of sulphate of zinc add an equivalent of muriate of soda, also 

 in solution ; an exchange will take place, the muriatic acid combining with 

 the zinc, and the sulphuric with the soda. By evaporation, tl.e sulphate 

 of soda may be crystallised, the muriate of zinc remaining in solution. From 

 this solution the zinc may be precipitated in the form of oxide, by adding 

 an equivalent of lime, in the state of cream. The soda, if not saleable as a 

 julpbate, might be converted, by the usual process, into carbonate, and the 

 oxide of zinc might be reduced into a metal almost chemically pure. 



The Electric Light. — Mr. Henry M. Payne, of Worcester, Massachusetts, 

 informs the Scientific American that he has discovered a means of generat- 

 ing light, by mechanical action, from water and lime. Mr. Payne says — " I 

 have continued the experiment at intervals, and 1 am now enabled to an- 

 nounce a successful result. I have produced a light equal in intensity to 

 that of 4,000 gas-burners of the largest bat's-wing pattern, with an apparatus 

 occupying 4 square feet of room, at a cost of 1 mill, per hour, the current 

 of electricity being evolved by the action of the machinery wound up with 

 a common lock key, and the only materials consumed are water and lime. 

 1 am now engaged in making an apparatus for public exhibition, which will 

 be completed this winter, and all its parts submitted to public inspection, 

 except the interior of the generator. This apparatus I will exhibit one 

 year, at the end of which I will make public the mechanism of the gene- 

 rator." 



Artificial Light. — At the last meeting of the Ashmolean Society, Dr. 

 Daubeny exhibited an apparatus to show an easy method of producing a 

 light, capable of superseding oil, or even gas, simply by passing a stream 

 of atmospheric air through ioflarnmahle liquids of a volatile nature, such 

 as ether, or ihe liquor condensed in the preparation of oil gas. 



Iron Ladders. — A correspondent in the Mining Journal suggests that all 

 ladders used in mines, and also for military scaling, should be made of 

 wrought-iron in the following manner ; — The rounds or steps to be formeil 

 of J inch rod-iron, the width between the two sides 9 inches, their distance 

 apart 6 inches, and the extreme length 10 feet. The sides to be made of 

 flat bar-iron, 2J inches wide, and \ an inch thick. Ihe rounds fastened in 

 with nuts and screws, so that the ladder can be taken to pieces easily, for 

 conveyance of transport, and also for repairs. If a round be daruaged, or- 

 worn out, it can soon be removed and a new one substituted. The method 

 of fixing the rounds in is as follows: — Square holes are to he punched in 

 the two flat sides, G inches apart; the holes in one side corresponding with 

 those in the other. Then a rod of | inch iron is to be cut up into 11-inch 

 lengths, and each end of these short rods forged into proper shape, which is 

 this : — that J inch from the extremity the rod is made square to fit the 

 square hole in the side-bar ; this square part is i inch deep, the thickness of 

 the side-bar, and the rod to be made round, J inch from the ends, and 

 screwed to take a nut ^ inch thick. If the rods were not thus squared, 

 they would soon wear loose and turn round when fixed in. A shoulder is 

 thus formed on either end of the stepping-rods, which enables the side-bars 

 to be screwed up tight against the steps, and so makes the ladder firm and 

 strong. Iron ladders may be constructed of various lengths and strengths, 

 to suit circumstances. Short lengths may easily be bolted together ; and in 

 this way a continuous ladder for the deepest mines can be made; or short 

 ladders can be placed one after the other on landings or stages, as usual. 

 The wrought-iron will, of course, rust; but will not wear out for a very 

 long time. 



Improvements irx Condensers. — Mr. Siemens, C.E., of Birmingham, lins 

 invented a surface condenser for steam-engines, to supersede the injection 

 condenser. It is constructed on Ihe principle, that if two vessels of a gooil 

 conducting metal be made of similar shape, but of different thicknesses of 

 metal, one being — say Jjj of an iuch, and the other 1 inch^ — water will 

 boil with equal rapidity in each, proving that the transmission of heat 

 through them is more rapid than the absorption by the viater; aud in Us 

 construction about 20 square feet of cooling surface is provided per horse 

 power. It consists of a cast-iron bux of sufficitnt dimensions, an air- 

 pump, a hot well, a cold water chamber beneath, aud a cistern above, tlip 

 box. Within this box are placed a siifticient number of copper plates, i of 

 an inch thick, and long enough to fill the entire depth, and so arrauged 

 as to leave a space alternately between one end of each plate and the sides 

 of the box, thus forming a zigzag channel for a current of cold water. 

 Between each of the plates two pieces of flattened copper wire are plar-eU 

 to keep them sufficiently apart, aud the whole is couijiiessed by set screw s 

 on the outside, until the wires are indented iuto the plates, making the 

 channel vvaier-tight. The waste steam of the engine enters the box, and 

 is condensed by the projecting edges of the copper plates ; Ihe heal is ab- 

 sorbed by the cold water ; the condensed water collects at the bottom of 

 the box, and is continually discharged by the pump into the hoi well, and 

 is then I'eturned. fllr. Siemeus 1 as not patented his invention, but liberally 

 publishes a description for the use of the public. 



