FIRE, 
one at four feel and one at live feet from the 
bottom, to stand out about eight inches on 
each side, and to serve as handies, or to twist 
the rope round in lowering a very heavy 
weight. If a block and puliey were fix'ed at 
about the middle of the rope, above the other 
pulley, and the other part of the rope made 
to run double, it would diminish any weight 
in the basket nearly one-half, and be very 
useful in drawing any person up, to the as- 
sistance of those in the chambers, or for re- 
moving any effects out of a chamber, which it 
might be dangerous to attempt by the stairs. 
It has been proved, by repeated trials, that 
such a pole as we have been speaking of can 
be raised from the ground, and two or three 
persons taken out of the upper windows of a 
house, and set down safely in the street in 
the space of 35 seconds, or a little more than 
half a minute. Sick and infirm persons, wo- 
men, children, and many others, who can- 
not make use of a ladder, may be safely and 
easily brought down from any of the windows 
of a house on fire by this machine, and by 
putting a short pole through the handles of 
the basket, may be removed to any distance 
without being taken out of the basket. The 
pole must always have the rope ready fixed 
to it, and may be conveniently laid up upon 
two or three iron hooks under any shack or 
gateway, and the basket should be kept at 
the watch-house. When the pole is laid up, 
the two spars should always be turned to- 
wards the head of it. The basket should be 
made of peeled rods, and the pole and spars 
painted of a light stone-colour, to render it 
more visible when used in the night. 
Ftre, machines for extinguishing. In 
the year 1734, the states of Sweden offered 
a premium of 20,000 crowns for the best 
method of stopping the progress of accident- 
al fires ; when one Mr, Fetches, a German 
physician, made a preparation for that end, 
and the experiment was tried on a house 
built on purpose, of dry fir, at Legard-island. 
In the building were placed several tubs of 
tar and pitch, and a great quantity of chips, 
all which were set on fire ; flames issuing 
through the top of the house, windows, &c. 
when he threw in one of the barrels contain- 
ing the preparation, which immediately 
quenched the flames ; a second barrel entire- 
ly cleared the smoke away ; and the whole 
was executed to the astonishment of the spec- 
tators, and to the no small satisfaction of the 
inventor, who was about to return home, 
when unexpectedly the flames broke out- 
again, supposed to be occasioned by a small 
quantity of combustible matter being intro- 
duced and set on fire secretly by some ma- 
licious person. Upon this the wrongheaded 
mob fell upon Mr. Fuches, and beat him 
most unmercifully, so that he narrowly es- 
caped with his life. lie soon after left the 
country, and never could be prevailed on 
to return. Another experiment of this kind 
was tried in 1761 in Holland, but failed 
through the perverseness of the populace. 
Attempts of a similar nature have met 
with a better reception in England. Of 
these the most successful was that of Mr. 
Godfrey, whose contrivance is thus described 
by Mr. Ambrose Godfrey, grandson to the 
inventor. “ The material to be employed 
consists of a small portion of gunpowder 
•^closely confined ; which, when animated by 
flre, acts by its elastic force upon a proper 
'medium, and not onlv divides it into the 
Vol. I, 
minutest atoms, but disperses if also in every 
direction, so as immediately to extinguish 
any fire within a certain distance. This me- 
dium is a liquor strongly impregnated with 
a preparation of anticombustible principles, 
which by their action upon burning materi- 
als extinguish the flames, and reduce them 
in general to the state of a black coal ; and, 
by its opposite nature to fire, hinders the 
remaining sparks, notwithstanding the ad- 
mission of the air, from kindling the flames 
afresh. By this means, the great point is 
obtained, in giving sufficient time for totally- 
extinguishing any remains of fire.” From 
this account, however, nothing can be made 
out ; and the quackery of concealment, in 
a matter that so nearly concerns the welfare 
of the human race, can only be accounted 
for on the score of its insufficiency, or the 
impossibility of making it generally useful. 
The mode of employing these machines, 
was that of throwing them into the different 
rooms of the house in which the flames began 
to appear. Used in this way, if the inven- 
tion really possessed the merit ascribed to 
it, it evidently would have been of great use 
in extinguishing fires on shipboard ; and 
would probably have been considered as a 
no less necessary part of a ship’s lading than 
her stores or ammunition. 
Fire in chimneys, method of extinguish- 
ing. It is well known, that the inner parts 
of chimneys easily take fire ; the soot that 
kindles therein emits a greater flame, accord- 
ing as the tunnel is more elevated, because 
the current of air feeds the flre. If this cur- 
rent could therefore be suppressed, the fire 
would soon be extinguished. In order to 
this, some discharge a pistol into the chim- 
ney, which produdes no effect. Water 
thrown into the chimney at top is equally 
useless, becouse it comes down through the 
middle of the tunnel, and not along the 
sides. It would be more advisable to stop, 
with a wet blanket, the upper orifice of the 
tunnel; but the surest and readiest method 
is, to apply the blanket either to the throat 
of the chimney, or over the whole front of 
the fire-place. If there happens. to be a 
chimney-board or a register, nothing can be 
so effectual as to apply them immediately ; 
and having by that means stopped the 
draught of air from below, the burning soot 
will be put out as readily and as completely 
as a candle is put out by an extinguisher, 
which acts exactly upon the same principle. 
Fire, securing buildings against. Dr. 
Hales proposes to check the progress of fires 
by covering the floors of the adjoining rooms 
with earth. The proposal is founded on an 
experiment which he made with a fir-board 
half an inch thick, part of which he covered 
with an inch depth of damp garden-mold, 
and then lighted a fire on the surface of the 
mold ; though the fire was kept up by blow- 
ing, it was two hours before the board was 
burnt through, and the earth prevented it 
from flaming. The thicker the earth is laid 
on the floors, the better : however. Dr. 
Hales apprehends that the depth of an inch 
will generally be sufficient: and he recom- 
mends to lay a deeper covering on the stairs, 
because the fire commonly ascends by them 
with the greatest velocity. 
Mr. David Hartley made several trials in 
the years 1775 and 1776, in order to evince 
the efficacy of a method which he had in- 
■ vented for restraining tlte spread of fire in 
4 Z 
729 
buildings. For this purpose, thin iron plates 
were well nailed to the tops of the joists, &c. 
the edges of the sides and ends being lapped 
over, folded together, and hammered close. 
Partitions, stairs, and floors, may he defended 
in the same manner; and plates applied to 
one side have been found sufficient. The 
plates are so thin as not to prevent the floor 
from being nailed on the joists, in the same 
manner- as. if this preventive was not used ; 
they are kept from rust by being painted or 
varnished with oil and turpentine. The ex- 
pence of this addition, when extending 
through a whole building, is reckoned at about 
five per cent. Mr. Hartley had a patent for 
this invention, and parliament voted a sum 
ot money towards defraying the expence of 
his numerous experiments. The same pre- 
servative may also be applied to ships, furni- 
ture, &c. Mr. Hartley’s patent has long 
since expired. 
Earl Stanhope also discovered and pub- 
lished a very simple and effectual method of 
securing every kind of building against fire. 
This method he lias divided info three parts, 
viz. under-flooring, extra-lathing, and inter- 
securing. The method of under-flooring is 
either single or double. In single under- 
flooring, a common strong lath of oak or fir, 
about one fourth of an inch thick, should be 
nailed against each side of every joist, and 
of every main timber, supporting the floor 
which is to be secured. Other similar laths 
are then to be nailed along the whole length 
of the joists, with their ends butting against 
each other. 'I he top of each of these laths 
or fillets ought to be at 1^ inch below the 
top of the joists or timbers against which they 
are nailed; and they will thus form a sort of 
small ledge on each side of all the joists. 
1 hese fillets are to be well bedded in a rough 
plaister hereafter mentioned, when they are 
nailed on, so that there may be no interval 
between them and the joists ; and the same 
plaister ought to be spread with a trowel upon 
the tops of all the fillets, and along the sides 
of that part of the joists which is between the 
top ot the fillets and the upper edge of the 
joists. In order to fill up the intervals be- 
tween the joists that support the floor, short 
pieces of common laths, whose length is 
equal to the width of these intervals, should 
be laid in the contrary direction to the joists, 
and dose together in a row, so as to touch 
one another ; their ends must rest upon the 
fillets, and they ought to be well bedded 
in the rough plaister, but are not to be fast- 
ened with nails. They must then be cover- 
ed with one thick coat of the rough plaister, 
which is to be spread over them to the level 
of the tops of the joists ; and in a day or two 
this plaister should be trowelled over close 
to the sides of the joists, without covering 
the tops of the joists with it. 
In the method of double-flooring, the fil- 
lets and short pieces of laths are applied in 
the manner already described ; but the coat 
of rough plaister ought to be little more than 
half as. thick as that in the former method. 
Whilst this rottgh plaister is laid on, some 
more of the short pieces of laths above-men- 
tioned must be laid in the intervals between 
the joists upon the first coat, and be dipped 
deep in it. They should be laid as close as 
possible to each other, and in the same di- 
rection with the first layer of short laths. 
Over this second layer of short laths there 
must be spread another coat of rough piak- 
