DETECTOR FOR FIRE ALARM BOXES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10059, 2 June 1910, Page 3

DETECTOR FOR FIRE ALARM BOXES.

The problem of so designing a lira alarm box that it can be opened and operated by anyone in emergency and yet will tend to prevent the sounding of false aralrms, is one that has engaged the attention of inventors for many years. The following is a very ingenious solution of the problem. The alarm box is closed by a cover which has to be raised to permit the operator to insert his hand through an opening and release the alarm mechanism. At the moment of the release a handcuff closes over the wrist of the operator. The handcuff 1 is not chained to the alarm box; for this would make a prisoner of the operator of the alarm, whose services might be badly needed at the fire. Instead, however, the handcuff serves merely for identification. It is made of such form that it cannot be concealed under the coatsleeve and it betrays the sounder of the alarm to the general public, and is an honour to a man unless the alarm is a false one. Not until the fire chief has arrived with a special key to fit the handcuff may the device be removed. The system is also applicable to boxes which are locked. It frequently happens in such cases that the key 3 are loaned out and it is impossible to determine, who sounded the alarm even when it is known whose key is mißsiig. i