测试的都市消防车。

测试的都市消防车。

A Metropolitan fire engine, built by the American Fire Engine company, of Seneca Falls, N. Y., was recently subjected to a series of exhaustive tests at Philadelphia, where the respective merits of the rotary and piston engines have been the subject of considerable discussion. Similar tests were made a year ago On this occasion they took place under the direction of Messrs. Vauclain, of the Baldwin locomotive works, and Iioopes, of Hoopes & Townsend. On the former occasion the committee reported that a larger and stronger type of the piston engine would be more likely to give the mosteffleient service in a city like Philadelphia. As a result of that recommendation a Metropolitan engine was submitted for the approval of the committee—the engine which was tried the other day. The tests, were threefold: (1) for distance; (2) for capacity; (3) for suction power The first consisted of two trials and a six-inch suction being attached tQ a hydrant, the engine was worked to its fullest capacity of 135 pounds of steam. Two fifteen-minutes’ trials, were made. The water was conveyed by three two-inch hose, which acted as feed pipes to another stretch of two-inch hose fitted with a long nozzle. The stream was cast a maximum of 310 feet against a strongly blowing north est wind, which operuted materially to reduce its carrying distance. No difficulty at all was experienced in keeping the engine under a full head of steam during the whole of the test. For capacity, the engine w as coupled to a pipe which led from a large water tank on the roof of one of the shops of the Baldwin locomotive works,at Fifteenth and Buttonwood streets. The engine was run for nearly an hour at its highest speed and threw' a stream of considerably more than 1,100 gallons a minute—the requirement guaranteed by the makers of the engine. The suction test was the most exhaustive of all. The engine was taken to the Schuylkill river, and w’ater W'as raised a height of almost sixteen feet from the river and thrown in a two-inch stream as far as on the first test. The extraordinary pressure exerted by the engine again had the effect of bursting a hose and separating a coupling. Trials were made with one and a half-inch and one and three-quarter-inch hose, with the result that it was found possible to send the stream only slightly farther than w'ith the two-inch hose. Mr. Vauclain said the engine “fully justified in fact, exceeded, the claims made for it by the owners. No difficulty at all w’as experienced in working it at its highest pressure during all of the experiments.”

The Fox water tube boiler, perfected by William Fox, superintendent of the Cincinnati shop of the American Fire Engine company, and an improved pump are the most important component parts of the engine. Many advantages are claimed for the Fox boiler over other types, among w hich is its capacity to generate working pressure from cold water in six minutes, the provisions for the necessary expansion being so carefully made that no bad effect is noticeable from such treatment, It is claimed for the pump that it is, among other things, the only absolutely non-corrosive pump on any steam engine, all stud-bolts, nuts, etc., coming in contact with the water being made of phosphor bronze, and all nipples, piping, etc., of brass.