Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/285

 Popular Science Monthly

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��Detecting Fires in the Holds of Transatlantic Liners

BY means of an apparatus which is now found on many of the large trans-Atlantic steamships, the officer on duty on the bridge can instantly de- tect any fire which breaks out in any of the holds or compartments.

This efficient indicator con- sists of a set of pipes extending from each of the holds directly to the wheelhouse. At the ter- minals in the wheelhouse is a set of electric fans which draw air from the holds into a glass case to which the pipes lead. Should a fire start in a hold, some of the smoke would be drawn through the tubes into the glass case, and would be no- ticed by the officer.

As soon as the fire is discov- ered, the officer opens the case and fastens to the open end of the tube a steam pipe, which sends live steam through the tube into the compartment and smothers the blaze.

This device has met with con- siderable objection among ships' officers, because it was claimed that the noise of the electric fans was found very disturbing to the officer on duty, and also that the apparatus took up a large amount of space, particu- larly on large steamers with numerous compartments to be protected.

In order to overcome these objections, the inventor, Will- iam Rich, an American, living in Liv- erpool, England, has taken out pat- ents for improvements over his orig- inal device. A set of small glass cases, one serving for several compartments, is located on the bridge, or wheel- house, while the remainder of the appa- ratus is located in a more convenient part of the ship. In the terminal comjjart- ment for the tubes is a set of fans which draw the air from the holds, and an- other fan which serves to send a smaller amount of air from each of these tubes through pipes into the device in the wheelhouse. Each of these smaller

��tubes leads into a bottle or container which is filled with lime water.

If a fire should break out in a hold, the smoke is drawn into the tenninal box for the tubes as before, but is im- mediately drawn on until it reaches the glass jars containing lime water on the bridge or in the wheelhouse. The car-

���The moment a fire breaks out in the hold, it is detected by the officer in the pilot house and by the watchman on deck, by means of the system of tubes and fans indicated, which carry the smoke to the bridge or the deck

bon dioxide carried up with the smoke turns the fluid to a milky color. The officer can then order live steam turned into the tubes to smother the fire.

With this new device, all the fans and the cumbersome apparatus are located in a distant i)art of the ship, while only the small set of glass cases is found in the wheelhouse, where saving of space is of more importance.

The chief advatages in the system ob- viously lie in the fact that a fire can be discovered immediately, and can be ex- tinguished quickly by means of the same apparatus.

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