JAMES BRAIDWOOD,
FIRST SUPERINTENDENT OF THE LONDON FIRE-BRIGADE, AND ASSOCIATE OF
THE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS.
INCLUDING
FIRE-PROOF STRUCTURES, FIRE-PROOF SAFES, PUBLIC FIRE BRIGADES, PRIVATE
MEANS FOR SUPPRESSING FIRES, FIRE-ENGINES, FIRE ANNIHILATORS,
PORTABLE FIRE-ESCAPES, WATER SUPPLY
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS, MEMOIR, AND PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR.
LONDON:
BELL AND DALDY, 186, FLEET STREET.
1866.
[The right of Translation is reserved.]
CONTENTS.
| MEMOIR. | |
| PAGE | |
| Introductory, Early Fires, Fire Engines, and Fire Brigades | [5] |
| Mr. Braidwood's birth and education | [7] |
| Great Fire of Edinburgh, and appointment as head of Brigade | [8] |
| Award of Silver Medal of Society of Arts, London; publication of work on Fire Engines | [11] |
| Formation of London Fire Brigade; appointment as Superintendent | [13] |
| Testimonials received upon leaving Edinburgh | [14] |
| London residence and routine of duty | [16] |
| Valuable services of the Royal Society for the Protection of Life from Fire | [17] |
| Statistics of Fires; improvement of Fire Engines | [18] |
| Introduction of ladders, hose reel, and hand pump | [19] |
| Floating Fire Engines, hand worked and steam; Land Steam Fire Engine | [20] |
| Inspection of Government Dockyards and Public Buildings; establishment of a standard hose coupling | [21] |
| Admitted an Associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers; award of Telford Medal; endeavours to restrain the erection of immoderate-sized warehouses | [22] |
| His opinion as to the inadequacy of London Fire Brigade; Great Tooley Street Fire | [23] |
| Death of Mr. Braidwood | [24] |
| Public funeral | [25] |
| Public and private character | [28] |
| World-wide esteem in which he was held | [30] |
| Poem—A True Hero | [32] |
| FIRE PREVENTION, INCLUDING FIREPROOF STRUCTURES—CAUSES OF FIRES. | |
| Inattention in the use of fires and lights | [33] |
| Advantages of a legal inquiry into the cause of Fires | [37] |
| Improper construction of buildings | [37] |
| Acts of Parliament for buildings in London | [39] |
| Results of improper construction of warehouses in Liverpool | [41] |
| Arrangements for the safety of the audience in theatres | [42] |
| Danger from furnaces and close fires | [43] |
| Danger from pipes conveying products of combustion | [44] |
| Spontaneous ignition; use of gas | [45] |
| Incendiarism; monomania | [46] |
| FIREPROOF STRUCTURES. | |
| What is fireproof construction | [47] |
| Use of cast and wrought-iron | [49] |
| Mr. Fairbairn's experiments | [50] |
| Danger to life from use of cast-iron columns | [54] |
| Report on warehouses | [55] |
| Covering timber with iron | [56] |
| Fireproof dwelling-houses | [57] |
| Fireproof safes | [58] |
| FIRE EXTINCTION, INCLUDING FIRE BRIGADES, FIRE ENGINES, AND WATER SUPPLY—FIRE BRIGADES. | |
| Individual exertions for Fire Extinction | [59] |
| Fire Brigades on the Continent of Europe, in England, in America | [66] |
| Necessity for the control of arrangements by one individual | [67] |
| Proposal for a national system | [68] |
| Fire Engines at noblemen's and gentlemen's residences | [70] |
| Training and discipline of Firemen | [71] |
| General instructions for Firemen, and for the use of Fire Engines | [72] |
| Necessity for the water striking the burning materials | [74] |
| Inventions for elevating branch pipes considered | [76] |
| LONDON FIRE BRIGADE. | |
| General description of men and engines | [79] |
| Division of London into districts | [81] |
| General regulations | [82] |
| Conditions of entrance into the establishment | [83] |
| Outline of general duty | [85] |
| Duties of Superintendent | [88] |
| " Foremen | [90] |
| " Engineers | [93] |
| " Sub-Engineers and Firemen | [94] |
| EDINBURGH FIRE BRIGADE. | |
| Description of men selected | [96] |
| Mode of communicating with Firemen at a Fire | [97] |
| Dress and drill of Firemen | [99] |
| Gymnastic exercises | [104] |
| General regulations | [106] |
| Duties of Police | [107] |
| " Superintendent of Brigade | [109] |
| " Head Enginemen | [110] |
| " Firemen, and High Constables | [111] |
| " Magistrates, and Gas-Light Companies | [113] |
| Special regulations for Firemen | [114] |
| Means of escape from Fire | [118] |
| FIRE ENGINES. | |
| The application of manual power | [123] |
| Engines used by the British Government | [124] |
| Description of Brigade Fire Engine | [126] |
| Hand Pump; keeping Fire Engines in order | [130] |
| Selection of Engine House | [132] |
| Apparatus provided with London Brigade Engine | [133] |
| Leather hose | [134] |
| Hose couplings | [140] |
| Suction pipes | [143] |
| Jet pipes, proper shape | [145] |
| Fire annihilator | [149] |
| WATER SUPPLY. | |
| By pressure, from surface of ground, and by sunk tanks | [150] |
| Experiments with jets under a constant pressure | [153] |
| Fire plug used in London | [155] |
| Canvas cistern and stand-cock used with fire plug | [156] |
| Double fire-cock used in the Government Dockyards | [158] |
| Double hollow key fire-cock used in the British Museum | [159] |
| Supply by Water Companies in London | [162] |
| Supplying Fire Engines from fire-cocks, &c. | [163] |
| APPENDIX. | |
| Steam Fire Engines, progress in construction | [166] |
| Trials before the Jury of the International Exhibition, 1862 | [168] |
| Trials at the International Competition, London, 1863 | [173] |
| Steam Fire Engines in use by Metropolitan Brigade, May, 1866 | [181] |
| Act of Parliament for Metropolitan Fire Brigade | [182] |
| Establishment of Metropolitan Fire Brigade | [197] |
ILLUSTRATIONS.
| PAGE | |
| Portrait of Mr. Braidwood on steel by Jeens, from a photograph by Williams | [Frontispiece]. |
| Longitudinal section of Brigade Fire Engine | [124] |
| Transverse section of ditto | [125] |
| Old coupling for hose | [140] |
| New ditto, ditto | [141] |
| Branch and jet pipe | [145] |
| Opening in sunk tank for suction pipe | [151] |
| Fire plug used in London | [155] |
| Fire plug with canvas cistern | [156] |
| Fire plug with stand-cock | [157] |
| Single fire-cock | [158] |
| Double fire-cock used at dockyards | [158] |
| Double fire-cock used at British Museum | [159] |
EDITOR'S PREFACE.
The appearance at the beginning of last year, in the Annual Report of the Institution of Civil Engineers for 1861 and 1862, of a short memoir of Mr. Braidwood, suggested the publication of a more extended account of the life of the late head of the London Fire Brigade, combined with his opinions upon the subject of his profession.
These opinions are comprised in a work on "Fire Engines, and the Training of Firemen," published in Edinburgh in 1830; two papers upon cognate subjects read before the Institution of Civil Engineers, two similar papers read before the Society of Arts, and in a variety of reports upon public buildings, warehouses, &c. While regretting the great loss that the public has sustained, in being deprived by Mr. Braidwood's sudden death of a complete record of his long and varied London experience, it has been considered advisable to republish the above materials arranged in a systematic form, omitting only such parts as the Author's more matured experience rendered desirable, but confining the whole to his own words.
London,
June, 1866.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
To his work "On the Construction of Fire-Engines and Apparatus; the Training of Firemen; and the Method of Proceeding in cases of Fire," published in Edinburgh, in 1830.
Not having been able to find any work on Fire-Engines in the English language, I have been led to publish the following remarks, in the hope of inducing others to give further information on the subject.
For the style of the work I make no apology; and as I presume no one will read it except for the purpose of gaining information, my aim will be obtained if I shall have succeeded in imparting it, or in directing the public attention to the advantage which may be derived from the systematic training of Firemen.