LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2705, 8 December 1882, Page 4

LITERATURE.

AN INTERESTING EXPERIMENT. Mr Gibbers, of Hackney, was an inventor. Ho had invented may things, but aione of such vast importance to the public as his machine for the saving of life from fire in dwelling-houses. This machine was so simple, so inexpensive, and so reliable, that he felt justified in believing that when its merits became known, no house would l>e without it. So Mr Gibbers first took ont his patent, and invited the general public and the press to witness an experiment with the machine at his house, Phcenix Lodge, Hackney. So confident was he in the successful result of this experiment that he even included Mr BilIdngs, a fellow parishioner, and a rival inventor of fire escapes, amongst those specially invited to bo present. At nine o’clock one evening the company had assembled. The general public was xepresented by Mr Bilkings and several other gentlemen of Hackney, and the press by Mr Whiffle, of the “ Hackney Oracle.” Mr Gibbers, having served his guests to wine and ham sandwiches, proceeded to show them the construction of his house. Phoenix Lodge is a detached house of three storeys and a cockloft; the kitchen is upon the basement, and connected with a coalcellar below the portico.

* You see, gentlemen,’ said Mr Gibbers on returning to the dining room, ‘ there is nothing peculiar or extraordinary in the construction of this house. It is of modern construction, and the type of an ordinary middle-class gentleman’s residence. The Jives of people dwelling in such houses are at present utterly unprotected against fire. A gentleman asks * what about the fire brigade ?’ I ask in reply—what about bursted mains and water famines ? It is in such an emergency that my apparatus becomes invaluable. Gentlemen, when my neighbors are sitting up all night for fear of being burnt in their beds, I, with this little machine under my pillow, close my eyes in peace, and smile in my sleep !’

Here Mr Gibbers drew from under tbe table an apparatus about the size of a wellatulfed No. 1 Gladstone bag, and exposed it to the company. ‘Prom Captain Shaw’s reports/ continued the inventor, ‘it appears that all fatal fires originate in the first or second floors, and that this must be the case is evident; if a fire breaks out in the cockloft or the basement, the sleepers have time to awake and make their escape before the ways of exit are stopped by the flames; but in case of the first or second floors being on fire, the occupants of the bedrooms above must perish in the flames or break their necks through one of those barbarous contrivances which with unconscious irony have been called by their inventors ‘ fire escapes/ * Here Mr Gibbers coughed and glanced significantly at his rival, Mr Bilkings ; he then proceeded. * I will now explain my machine ; as you see, it is composed of a simple crossbar, fifty feet of rope, and a pulley governed by a ratchet wheel, with lever and connecting cord, which enables a person descending by the rope to govern the speed of his descent, or check it at any point; no, gentlemen, this not ‘ a thingumbob for getting out of the frying pan into the fire,’ as Mr Bilkings very unworthily suggests, and I do not lower myself out of a cool garret window to roast in the flames comin; out of the first floor ; I do not escape from the fire in the house by the outside. I pass through the midst of it, and arrive below it unscathed. By the expression upon your faces gentlemen, I conclude that you consider me of unsound mind ; without waiting to argue the question I will put my assertion to a practical proof and without further delay. I beg you to follow me, if yon please.’ The company followed Mr Gibbers, who, carrying his apparatus, ascended the stairs and entered the back room on the first floor. A brazier filled with with straw, old rags, and other combustibles stood in the centre of the chamber. Mr Gibbers called attention to it, and to a box of matches beside it, and then led the way to the floor above. ‘ This, gentlemen,’ said he. ‘ is my bedroom. I shall now go to bed. When you leave me you will take what precautions you please to see that I arrive in the kitchen upon the basement without descending by the staircase, or by any of the windo s either in the front or the back of the house. You will then light the fire in the brazier below, and I undertake within five minutes of the time that smoke first issues from the first floor, to have the pleasure of drinking wine with you in the kitchen.’ Mr Gibbers commenced to undress, and his visitors left him. Two gentlemen remained upon the stairs, two went into the i arden in front of the bouse, and two to the back : the remaining gentlemen then fired the brazier and descended to the kitchen. Before three minutes had elapsed a rambling sound ■caught their ears, and the next instant Mr Gibbers stepped out from the fireplace, with a smile and a bow to his astonished guests. He had descended through the chimney. So far the experiment appeared entirely satisfactory, and the proceedings would probably have ended with another bottle of wine and a vote [of thanks to Mr Gibbers, but that Mr Bilkings stepped forward, and declaring himself dissatisfied with the manner in which the experiment had been made, boldly challenged Mr Gibbers to repeat the experiment in a house where he didn’t know the chimneys, and under such inspection as would satisfy him that he bad no other appliance but the apparatus itself.

Mr Gibbers, elated with success, accepted the challenge without hesitation, and offered to go through the performance at Mr Bilkings* own residence. This offer being taken, the whole party, at Mr BLI- - invitation, adjourned to his house. No. 17 Kiddlewink terrace, Mr Gibbers carrying his machine with him. Mr Biliings’ house differed from Mr Gibbers in being smaller and having houses on either side ; in height it was about the same. A pan of old rags being placed on the first floor, Mr Bilkings and four gentlemen descended to the kitchen on the basement. Three others accompanied Mr Gibbers, and one remained to fire the rags. With scupuJous exactitude Mr Gibbers placed the machine under his pillow, undressed, and got into bed. There he remained until the stench of smouldering cloth was sxxfficiently obvious to justify his arising. Calmly he put on his trousers and boots, then taking his machine, a jug of water, he left the room an i got out upon the roof through the trap door, followed by the gentlemen acting as ■witnesses.

The smoke was pouring from one chimney in the stack in such volumes that it was difficult to see anything else. Mr Gibbers led the way to the stack, and there paused to explain the situation. ‘ This chimney,’ he said, pointing to that wh'ch smoked, ‘is the first floor. There can he no doubt about that. The volume of smoke always indicates the floor attacked by the fire. As you see, the chimneys are in pairs ; there are two rooms in each floor, hence two chimneys. Now the pair to the right of the first floor couple are smokeless; it follows that they rise from the bedrooms on the second floor. But taking the next pair, we find o.ne emitting smoke, and the natural conclusion to be drawn is that it comes from the still smouldering fire in "the kitchen. It is down that chimney I .shall descend.’

Mr Gibbers unrolled his cord, and with a smart blow dislodged the chimney pot; -then, in the most workmanlike fashion, he removed the top bricks from the stack, and exposed an orifice sufficiently large for the passage of his body. Then he emptied the water jug down the chimney, taking care to draw back and escape the column of steam that shot up from below.

*Ha ! ha !’ he laughed, ‘ Bilkings did not reckon on that. If he happened to be near the fireplace when that water descended, he "is now considerably scalded. Serve him right. Now to descend.

He quickly laid the crossbar across the top of the chimney, scrambled into the chimney, and the next moment disappeared. Meanwhile, Mr Bilkings and hia witnesses waited patiently in the kitchen for the coining of Mr Gibbers. Suddenly their ears caught a fearful scream, and then cries of ‘ Fire ! murder ! police ! thieves.’ * I expected it; I knew it; I thought so !’ exclaimed Mr Bilkings, slapping his thigh ;

‘ he’s gone down next door’s chimney, and she’s an invalid who never leaves her rooms.’ * * # * Since that experiment Mr Gibbers has altered the specification of his patent, which runs now thus—‘ A machine for saving life from lire in detached houses, &c., &c.