Fire Protection.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 4, Issue 182, 9 July 1883, Page 2

Fire Protection.

The appliances for the prevention and extinction ot fire, which have for some time past been m course of construction at the Standard office, and which have involved a very considerable outlay, are completed, and am found to work s.itis factorily. In the first place, tanks have been provided, which are always kept full, giving a storage capacity of over one thousand gallons. Other tanks have yet to be procured, one to be erected inside the building, m an elevated position, to which a permanent hose will be attached for use m the event of a fire occurring m the front shop. A powerful force»pump which is erected over a deep well, with a permanent suoply, is attached by belts and shafting to the steam-engine, by w ich it can be (iriven at a high rate of speed, giving a force that sends the water from the nozzle over the buildings m the immediate vicinity. Should the occasion be urgent, and no time to get up steam,the engine is disconnected, and converted into an intermediate, the motive power b ing communicated by a large cast-iron fly wheel, to which the strength offour men can be communicated if necessary. At an experimental trial to-day, the hose was fixed, the belts adjusted, the han* dies screwed on, and the water discharged from the nozzle m the space of one minute and 30 seconds. The total cost ot the whole appliances has been but very little short of £60, not counting; price of engine, and judging by the trial to-day, both by Rteam and hand* nower, the result is most satisfactory, ami should a fire oecir wi'.hin a radius of (i iy yards, the practica 1 efficacy of the u,f>arutu> would be found very serviceable. For ordinary purposes such as keeping the tanks full, and pumping water tor office uses, and watering the horses, the attachment of the pump to the strain-engine has been found a substantial saving and great convenience, the engine pumping as much m half an hour, as two men would do with hard work m four hours. When the hose is .attached, the engine has to be driven slowly, as otherwise the great pres-ure would prubably either burst the hose or the air-chamber of the pump. Without the end-nozzle the water is driven further, even by hand power, than befo c with it on, with two men at the pump lian<)te<*. When steam is used, the end nozzle ha* to he removed, the for<;p 'hrough the hose being so great. We do not suppose any business establishment on the coast is so well supplied with appliances for fire prevention or extinction as the Standard office now is. We trust the occasion for actual and urgent use will never occur, though s <ould such bf necessary, i r s efficacy should be satisfactorily demonstrated.