Chapter 10

When a large engine is required in London, two with 7-inches cylinders are worked together by means of a connecting screw, thus making a jet very nearly equal (as 98 to 100) to that of an engine with cylinders 10 inches diameter.

It is also an advantage not unworthy of consideration, that two 7-inch engines may be had nearly for the price of one 10-inch one; so that if one happens to be rendered unserviceable the other may still be available.

The usual rate of working an engine of the size described is 40 strokes of each cylinder per minute; this gives 88 gallons. The number of men required to keep steadily at work for three or four hours is 26; upwards of 30 men are sometimes put on when a great length of hose is necessary. The lever is in the proportion of 4-1/4 to 1. With 40 feet of leather hose and a 7/8 inch jet, the pressure is 30 lb. on the square inch; this gives 10.4 lbs. to each man to move a distance of 226 feet in one minute. The friction increases the labour 2-1/2 per cent. for every additional 40 feet of hose, which shows the necessity of having the engine, and of course the supply of water, as close to the fire as is consistent with the safety of the men at the levers.

In order that the reader may have a distinct idea of such a fire-engine, I shall here endeavour to give a description, chiefly taken from those made by W. J. Tilley,[K] fire-engine maker, London.

The engravings (figs. 1 and 2) represent a fire-engine of 7-inch barrels and 8-inch stroke.[L] The cistern marked A is made of mahogany or oak. The upper work, B, and side-boxes or pockets, C, are of Baltic fir. The sole, D, upon which the barrels stand, and which also contains the valves, is of cast-iron, with covers of the same material, which are screwed down, and the joints made good with leather or india-rubber. The pieces E, at each end of the cast-iron sole D, are of cast brass, and screwed to the cast-iron sole D, with a joint the same as above. In one of these pieces is the screwed suction-cap F, and to the other is attached the air-vessel G, made of sheet-copper, and attached to the piece E by a screw. The exit-pipe H is attached to the under side of the casting E by a swivel. The valves at I are of brass, ground so as to be completely water-tight. The barrels K are of cast brass. The engine is set on four grasshopper springs M. The shafts or handles O, of the levers P, are of lancewood. The box S, under the driving seat, is used for keeping wrenches, cord, &c.; in the fore part of the cistern A, and the box B above the cistern, the hose is kept; the branch and suction-pipes are carried in the side-boxes or pockets C; the rest of the tools and materials are kept along with the above-mentioned articles, in such situations as not to interfere with the working of the engine.

The cistern is made of oak or mahogany, for strength and durability; but, for the sake of lightness, the upper work and side-boxes are made of Baltic fir, strength in them being of less importance.

As the valve cannot be made without a rise for the lid to strike against, there is a small step at each of the valves, and the sole is carried through as high as this step, to admit of the water running off when the engine is done working. If constructed in a different manner, the water will lodge in the bottom, and produce much inconvenience in situations where the engine is exposed to frost.

The valve-covers are of cast-iron, fastened down with copper screws, a piece of leather or india-rubber being placed between them and the upper edges of the sole.

The pieces at each end of the sole are of cast-brass, instead of sheet-copper, with soft-solder joints, which are very apt to give way.

The screwed suction cap with iron handle admits the water in two different directions, according as it is open or closed: the one to supply the engine when water is drawn from the cistern, the other for drawing water through the suction-pipe.

The valves are brass plates, truly ground to fit the circular brass orifice on which they fall. The brass being well ground, no leather is used for the purpose of making them tight. The longer they are used the better they fit, and by having no leather about them they are less liable to the adhesion of small stones or gravel. The whole valve is put together and then keyed into a groove in the sides and bottom of the sole, left for that purpose.

The barrels are of cast-brass, with a piston made of two circular pieces of the same metal, each put into a strong leather cup, and bolted to the other. The bottoms of the cups being together, when the piston becomes loose in the barrels, and there is not sufficient time to replace the cups by new ones, they are easily tightened by putting a layer of hemp round the piston between the leather and the brass. This operation, however, requires to be carefully performed; for if more hemp is put into one part than another it is apt to injure the barrels. The barrels are fixed to the cast-iron sole by copper screws, a little red lead being placed between the bottom flange of the barrel and the sole.

When the engine is likely to be dragged over rough roads or causeways, it is of importance to have it set on springs, to prevent the jolting from affecting the working part of the engine, everything depending on that being right.

The engines used in Paris are mounted on two wheels, the carriage and the engine being separate, the latter being dismounted from the former before it can be used. In Paris, where the engines are managed by a corps of regularly-trained firemen, this may answer well enough; but if hastily or carelessly dismounted by unskilful persons, the engine may be seriously damaged. It is also worthy of remark, that the proper quantity of hose, tools, &c., can be more easily attached to and carried on a four-wheeled engine.

In order that the men may work more easily at the handles, and suffer less fatigue, the engine is not higher than to enable them to have the levers easily under their command. The shafts of the levers are of lancewood, being best calculated to bear the strain to which they are exposed when the engine is at work, and they are made to fold up at each end for convenience in travelling.

The air-vessel should be placed clear of any other part of the engine, excepting only the point where it is attached.

The fore-carriage of the engine is fitted with a pole, and is made to suit the harness of coach-horses, these being, in large towns, more easily procured than other draught cattle; this can be altered, however, to suit such harness as can most readily be obtained. Where horses are seldom used to move the engines, a drag-handle is attached, by which one or two men are able easily to direct the progress of the engine.

Two drag-ropes, each twenty-five feet long, of three-inch rope, with ten loops to each, are attached, one to each end of the splinter-bar, by means of which the engines are dragged; and to prevent the loops collapsing on the hand, they are partly lined with sheet-copper.

The whole of the brass work of an engine should be of the best gun-metal, composed of copper and tin only. Yellow brass should never be used; even at first it is far inferior to gun-metal, and after being used for some time it gets brittle. The whole of the materials used in the construction of a fire-engine should be of the best description.

In London for some years past a hand-pump has been carried with each engine. They have been found of the greatest service in keeping doors, windows, &c., cool. They throw from six to eight gallons per minute, to a height of from thirty to forty feet, and can be used in any position. The idea of the hand-pumps I took from the old-fashioned squirt, or "hand-engine."

When fire-engines are unserviceable it arises more frequently from want of care in keeping in order than from any damage they may have received in actual service or by the wearing out of the materials; so it is quite plain that this important part of the duty has not generally had that degree of attention paid to it which it deserves.

Although an engine were to be absolutely perfect in its construction, if carelessly thrown aside after being brought home from a fire, and allowed to remain in that state till the next occasion, it would be in vain (especially in small towns, where alarms are rare) to expect to find it in a serviceable condition; some of the parts must have grown stiff, and if brought into action in this state something is likely to give way.

When an engine is brought back from a fire, it ought to be immediately washed, the cistern cleaned out, the barrels and journals cleaned and fresh oil put on them, the wheels greased, and every part of the engine carefully cleaned and examined, and if any repairs are needed they should be executed immediately. When all this has been attended to clean hose should be put in, and the engine is again fit for immediate service. Besides this cleaning and examination after use, the engine ought to be examined and the brass part cleaned once a week, and worked with water once a month whether it has been used or not.

In addition to the keeping of the engine always in an effective state, this attention has the advantage of reminding the men of their duty, and making them familiar with every part of the mechanism of the engine; thus teaching them effectually how the engines ought to be protected when at work, by enabling them to discover those parts most liable to be damaged, and to which part damage is the most dangerous. It is more troublesome generally to get the engines well kept when there are no fires, than when there are many. But the only effectual method of inducing the men to keep them in good order, in addition to the moral stimulants of censure and applause, is to fine those who have the charge of them for the slightest neglect.

When the engine has been properly placed, before beginning to work the fore-carriage should be locked. This is done by putting an iron pin through a piece of wood attached to the cistern, into the fore-carriage. This prevents the wheels from turning round, and coming under the shafts, by which the latter might be damaged, and the hands of the men at work injured.

Small stones, gravel, and other obstructions, sometimes find their way into the nozzle of the branch-pipe, from having dropped into the hose before being attached, or having been drawn through the suction-pipe or from the cistern. Whenever the engine is found to work stiffly, it should be stopped and examined, otherwise the pressure may burst the hose, or damage some part of the engine. If anything impedes the action of the valves the pistons must be drawn, and if a person's hand be then introduced they may easily be cleared--constant care and attention to all the minutiae of the engine and apparatus being absolutely indispensable, if effective service be expected from them.

Considerable attention ought to be paid to the selecting a proper situation for an engine-house. Generally speaking, it ought to be central, and on the highest ground of the district it is meant to protect, and care should be taken to observe when any of the streets leading from it are impassable.

If, in addition to these advantages, the engine-house can be had adjoining to a police watch-house, it may be considered nearly perfect, in so far as regards situation. These advantages being all attained, the engine can be conveyed to any particular spot by a comparatively small number of men, while the vicinity of a police watch-house affords a facility of communicating the alarm of fire to the firemen not to be obtained otherwise. When the engine-house is placed in a low situation the men who first arrive must wait till the others come forward to assist them to drag the engine up the ascent, and many minutes must thus be lost at a time when moments are important.

After choosing a proper situation for the engine-house, the next care should be directed towards having it properly ventilated, as nothing contributes more to the proper keeping of the engines and hose than fresh and dry air. For this purpose a stove should be fitted up, by which the temperature may be kept equal. When engines are exposed to violent alternations of heat and cold, they will be found to operate very considerably on the account for repairs, besides occasioning the danger of the engine being frozen and unserviceable when wanted.

There ought to be at least half a dozen keys for each engine-house, which should be kept by the firemen, watchmen, and those connected with the establishment, that the necessity of breaking open the door may not occur.

DESCRIPTION OF TOOLS WITH WHICH EACH ENGINE IS PROVIDED.

Having considered the sort of fire-engine which is best adapted for general purposes, I shall now notice the different articles which, in London, are always attached to, and accompany, each engine of this kind:--

7 coils of hose, 40 feet each. 4 bundles of sheepskin and lay-cord. 4 lengths of suction-pipe, each between 6 and 7 feet long. 2 branch pipes. 3 jet pipes or nozzles and an elbow for jet. 3 wrenches for coupling-joints. 2 lamps. 2 lengths of scaling ladder. 1 fire-hook. 60 feet of patent line, and 20 feet of trace line. 1 mattock. 1 shovel. 1 hatchet or pole-axe. 1 saw. 1 iron crow-bar. 1 portable cistern. 1 flat suction strainer. 1 standcock, and hook for street plugs. 1 screw wrench. 1 canvas sheet with 10 or 12 rope handles round its edges. 9 canvas buckets. 1 hand-pump with 10 feet of hose and jet pipe.

Of these articles I shall endeavour to give a description as they stand in the above list.

The article of hose being first in order, as well as importance, merits particular attention.

The sort used is leather, made with copper rivets, and is by far the most serviceable and durable hose that I have yet seen.

Manufacturers of this article, however, for a very obvious reason, are not always careful to select that part of the hide which, being firmest, is best adapted for the purpose. Indeed, I have known several instances wherein nearly the whole hide has been cut up and made into hose, without any selection whatever. The effect of this is very prejudicial. The loose parts of the hide soon stretch and weaken, and while, by stretching, the diameter of the pipe is increased, the pressure of the water, in consequence, becomes greater on that than on any other part of the hose, which is thereby rendered more liable to give way at such places.

Hose are frequently made narrow in the middle, and, in order to fit the coupling-joints, wide at the extremities--a practice which lessens their capability of conveying a given quantity of water, in proportion to the difference of the area of the section of the diameters at the extremity and the middle part.

In order to make them fit the coupling-joints, when carelessly widened too much, I have frequently seen them stuffed up with brown paper, and in that case they almost invariably give way, the folds of the paper destroying the hold which the leather would otherwise have of the ridges made on the ends of the coupling-joints.

In order to avoid all these faults and defects, the riveted hose used are made in the following manner:--

The leather is nine and five-eighths inches broad (that being the breadth required for coupling-joints of two and a half inches diameter of clear water-way), and levelled to the proper uniform thickness. The leather used is taken from hides of the very best description, perfectly free from flesh-cuts, warble-holes, or any other blemish, and stuffed as high as possible.[M] Not more than four breadths are taken from each hide, and none of the soft parts about the neck, shoulders, or belly are used. No piece of leather is less than four feet long.

The leather is gauged to the exact breadth, and holes punched in it for the rivets. In the operation of punching, great care must be taken to make the holes on each side of the leather exactly opposite to each other. If this precaution be not attended to, the seam when riveted takes a spiral direction on the hose, which the heads of the rivets are very apt to cut at the folds. Care must also be taken that the leather is equally stretched on both sides, otherwise the number of holes on the opposite sides may be unequal. The ends are then cut at an angle of thirty-seven degrees; if cut at a greater angle, the cross-joint will be too short, and if at a smaller, the leather will be wasted. This must, however, be regulated in some degree by the number of holes in the cross-joint, as the angle must be altered a little if the holes at that part do not fit exactly with the holes along the side.

The different pieces of leather necessary to form one length, or forty feet of hose, are riveted together by the ends.

Straps of leather, three inches broad, are then riveted across the pipe, ten feet apart, to form loops for the purpose of handing or making fast the hose when full of water. The leather is then laid along a bench, and a bar of iron, from eight to ten feet long, three inches broad, and one inch thick, with the corners rounded off, is laid above it. The rivets are next put into the holes on one side of the leather, along the whole length of the iron bar. The holes on the other side are then brought over them, and the washers put on the points of the rivets, and struck down with a hollow punch. The points of the rivets are then riveted down over the washers, and finished with a setting punch. The bar of iron is drawn along, and the same operation repeated till the length of the hose be finished.

The rivets and washers should be made of the best wrought copper, and must be well tinned before being used.

Some objections have been made to riveted hose on account of the alleged difficulty of repairing them; but this is not so serious a matter as may at first view appear. Indeed, they very seldom require any repairs, and when they do, the process is not difficult. If any of the rivets be damaged, as many must be taken out as will make room for the free admission of the hand. A small flat mandrel being introduced into the hose, the new rivets are put into the leather, and riveted up the same as new pipe; the mandrel is then shaken out at the end.

If the leather be damaged, it may be repaired either by cutting out the piece, and making a new joint, or by riveting a piece of leather upon the hole.

The manner of attaching the hose to the coupling-joint is also a matter of very considerable importance. If a joint come off when the engine is in operation, a whole length of hose is rendered useless for the time, and a considerable delay incurred in getting it detached, and another substituted.

To prevent this, the hose ought to fit as tightly as possible to the coupling-joint, without any packing. In riveted hose, a piece of leather, thinned down to the proper size, should be put on to make up the void which the thick edge of the leather next the rivet necessarily leaves; the hose should then be tied to the coupling-joint as firmly as possible with the best annealed copper wire, No. 16 gauge.

When the hose are completely finished in this manner they are proved by a proving-pump, and if they stand a pressure of two hundred feet of water they are considered fit for service. I may also add, that when any piece of hose has been under repair it is proved in the same manner before it is deemed trustworthy.

The proving of the hose is of very considerable importance, and the method of doing so which I have mentioned is greatly superior to the old plan of proving them on an engine or fire-cock. By the latter method, no certain measure can be obtained by which the pressure can be calculated. In the first place it must depend on the relative height of the reservoir from whence the water is obtained and that of the fire-cock where the experiment is made; and as the supply of water drawn from the pipes by the inhabitants may be different on different days of the week and even in different hours of the day, it is quite evident that by this method no certain rule can be formed for the purpose required, the pressure being affected by the quantity of water drawn at the time.

The method of proving by an engine is considerably better than this; but when a proving-pump can be obtained it is infinitely better than either. One disadvantage of an engine is, that it requires a considerable number of men; but even the proof, that of throwing the water to a given height on the gable of a house or other height, is not always a test of the sufficiency of the hose. As the temperature is low or high, the wind fresh or light, the degree of pressure on the hose in throwing the water to the required height will be greater or less. Indeed, in high winds it is a matter of extreme difficulty to throw the water to any considerable height.

With an engine of 7-inch barrels and 7-inch stroke, fitted with eighty feet of 2-3/8-inch hose, I have found from several experiments that when the water is thrown seventy-five feet high, the pressure on the hose is equal to one hundred feet. The same engine, with 160 feet of hose, and the branch-pipe raised fifty feet above the level of the engine, when the water was thrown fifty-six feet from the branch, occasioned a pressure equal to 130 feet on the hose. From these experiments, I am convinced that the pressure will not be equal to 200 feet, except in very extreme cases, or when some obstacle gets into the jet pipe.

I tried the extreme strength of a piece of riveted hose 4 feet long and 2-3/8 inches diameter, and found that it did not burst till the pressure increased to 500 feet; and when it gave way the leather was fairly torn along the rivet-holes.

Every possible care should be taken to keep the hose soft and pliable, and to prevent its being affected by mildew. After being used, in order to dry them equally they should be hung up by the centre, with the two ends hanging down, until half dry. They should then be taken down and rubbed over with a composition of bees'-wax, tallow, and neats-foot oil,[N] and again hung up to allow the grease to sink into the leather. When the hose appear to be dry they should be a second time rubbed with the composition, and then coiled up for use. In order that the hose undergoing the operation of greasing may not be disturbed or used till in a fit state, it is better to have a double set, and in this way, while one set is in grease the other is in the engine ready and fit for service. More time can also be taken for any repairs which may be necessary, and they will in consequence be more carefully done, and at fires where a great length of hose is required the spare set will always be available. When the weather is damp, and the hose cannot be dried so as to be fit for greasing in two or three days, a stove should be put into the room in order to facilitate the process. The greatest care, however, must be taken in the use of artificial heat. The whole apartment should be kept of one equal temperature, which ought never to be higher than is requisite to dry the hose for greasing in about forty hours.

_Coupling-joints._[O]--So much of the efficiency and duration of the hose depend on the proper form given to the brass coupling-joints, that I deem it useful to give a detailed description, both of those generally made use of and of those adopted by the Edinburgh fire-establishment, and also to point out their various defects and advantages.