Fire Hose for Private and Public Uses.

Fire Hose for Private and Public Uses.

我们上周提到j . r . Freem报告an to the associated factory mutuals in regard to faulty linen hose so much used for the equipment of factories and large buildings for fire protective purposes. The tests made by Mr. Freeman demonstrated what has long been known to practical firemen, that unlined linen hose is almost worthless as a means of fire protection. When allowed to remain upon the reels, or hung up, it very soon becomes dry, and the moment that water is put into it a greater quantity will leak through the meshes of the hose than will be discharged at the nozzle. In the course of half an hour or more the hose gets saturated and becomes somewhat more serviceable; but the first five minutes at a fire embraces the time when the most effective work can be done for its extinguishment, and that is the precise time that the hose is not serviceable. Propertyowners, as a rule, are not judges of fire hose, but seem to entertain the idea that anything that is called “ hose " is serviceable. Others are indifferent to the matter and simply want to make a show of fire equipment in order to secure a reduction of their rates from the insurance companies. The remedy for the introduction of this unserviceable hose lies in inspections by the insurance companies. No reduction of rate should be made because of alleged fire protection appliances adopted by the property ow ner until such appliances have been inspected by an expert and reported upon favorably. The proper hose to use in factory buildings is a rubber-lined linen or cotton hose. The rubber lining makes it cost very nearly double w hat the unlined costs; but it is worth the money, for the simple reason that it will hold water and the other will not. A gentleman interested in this matter of the local protection of risks recently visited a wood-w'orking establishment in this city, the owner of which prides himself upon the thorough means he has adopted for protecting his factory, and upon the reduction of rates that he has secured from the insurance companies in consequence. Our expert friend immediately saw the man’s dependence was upon unlined linen hose which was hanging conspicuously upon the reels and seemed to be all right. The expert offered to wager that the owner couldn’t get a stream of water through 200 feet of that hose in five minutes. The gentleman laughed at him and finally consented to make the test. Taking the hose into the back yard he attached it to a hydrant and turned on the water. Of course, the hose leaked at every pore until the pavement of the yard was well under water; but not a drop came through the nozzle, and it was not until it had lain in the water for fully twenty minutes that a slight stream appeared at the nozzle, and the best stream that could be raised in the next half hour had not volume and strength enough to reach ten feet. Just such hose as that is to be found in the majority of the buildings that claim to be equipped with local apparatus for the extinguishment of fire. It serves to deceive insurance men and to secure for the propertyowner the object he has in view in purchasing it, viz., a reduction of rates.

There is a point in connection with the use of hose in fire departments that is not generally taken into account. For a great many years two and a half inch has been the standard diameter of fire hose for fire departments uses. In the old days of hand engines, when the power to force water through lines of hose was exercised by men at the brakes, two and a half inch hose was used, and its capacity was about equal to the power applied. Since those days, manufacturers have gone on improving engines till steam is now the power almost universally used, and, of course, the capacity of the engines has been materially increased; but we still hold on to the old two and a half inch hose, so that, as a matter of fact, the fire extinguishing capacity of a steam fire engine is little greater than that of the old hand engine because of this restricted flow of water through the hose. Some years ago in the New York department the experiment was tried of putting three-inch hose upon the fire boat, and most satisfactory results were obtained. Several of the departments have had engines especially constructed with three-inch outlets, so that a larger size hose may be used, and wherever this has been done the results have been so much better that it is simply a question of time when all the engines in use in those departments will be adapted to the employment of three-inch hose. The additional diameter gives fully forty per cent more water than can be obtained in the two and a half inch hose.