Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 November 1892 — AMERICANS BEAT THE WORLD. [ARTICLE]

AMERICANS BEAT THE WORLD.

Appliance* ftor Fighting Ureal th. NighArt In Till* I’mmlry. There is much to lie learned from America by all of us says the London News, and it U to Im- regretted that one of the crack brigades of the States could not have crossed the ocean to attend the present firemen’s congress. We may find one more opportunity for the lesson If the committee of the Chicago exhibition think fit to Invite the firemen of Europe to the coming World’s Fair. The Americans like to think that they take the lead in this branch of of public work; and by all accounts of them they would still lie very hard to beat. Most of our newer contrivances are probably of American origin. The steam fire engine; the horses standing ready harnessed day and night and trained to walk straight into the shafts as soon as they hear the alarm bell; the pole down which the men, also ready dressed, slide from their sleeping-rooms to reach the basement to save the few seconds that might be lost by their coming downstairs—all these seem to have been matters of common experience in America when they were still talked of as novelties hera The same thing may be said of the alarm boxes.

The American train for speed, and some of their “records” are astonishing. At a fire which occurred in New York two years ago, the first alarm was received at 6:07. In three minutes after that the first engine reached the burning building, which, it may be supposed, was not very far off. The whole second floor, which was 100 feet long, was a mass of fire, and the flames were spreading to the stories abova Other engines soon arrived, and by 6:35, or in less than half an hour, not a spark of fire was left in the building. The water towers, which are huge perpendicular pipes, carried on a movable derrick, pour the stream into the highest buildings at any elevation required. They are packed into a comparatively small space when not in use, but are Instantly reared to their full height by the force of carbonic acid gas. The floating fire engines are largely used in New York, as the city is surrounded by water. The latest is built of steel, and it travels at a very great speed. Its four pipes are from three to four inches in diameter, but the power of all the pumps may be concentrated into one or two pipes, which yield a still larger volume of water. These five-inch streams, in their tremendous force, act like batteringrams and drive their way through ceilings and roofs, and even through brick walls, into the very heart of the fire. In some instances the life lines are fired from a gun, on much the same principle as that in use for the rocket apparatus at sea. The gun carries a thin line to the firemen at the top of the burning building, and with this they draw up the stouter rope they requira The life nets, which are equally light and strong, into whic i people jump with comparative impunity from the highest floors, save many lives. The best of these contrivances have been introduced in our own Are service, in great part owing to tbe enterprise and energy of Capt, Shaw. He was able to boast in his farewell address that during the thirty years of his control of the metropolitan brigade the number of stations had been raised from thirteen to fifty-nine and the number of firemen from not much more than 100 to a little over 700. In 1861 there were no telephones or call points. They now extend over the whole of London. The last moment of his official career, however, Capt. Shaw was still calling for more of everything. Yet it’wlll be some time before ihe ratepayer will enable him to realize his ideal us thirty-two new stations at an average cost of a thousand a year. A perfect water supply was then, and perhaps still is, our most pressing need. Only a small number of the pipes were constantly charged, and there were often more engines at a Are than there was water for their use.