Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 53 Part 2.djvu/868

 PUBLIC LAWS-CEHS. 643, 644-AUG. 10, 1939 Boat-disengaging apparatus. Rules and regula- tions. safety of all persons on board such vessel in case of disaster; and every seagoing vessel carrying passengers, and every such vessel navigating any of the northern or northwestern lakes, shall have the lifeboats required by law, provided with suitable boat-disengaging apparatus, so arranged as to allow such boats to be safely launched. And the Board of Supervising Inspectors shall fix and determine, by their rules and regulations, the character and arrangement of boat- disengaging apparatus and the character of lifeboats, floats, rafts, life-preservers, line-carrying projectiles, and the means of propelling them, and drags that shall be used on such vessels, and also the character and capacity of pumps or other appliances for freeing the steamer from water in case of heavy leakage, the capacity of such pumps or appliances being suited to the navigation in which the steamer is employed." Approved, August 10, 1939. [CHAPTER 644] AN AC'T August 10, 1939 [H. R. 7091] To amend section 4471 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, as amended [Public, No. 372] (U. S . C ., 1934 edition, title 46, sec. 464). Steam vessels, fire protection. R. S.§4471. 46 U. S.C.. 464; Supp. IV . §464. Fire pump, pipe, and hose require- ments. Pump to test boilers. Automatic sprinkler system. Proviso. Exception. Tests and inspec- tions. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 4471 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, as amended (U. S . C ., 1934 edition, title 46, sec. 464), is hereby amended to read as follows: "SEc. 4471. Every steamer permitted by her certificate of inspection to carry as many as fifty passengers, or upward, and every steamer carrying passengers, which also carries cotton, hay, or hemp, shall be provided with a good double-acting steam fire pump, or other equiva- lent apparatus for throwing water. Such pump or other apparatus for throwing water shall be kept at all times and at all seasons of the year in good order and ready for immediate use, having at least two pipes of suitable dimensions, one on each side of the vessel, to convey the water to the upper decks, to which pipes there shall be attached, by means of stopcocks or valves, both between decks and on the upper deck, good and suitable hose of sufficient strength to stand a pressure of not less than one hundred pounds to the square inch, long enough to reach to all parts of the vessel and properly provided with nozzles, and kept in good order and ready for immediate service. Each fire pump thus prescribed shall be supplied with water by means of a suitable pipe connected therewith, and passing through the side of the vessel so low as to be at all times under water when she is afloat. Every steamer shall also be provided with a pump which shall be of sufficient strength and suitably arranged to test the boilers thereof. "On and after October 1, 1937, every passenger vessel with berthed or stateroom accommodation for fifty or more passengers shall be equipped with an automatic sprinkler system, which shall be in addi- tion to any other device or devices for fire protection, of a type pre- scribed by the Board of Supervising Inspectors and approved by the Secretary of Commerce. All enclosed portions of such vessels accessi- ble to passengers or crew (except cargo holds, machinery spaces, and when of fire-resisting construction, toilets, bathrooms, and spaces of similar construction) shall be protected by an automatic sprinkler system: Provided, That if after investigation the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation finds in the case of a particular vessel the application of this paragraph is unnecessary properly to protect life on such vessel, an exception may be made. The Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation shall cause to be made suitable tests and inspections as will insure the proper working of such systems. In 1344 [53 STAT.

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