An Interresting Experiment.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IX, Issue 137, 15 May 1885, Page 3

An Interresting Experiment.

THE HARDEN " STAR " HAND GRENADE FIUB EXTINGUISHED. „ (Auckland ffervkl.) > A public trial of the efficacy of the Harden " Star " Hand Grenade, Fi re Extinguisher was . made yßStet^av afterijoou, on th« vaeeiit gro-mU at the cutting at the foot- o£ Tfohsori-streec. Among th«»«e present were Su\Fr«derick Whitiker, His Worship the Mayor (Mr W. R. Waddell), the.. Chairman, of the Harbour :Board (i\lr W. ; 'Cri- Owen y, and iot\\. v leading citijens, amongst them, iieing the nmnagera and agents of tho insnradce companies doing liuMneai m the city. A fiio was extemporised; by a lai-ge packiiijpf awe l »cing bniit up to repvorent the wall of a houseV -and on it; beiii?' plentifully saturated with kur.)aine, a' tire of straY ; etb., beina: kindled at the bottom, th«: whole attair bni'stjiuto a,ahe«*t of flume. It was m a fail*', way 'of being demolished, when the Harden Hand Grenade, a flask holditi^'alwiua'pint of cheiiir icul composition, was burled at the xcrecn with a craslij and the ; ftimes w«re : instantly cliecktid, a second and : third grenade Wa^ thi'own, au'd the fir^ wa« entirely /Suppressed on the walls of the' sci-ieen. A spcond experiment of a .similar. kind by re-satuvat-inp the wood-work with .kerosene and rekindling another tire w»ih made ; the heat was iutouse, the flames shot up with a i*oar, nnd again the hand grenade was pent crashing into the flame, which was subdued immediately, and three otheis quite extinguished the tire with the exception ot a little smouldeiing m the joinings of the timWr. For a third time the woodea chimney was lighted, and the flames had complete hold of it, shooting 1 op m one sheet, the flask was hurled again, and the tire was got under m the «• twinkliug of an eye.'* A second grenade extinguished it entirely. Thiii was the niiis't successful one of the three. The effect of the g»en ade is wonderful, and, from its popnlarity m Great Britain and tho United Strite*, canno* fail to be adbb'tpd^ liere. Tbe grenade is very simple. It is a glass bottle or flask, containing a pint of chemical fluid, which upon comming m contact with the tire, gives off a gas which at once destroys combustion. It is qm** harmless, and may be kepfc ready for instant use m any part of a awelliiig-house or warehouse. Th^ simpLcity of the modus opermdi is its mo*t striking feature, and the power it has of ;extiiigaishinff lire is »«sWundm}f.