Test of Pumping Engine at Salem
The new Robinson motor pumping engine at Salem, Mass., August 22. successfully passed the official tests required of it and will be formally accepted by the city government and placed in commission within a few days. The tests started at about 11.30 a. m. at Langmaid’s wharf, and was witnessed by a changing crowd that numbered about 2,000. The engine is guaranteed to deliver 800 gallons of water a minute. For half an hour the engine did more than this. The judges of the test were Col. John E. Spencer, Greeley S. Curtis of Marblehead and formerly of the National Board of Fire Underwriters, and William Bernard of the Salem Electric Lighting Company. From a 10-foot draft the engine delivered an average of 856 gallons a minute at 120 pounds pressure through a nozzle one and three-fourths inches in diameter. With three streams in operation the engine delivered 870 gallons a minute, showing sustained power all through the periods of the tests. The three streams were thrown with great force through lJ4-inch nozzles. Many fire officials from other cities were present, including Commissioner John Grady, Eugene Byington, Superintendent of Repair Shop, and Clarence Goldsmith, head of fire pressure system of Boston, Ghief Barrett of Peabody, Crowe of Gloucester and others, District Chief Roberts of Lynn and representatives of the Lawrence, Lowell, Marblehead. Winthrop and other departments. From a spectator’s standpoint the test was a spectacular one, as the streams thrown iuto the air were hurled to such altitudes as had never been seen in that city.
