ALARM SYSTEMS AND ACCESSORIES
History Shows Progress Toward Certainty of Operation and an Increasing Development to Meet Modern Requirements—The Siren Fire Alarm Popular Compressed Air Systems
THE history of fire alarm telegraphy shows progress toward certainty of operation and an increasing use of alarm apparatus to meet modern requirements. The first fire alarm telegraph system in the United States was installed in Boston in 1852. It was a crude design of single circuit type. At the present date fire alarm telegraph systems range from single-circuit systems adequate for small towns to systems of many circuits, requiring forces of operators constantly on duty in the central stations. They may be classified under two general headings, namely, automatic and manual. Theword “automatic” may only be applied to systems which require no manual intervention whatever in transmitting alarms from the street signal boxes to the fire department. When a system becomes large enough to warrant the constant attendance of one or more operators at the central station, it ceases to be entirely automatic in its functions and requires facilities for the manual transmission of signals from the central station to the fire stations.
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