MOTOR BOATS FOR THE NAVY
A country which, like England, depends on the command of the sea for its very existence may well keep a sharp eye on any invention that tends to render that command more certain. In recent years we have heard a lot said, and read a lot written, about the importance of swift boats which in war time could be launched against a hostile fleet, armed with the deadly torpedo. The Russo-Japanese War has given us a fine example of what can be accomplished by daring men and swift torpedo craft.
For some reason or other the British Navy has not kept abreast of France in the number of her torpedo vessels. Reference to official figures shows that, while our neighbours can boast 280 "hornets," we have to our credit only 225. In the House of Commons, on August 10th, 1904, Mr. Henry Norman, M.P., asked the Secretary of the Admiralty whether, in view of the proofs recently afforded of trustworthiness, speed, simplicity, and comparatively low cost of small vessels propelled by petrol motors, he would consider the advisability of testing this class of vessel in His Majesty's Navy. The Secretary replied that the Admiralty had kept a watch on the recent trials and meant to make practical tests with motor pinnaces. In view of the danger that would accompany the storage of petrol on board ship, the paraffin motor was preferable for naval purposes; and an 80 h.p. four-cylindered motor of this type has been ordered from Messrs. Vosper, of Portsmouth.
Mr. Norman, writing in The World's Work on the subject, says: "There can be no question that such high speed and cheap construction (80 h.p. giving in the little boat as much speed—to consider that only—as eight thousand in the big boat) point to the use of motor boats for naval purposes in the near future. A torpedo boat exists only to carry one or two torpedoes within launching distance of the enemy. The smaller and cheaper she can be, and the fewer men she carries, provided always she be able to face a fairly rough sea, the better. Now the ordinary steam torpedo boat carries perhaps twenty men, and costs anything from £50,000 to £100,000. A motor boat of equal or greater speed could probably be built for £15,000, and would carry a crew of two men. Six motor boats, therefore, could be built for the cost of one steamboat, and their total crews would not number so many as the crew of the one. Moreover, they could all be slung on board a single vessel, and only set afloat near the scene of action. A prophetic friend of mine declares that the most dangerous warship of the future will be a big vessel, unarmoured and only lightly armed, but of the utmost possible speed, carrying twenty or more motor torpedo boats slung on davits. She will rely on her greater speed for her own safety, if attacked; she will approach as near the scene of action as possible, and will drop all her little boats into the water, and they will make a simultaneous attack. Their hulls would be clean, their machinery in perfect order, their crews fresh and full of energy, and it would be strange if one of the twenty did not strike home. And the destruction of a battleship or great cruiser at the cost of a score of these little wasps, manned by two-score men, would be a very fine naval bargain."
Mr. Norman omits one recommendation that must in active service count heavily in favour of the motor boat, and that is its practical invisibility in the day or at night time. The destroyer, when travelling at high speed, betrays its presence by clouds of smoke or red-hot funnels. The motor boat is entirely free from such dangerous accompaniments; the exhaust from the cylinders is invisible in every way. The very absence of funnels must also be in itself a great advantage. The eye, roving over the waters, might easily "pick up" a series of stumpy, black objects of hard outline; but the motor boat, riding low and flatly on the waves, would probably escape notice, especially when a search-light alone can detect its approach.
It may reasonably be said that the Admiralty knows its own business best, and that the outsider's opinion is not wanted. The "man in the street" has become notorious for his paper generalship and strategy, and fallen somewhat into disrepute as an adviser on military and naval matters. Yet we must not forget this: that many—we might say most—of the advances in naval mechanisms, armour, and weapons of defence have not been evolved by naval men, but by the highly educated and ingenious civilian who, unblinded by precedent or professional conservatism, can watch the game even better in some respects than the players themselves, and see what the next move should be. That move may be rather unorthodox—like the application of steam to men-o'-war—but none the less the correct one under the circumstances. We allowed other nations to lead us in the matter of breech-loading cannon, armour-plate, submarines, the abolition of combustible material on warships. Shall we also allow them to get ahead with motor boats, and begin to consider that there may be something in motor auxiliaries for the fleet when they are already well supplied? If there is a country which should above all others lose no time in adding the motor to her means of defence, that country is Great Britain.
FOOTNOTE:
[12.] The Motor Boat, March 16th, 1905.
[CHAPTER IX]
THE MOTOR CYCLE
In 1884 the Count de Dion, working in partnership with Messrs. Bouton and Trépardoux, produced a practical steam tricycle. Two years later appeared a somewhat similar vehicle by the same makers which attained the remarkable speed of forty miles an hour. Mr. Serpollet, now famous for his steam cars, built at about the same time a three-wheeled steam tricycle, which also proved successful. But the continuous stoking of the miniature boilers, and the difficulty of keeping them properly supplied with water, prevented the steam-driven cycle from becoming popular; and when the petrol motor had proved its value on heavy vehicles, inventors soon saw that the explosion engine was very much better suited for a light automobile than had been the cumbrous fittings inseparable from the employment of steam.
By 1895 a neat petrol tricycle was on the market; and after the de Dion machines had given proof in races of their capabilities, they at once sprang into popular favour. For the next five years the motor tricycle was a common sight in France, where the excellent roads and the freedom from the restrictions prevailing on the other side of the Channel recommended it to cyclists who wished for a more speedy method of locomotion than unaided legs could give, yet could not afford to purchase a car.
The motor bicycle soon appeared in the field. The earlier types of the two-wheeled motor were naturally clumsy and inefficient. The need of a lamp constantly burning to ignite the charges in the cylinder proved a much greater nuisance on the bicycle than on the tricycle, which carried its driving gear behind the saddle. The writer well remembers trying an early pattern of the Werner motor bicycle in the Champs Elysées in 1897, and his alarm when the owner, while starting the blowlamp on the steering pillar, was suddenly enveloped in flames, which played havoc with his hair, and might easily have caused more serious injuries. Riders were naturally nervous at carrying a flame near the handle-bars, so close to a tank of inflammable petrol liable to leak and catch fire.
The advent of electrical ignition for the gaseous charges opened the way for great improvements, and the motor bicycle slowly but surely ousted its heavier three-wheeled rival. Designs were altered; the engine was placed in or below the frame instead of over the front wheel, and made to drive the back wheel by means of a leather belt. In the earliest types the motive force had either been transmitted by belt to the front wheel, or directly to the rear wheel by the piston rods working cranks on its spindle.
The progress of the motor bicycle has, since 1900, been rapid, and many thousands of machines are now in use. The fact that the engines must necessarily be very small compels all possible saving in weight, and an ability to run continuously at very high speeds without showing serious wear and tear. Details have therefore been perfected, and though at the present day no motor cyclist of wide experience can claim immunity from trouble with his speedy little mount, a really well-designed and well-built machine proves wonderfully efficient, and opens possibilities of locomotion to "the man of moderate means" which were beyond the reach of the rider of a pedal-driven bicycle.
In its way the motor cycle may claim to be one of the most marvellous products of human mechanical skill. Weight has been reduced until a power equal to that of three horses can be harnessed to a vehicle which, when stored with sufficient petrol and electricity to carry it and rider 150 miles, scales about a hundredweight. It will pursue its even course up and down hill at an average of twenty or more miles an hour, the only attention it requires being an occasional charge of oil squirted into the air-tight case in which the crank and fly-wheels revolve. The consumption of fuel is ridiculously small, since an economical engine will cover fifteen miles on a pint of spirit, which costs about three-halfpence.
Practically all motor-cycle engines work on the "Otto-cycle" principle. Motors which give an impulse every revolution by compressing the charge in the crank-case or in a separate cylinder, so that it may enter the working cylinder under pressure, have been tried, but hitherto with but moderate success. There is, however, a growing tendency to compass an explosion every revolution by fitting two cylinders, and from time to time four-cylindered cycles have appeared. The disadvantages attending the care and adjustment of so many moving parts has been the cause of four-cylindered cycle motors being unsuccessful from a commercial standpoint, though riders who are prepared to risk extra trouble and expense may find compensation in the quiet, vibrationless drive of a motor which gives two impulses for every turn of the fly-wheel.
The acme of lightness in proportion to power developed has been attained by the "Barry" engine, in which the cylinders and their attachments are made to revolve about a fixed crank, and perform themselves the function of a fly-wheel. So great is the saving of weight that the makers claim a horse-power for every four pounds scaled by the engines; thus, a 3 1 / 2 h.p. motor would only just tip the beam against one stone. As the writer has personally inspected a Barry engine, he is able to give a brief account of its action.
It has two cylinders, arranged to face one another on opposite sides of a central air-tight crank-case, the inner end of each cylinder opening into the case. Both pistons advance towards, and recede from, the centre of the case simultaneously. The air-and-gas mixture is admitted into the crank-case through a hole in the fixed crank-spindle, communicating with a pipe leading from the carburetter. The inlet is controlled by a valve, which opens while the pistons are parting, and closes when they approach one another.
We will suppose that the engine is just starting. The pistons are in a position nearest to the crank-case. As they separate they draw a charge—equal in volume to double the cubical contents of one cylinder—into the crank-case through its inlet valve. During the return stroke the charge is squeezed, and passes through a valve into a chamber which forms, as it were, the fourth spoke of a four-spoked wheel, of which the other three spokes are the cylinders and the "silencer." This chamber is connected by pipes to the inlet valves of the cylinders, which are mechanically opened alternately by the action of special cams on the crank-shaft. The cylinder which gets the contents of the compression chamber receives considerably more "mixture" than would flow in under natural suction, and the compression is therefore greater than in the ordinary type of cycle motor, and the explosion more violent. Hence it comes about that the cylinders, which have a bore of only 2 in. and a 2-in. stroke for the piston, develop nearly 2 h.p. each.
It may at first appear rather mysterious how, if the cranks are rigidly attached to the cycle frame, any motion can be imparted to the driving-wheel. The explanation is simple enough: a belt pulley is affixed to one side of the crank-case, and revolves with the cylinders, the silencer, and compression chamber. The rotation is caused by the effort of the piston to get as far as possible away from the closed end of the cylinder after an explosion. Where a crank is movable but the cylinder fixed, the former would be turned round; where the crank is immovable but the cylinder movable, the travel of the piston is possible only if the cylinder moves round the crank. A series of explosions following one another in rapid succession gives the moving parts of the Barry engine sufficient momentum to suck in charges, compress them, and eject the burnt gases. The plan is ingenious, and as the machine into which this type of engine is built weighs altogether only about 70 lbs., the "sport" of motor cycling is open to those people whose age or want of strength would preclude them from the use of the heavy mounts which are still to be seen about the roads. In the future we may expect to find motor cycles approach very closely to a half-hundredweight standard without sacrificing the rigidity needful for fast locomotion over second-class roads.
For "pace-making" on racing tracks, motor cycles ranging up to 24 h.p. have been used; but these are essentially "freak" machines of no practical value for ordinary purposes. Even 3-4 h.p. cycles have set up wonderful records, exceeding fifty miles in the hour, a speed equal to that of a good express train. In comparison with the feats of motor-cars, their achievements may not appear very startling; but when we consider the small size and weight, and the simplicity of the mechanisms which propel cycle and rider at nearly a mile a minute, the result seems marvellous enough.
During the last few years the tricycle has again come into favour, but with the arrangement of its wheels altered; two steering-wheels being placed in front, and a single driving-wheel behind. The main advantage of this inversion is that it permits the fixing of a seat in front of the driver, in which a passenger can be comfortably accommodated. The modern "tricar," with its high-powered, doubled-cylindered engines, its change-speed gears, its friction clutch for bringing the engines gradually into action, its forced water circulation for cooling the cylinders, and its spring-hung frame, is in reality more a car than a cycle, and escapes from the former category only on account of the number of its wheels. To the tourist, or to the person who does not find pleasure in solitary riding, the tricar offers many advantages, and, though decidedly more expensive to keep up than a motor bicycle, entails only very modest bills in comparison with those which affect many owners of cars.
The development of the motor cycle has been hastened and fostered by frequent speed and reliability contests, in which the nimble little motor has acquitted itself wonderfully. A hill a mile long, with very steep gradients, has been ascended in considerably less than two minutes by a 3 1 / 4 h.p. motor. We read of motor cycles travelling from Land's End to John-o'-Groats; from Calcutta to Bombay; from Sydney to Melbourne; from Paris to Rome—all in phenomenal times considering the physical difficulties of the various routes. Such tests prove the endurance of the motor cycle, and pave the way to its use in more profitable employments. Volunteer cycling corps often include a motor or two, which in active service would be most valuable for scouting purposes, especially if powerful enough to tow a light machine-gun. Commercial travellers, fitting a box to the front of a tricar, are able to scour the country quickly and inexpensively in quest of orders for the firms they represent. The police find the motor helpful for patrolling the roads. On the Continent, and especially in Germany, town and country postmen collect and deliver parcels and letters with the aid of the petrol-driven tricycle, and thereby save much time, while improving the service. Before long, "Hark 'tis the twanging horn" will once again herald the postman's approach in a thousand rural districts, but the horn will not hang from the belt of a horseman, such as the poet Cowper describes, but will be secured to the handle-bars of a neat tricar. Thus history repeats itself.
Photo] [Cribb, Southsea.
A MOTOR LAWN-MOWER
A machine of this kind will cut several acres a day, and also acts as an efficient roller. The operator is able to empty the contents of the catch-box without leaving his seat.
That the motor cycle is still far from perfect almost goes without saying; but every year sees a decided advance in its design and efficiency. The messy, troublesome accumulator will eventually give way to a neat little dynamo, which is driven by the engine and creates current for exploding the cylinder charges as the machine travels. When the cycle is at rest there would then be no fear of electricity leaking away through some secret "short circuit," since the current ceases with the need for it, but starts again when its presence is required. The proper cooling of the cylinders has been made an easier matter than formerly by the introduction of fans which direct a stream of cold air on to the cylinder head. Professor H. L. Callendar has shown in a series of experiments that a fan, which absorbs only 2 to 3 per cent. of an engine's power, will increase the engine's efficiency immensely when a low gear is being used for hill climbing, and the rate of motion through the air has fallen below that requisite to carry off the surplus heat of the motor. If an engine maintains a good working temperature when it progresses through space two feet for every explosion, it would overheat if the amount of progression were, through the medium of a change-gear attachment, reduced to one foot, a change which would be advisable on a steep hill. The fan then supplies the deficiency by imitating the natural rush of air. As Professor Callendar says: "The most important point for the motor cyclist is to secure the maximum of power with the minimum of weight. With this object, the first essentials are a variable speed gear of wide range, and some efficient method of cooling to prevent overheating at low gears.... It is unscientific to double the weight and power of the machine in order to climb a few hills, when the same result can be secured with a variable gear. It is unnecessary to resort to the weight and complication of water cooling when a light fan will do all that is required."
Thus, with the aid of a fan and a gear which will give at least two speeds, the motor cyclist can, with an engine of 2 h.p., climb almost any hill, even without resorting to the help of the pedals. His motion is therefore practically continuous. To be comfortable, he desires immunity from the vibration which quick movement over any but first-class roads sets up in the machine, especially in its forward parts. Several successful spring forks and pneumatic devices have been invented to combat the vibration bogy; and these, in conjunction with a spring pillar for the saddle, which can itself be made most resilient, relieve the rider almost entirely of the jolting which at the end of a long day's ride is apt to induce a feeling of exhaustion. The motor tricycle, which once had a rather bad name for its rough treatment of the nerves, is also now furnished with springs to all wheels, and approximates to the car in the smoothness of its progression.
Assuming, then, that we have motor vehicles so light as to be very manageable, sufficiently powerful to climb severe gradients, reliable, comfortable to ride, and economical in their consumption of fuel and oil, we are able to foresee that they will modify the conditions of social existence. The ordinary pedal-driven cycle has made it possible for the worker to live much further from his work than formerly. "To-morrow, with a motor bicycle, his home may be fifteen miles away, and those extra miles will make a great difference in rent, and in the health of his family. In fact, it almost promises to reconcile the Garden City ideal with the industrial conditions of to-day, by enabling a man to work in the town, and have his home in the country. This advantage applies, of course, less to London than to other great cities, on account of the seemingly endless miles of streets to be traversed before the country is reached. In most manufacturing centres, however, the motoring workman could get to his cottage home by a journey of a few miles. Even in London, moreover, this disadvantage will be overcome to a large extent in the future, for it is as certain as anything of the kind can be that we must ultimately have special highways, smooth, dustless, reserved for motor traffic, leading out of London in the principal directions.... My own conviction is that motor cycling, the simplest, the quickest, the cheapest independent locomotion that has ever been known, is destined to enjoy enormous development. I believe that within a few years the motor bicycle and tricycle will be sold by hundreds of thousands, and that many of the social and industrial conditions of our time will be greatly and beneficially affected by them."[13]
FOOTNOTE:
[13.] Henry Norman, Esq., M.P., in The World's Work.
[CHAPTER X]
FIRE ENGINES
A good motto to blazon over the doors of a fire-brigade station would be "He gives help twice who gives help quickly." The spirit of it is certainly shown by the brave men who, as soon as the warning signal comes, spring to the engines and in a few minutes are careering at full speed to the scene of operations.
Speed and smartness have for many years past been associated with our fire brigades. We read how horses are always kept ready to be led to the engines; how their harness is dropped on to them and deft fingers set the buckles right in a twinkling, so that almost before an onlooker has time to realise what is happening the sturdy animals are beating the ground with flying hoofs. And few dwellers in large cities have not heard the cry of the firemen, as it rises from an indistinct murmur into a loud shout, before which the traffic, however dense, melts away to the side of the road and leaves a clear passage for the engines, driven at high speed and yet with such skill that accidents are of rare occurrence. The noise, the gleam of the polished helmets, the efforts of the noble animals, which seem as keen as the men themselves to reach the fire, combine to paint a scene which lingers long in the memory.
But efficient as the "horsed" engine is, it has its limitations. Animal strength and endurance are not an indefinite quantity; while the fireman grudges even the few short moments which are occupied by the inspanning of the team. In many towns, therefore, we find the mechanically propelled fire engine coming into favour. The power for working the pumps is now given a second duty of turning the driving-wheels. A parallel can be found in the steam-engine used for threshing-machines, which once had to be towed by horses, but now travels of itself, dragging machine and other vehicles behind it.
The earlier types of automobile fire engines used the boiler's steam to move them over the road. Liverpool, a very enterprising city as regards the extinction of fire, has for some time past owned a powerful steamer, which can be turned out within a minute of the call, can travel at any speed up to thirty miles an hour, and can pump 500 gallons per minute continuously. Its success has led to the purchase of other motor engines, some fitted with a chemical apparatus, which, by the action of acid on a solution of soda in closed cylinders, is enabled to fling water impregnated with carbonic acid gas on to the fire the moment it arrives within working distance of the conflagration, and gives very valuable "first aid" while the pumping apparatus is being got into order.
Two Motor Fire-engines built by Messrs. Merryweather, London. That on the left is driven by petrol, and in addition to pumping-gear carries a wheeled fire-escape. That on the right is driven by steam. Both types are much faster than horses, being able to travel at a rate of over 20 miles an hour.
As might reasonably be expected, the petrol motor has found a fine field for its energies in connection with fire extinction. Since it occupies comparatively little space, more accommodation can be allowed for the firemen and gear. Furthermore, a petrol engine can be started in a few seconds by a turn of a handle, whereas a steamer is delayed until steam has been generated. Messrs. Merryweather have built a four-cylindered, 30 h.p. petrol fire engine capable of a speed of forty miles an hour. It has two systems of ignition—the magneto (or small dynamo) and the ordinary accumulator and coil—so that electrical breakdowns are not likely to occur. A fast motor of this kind, with a pumping capacity of 300 gallons per minute, is peculiarly suited for large country estates, where it can be made to perform household or farm duties when not required for its primary purpose. Considering the great number of country mansions, historically interesting, and full of artistic treasures, which England boasts, it is a matter for regret that such an engine is not always included among the appliances with which every such property is furnished. How often we read "Old mansion totally destroyed by fire," which usually means that in a few short hours priceless pictures, furniture, and other objects of art have been destroyed, because help, when it did come, arrived too late. Owners are, however, more keenly alive to their responsibilities now than formerly. The small hand-worked engine, or the hydrant of moderate pressure, is not considered a sufficient guard for the house and its contents. In many establishments the electric lighting engines are designed to work either the dynamo or a set of pumps as occasion may demand; or the motor is mounted on wheels so that it may be easily dragged by hand to any desired spot.
The "latest thing" in motor fire engines is one which carries a fire-escape with it, in addition to water-flinging machinery. An engine of this type is to be found in some of the London suburbs. A chemical cylinder lies under the driver's seat, where it is well out of the way, and coiled beside it is its reel of hose. The "escape" rests on the top of the vehicle, the wheels hanging over the rear end, while the top projects some distance in front of the steering wheels. The ladder, of telescopic design, can be extended to fifty feet as soon as it has been lowered to the ground. Since the saving of life is even more important than the saving of property, it is very desirable that a means of escape should be at hand at the earliest possible moment after an outbreak. This combination apparatus enables the brigade to nip a fire in the bud, if it is still a comparatively small affair, and also to rescue any people whose exit may have been cut off by the fire having started on or near the staircases.
The Wolseley Motor-Car Company has established a type of chemical motor fire engine which promises to be very successful. A 20 h.p. motor is placed forward under the frame to keep the centre of gravity low. When fully laden, it carries a crew of eight men, two 9-foot ladders, two portable chemical extinguishers, a 50-gallon chemical cylinder, and a reel on which is wound a hose fifty-three yards long. The wheels are a combination of the wooden "artillery" and the wire "spider," wires being strung from the outer end of the hub to the outer ends of the wooden spokes to give them increased power to resist the strain of sudden turns or collisions. An artillery wheel, not thus reinforced, is apt to buckle sideways and snap its spokes when twisted at all.
England has always led the way in matters relating to fire extinction, and to her is due the credit of first harnessing mechanical motive power to the fire engine. Other countries are following her example, and consequently we find fire apparatus moved by the petrol motor in places so far apart as Cape Town, Valparaiso, Mauritius, Sydney, Berlin, New York, Montreal. There can be no doubt but that in a very few years horse-traction will be abandoned by the brigades of our large towns. It has been suggested that the fire-pump of the future will be driven by electricity drawn from switches on the street mains; enough current being stored in accumulators to move the pump from station to fire. In such a case it would be possible to use very powerful pumps, as an electric motor is extremely vigorous for its size and weight. Even to-day steam fire engines can fling 2,000 gallons per minute, and fire floats (for use on the water) considerably more. Possibly the engine of to-morrow will pour 5,000 gallons a minute on the flames if it can get that amount from the water mains, and so render it unnecessary to summon in a large number of engines to quell a big conflagration. Three hundred thousand gallons an hour ought to check a very considerable "blaze."
The force with which a jet of water leaves the huge nozzle of a powerful engine is so great that it would seriously injure a spectator at a distance of fifty yards. The "kick-back" of the water on the nozzle is sometimes sufficient to overcome the power of one man to hold the nozzle in position with his hands, and it becomes needful to provide supports with pointed ends to stick into the ground, or hooks which can be attached to the rungs of a ladder. For an attack on the upper storeys of a house a special "water tower" is much used in America. It consists of a lattice-work iron frame, about twenty-five feet long, inside which slides an extensible iron tube five inches in diameter. The tower is attached to one end of a wagon of unusual length and breadth, and is raised to a vertical position by a rack gearing with a quadrant built into its base below the trunnions or pivots on which it swings. Carbonic acid gas, generated in a cylinder carried on the wagon, works a piston connected with the racks, and on a tap being turned slowly brings the tower to the perpendicular, when it is locked. The telescopic tube, carrying the hose inside it, is then pulled up by windlasses, until the 2 1 / 2 -inch nozzle is nearly fifty feet from the ground. The nozzle itself can be rotated from below by rods and gearing, and the angle of the stream regulated by a rope. If several engines simultaneously deliver their water to the tower hoses 1,000 gallons a minute can be concentrated in a continuous 2 1 / 2 -inch jet on to the fire.
The ordinary horsed fire engine is simple in its design and parts. The vertical boiler contains a number of nearly horizontal water tubes, which offer a great surface to the furnace gases, so that it may raise steam very quickly. The actual water capacity of the boiler is small, and therefore it must be fed continuously by a special pump. The pumps, two or three in number, usually have piston rods working direct from the steam cylinders on the plungers of the pumps. Between cylinders and pumps are slots in the rods in which rotate cranks connected with one another and with a fly-wheel which helps to keep the running steady. After leaving the pumps the water enters a large air vessel, which reduces the sudden shocks of delivery by the cushioning effect of the air, and causes a steady pressure on the water in the hoses.
[CHAPTER XI]
FIRE-ALARMS AND AUTOMATIC FIRE EXTINGUISHERS
Assuming that a town has a well-appointed fire brigade, equipped with the most up-to-date engines, it still cannot be considered efficiently protected against the ravages of the fire-fiend unless the outbreak of a fire can be notified immediately to the stations, and local mechanical means of suppression come into action almost simultaneously with the commencement of the conflagration. "What you do, do quickly" is the keynote of successful fire-suppression; and its importance has been practically recognised in the invention of hundreds of devices, some of which we will glance at in the following pages.
The electric circuit is the most valuable servant that we have to warn us of danger. Dotted about the streets are posts carrying at the top a circular box, which contains a knob. As soon as a fire is observed, anyone may run to such a post, smash the glass screening the knob, and pull out the latter. This action flashes the alarm to the nearest fire-station, and a few minutes later an engine is dashing to the rescue. Help may also be summoned by means of the ordinary telephone exchanges or from police-stations in direct telephonic communication with the brigade depôts.
All devices depending for their ultimate value on human initiative leave a good deal to be desired. They presuppose conditions which may be absent. For instance, an electric wire in a large factory ignites some combustible material during the night. A passer-by may happen to see flames while the fire is in an early stage. On the other hand, it is equally probable that the conflagration may be well established before the alarm is given, with the result that the fire brigade arrives too late to do much good.
What we need, therefore, is a mechanical means of calling attention to the danger automatically, with a quickness which will give the brigade or people close at hand a chance of strangling the monster almost as soon as it is born, and with a precision as to locality that will save the precious time wasted in hunting for the exact point to be attacked.
Mr. G. H. Oatway, M.I.E.E., in a valuable paper read before the International Congress of Fire Brigades in London in 1903, says that the difference between the damage resulting from a fire signalled in its early stage, and the same fire reported when it has spread to two or three floors, is often the difference between a nominal loss and a "burn out." The reformer, he continues, who aims at reducing fire waste must turn his attention primarily to hastening the alarm. The true cure of the matter is, not what quantity of gear it takes to deal with huge conflagrations, but how to concentrate at the earliest stage upon the outbreaks as they occur, and to check them before they have grown beyond control. He cites the fire record of Glasgow of 1902, from which it appears that three fires alone accounted for 40 per cent. of the year's total loss, ten fires for 73 per cent., and the other 706 for only 27 per cent., or an average of £72 per fire. Had the first three fires only been notified at an earlier stage, nearly £72,000 would have been saved. Captain Sir E. M. Shaw, late Chief of the London Fire Brigade, has put the following on record: "Having devoted a very large portion of the active period of my working life in bringing into general use mechanical and hydraulic appliances for dealing with fires after they have been discovered, I nevertheless give and have always given the highest place to the early discovery and indication of fire, and not by any means to the steam, the hydraulic, or the numerous other mechanical appliances on which the principal labours of my life have been bestowed."
A fire given fifteen minutes' start is often hard to overtake. Imagine a warehouse alight on three floors before the alarm is raised! Engines may come one after another and pour deluges of water on the flames, yet as likely as not we read next morning of "total destruction." No stitch in time has saved nine!
The sad part about fires is that they represent so much absolute waste. In commercial transactions, if one party loses the other gains; wealth is merely transferred, and still remains in the community. But in the matter of fire this is not the case. Supposing that a huge cotton mill is burnt down. The re-erection will, it is true, cause a lot of money to change hands; but what has resulted from the money that has already been put into the mill? Nothing. So many hundred thousands of pounds have been dematerialised and left nothing behind to represent them. The great Ottawa fire of a few years ago may be remembered as a terrible example of such total loss of human effort.