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Miscellany: Apparatus For Firemen

Miscellany: Apparatus For Firemen image
Parent Issue
Day
18
Month
July
Year
1842
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Jn our own times the art of defending the bands and face, and indeed 11 ig vvliole bo'ly. from Ihe action of lieated i ron and inlense fire, has been applied to the nobler purpose of saving human life, and rescuinjr property from the flames. The revival and the improvement of this art we owe to the benevolence and theingenuityof theChevalier Aldini of JVJilan, who has travellf'd ilirougli all Europeto present this Valüablè gif-, to his species. Sir H. Uavv had long ago shown that a süfety lamp for illaminatiiig mines containiii? ihflnrnmable air might bo constrticfed of wire gauze, which prevented the fliime within, however larire or intense, from setting fire to the inflamn able. air ' hout. This valuable property, which has been long in practical use, lie aacribed to the condueüng nnd rndiatinir power of the wire-gfuizpj which carried olf Ihe heat of the dame, and deprh ed it of its power. The Chevalier Aldini conceived the idea of npplyinpr 'he same material in com binntion with olher badly conductinr substnnces, as a protection agninat firp. The incom bnstible pieoes of dress which ho u.es for the body, anus, and legs nre formed out of strong cloth, which lias been etefiped in a sohition of alnm, while those for the head hands, and feet nre made of cloth of asbestos or amianthus. The henddress is a large cap, which envelops the whole hend down to the neck, having suitable perforntions for the cyes, nose, and inoutli. Tlie stocking and cap are single, but the gloves are mode of doublé amianthus clbtb, to enable the firemen 'o take into his hand burning or red-hot bodies. The piece of ancient asbestos cloth preserved in the Vatican was formed, we believe, by mixing the asbestos with other fibrous substnnce?; bnt M. Aldini has executed a piece of nearly tlie same eize, nine feet five inches long, and five Jeet three ncheo wide, which ismucher than the ancient piece, and povs-eeses sUperior quiilUics, in consequence of hoving been ivóven without the inlroduction ot'any forein substances. In tíiis manufacture the fibres are prevenled from breaking by the action of steam, the cloth is made loose in its labric, and the threads are about the fiftieth of an inch in diameter. The metallic dress which is snperadded to these ineans of dcfenoe consisls of five principal piecee, viz: a ensqur, or cap, vyhh a nias-k large enough to leave a proper space betweon il and the asbestos cap; a cuirass with its brassets: a pirco of armour for the trunk and thighff; a pair of boots of doublé wire-gauze: and oval s hield 5 feut long by LL wide, made by stretchifig the wire gatize over a slender frame of iron. All these pieces are made of iron svire-gaiize, baying the interval bet ween its threads the twenty-fifih part of on inch. In order to prove the effiacacy of this apparatiip, and inspire the firemen vvith confidence Ui its protectioh, he shpwecl them that a finger first enveloppd in asbestos, and then in n doublé cane of vvire-gauze, might be held a oiiL time time in the fíame or' a spirjt-lamp or candlc before the heat becarne iuconvenient. A íireman having liis hand witltin a doubip asbestos glove, and its palm protec'.ed by a piece of asbpstos cloth, seized vvith iminity a !arge piece of red hot iron, carricd it doliberately to the distance of 150 feet, inflnmed straw with it, and brougbt it backagain to tin; uniMce. On other occasions, the firemen hnndled blazing wood and burning substancc?, and walleed during five minutes upon an iron grating placed over flaming fngots. In order to show how the Jiead, eyes. nnd hing are protected, the lireman put on the asbesto? and wire-gauze cap, and the cmrass, and held the sbield before his broast. A fire of shnvings was then lighted, and kept burning in a large raised chüfim. disli. and the firoman plnnged his head into the middle of the flames with his face to the fuel, and in that )osition went several times round thechofingdish for a peiod longer than a minute. In a subsequent trial at Paris, a firemun placed his head in the middle of a iargre brasier filleil with flatning hay and wood, and registert tlie actioii of the fire during five or six minutes, and even ten minuteg.In the experimente which were made at Po ris in prewnce of a commutee of the Academy of sciences, two parallel rows of straw nnti bmshwood, snpported by iroti wire, were ?irmed al thedistance of three Peet from each other, tinú extended thirty feet in longth. - When tliis combustible niass was set on fire, H was necessary to stand at the disionoe o! eigbt or ten yards f o avoid the lieat. The linies from both the rows seemed to fill up he u-hole spaco betiveen tíiem, and róselo the height oi nine or ten feet. At this moment sj.v firemen, clothed in' the ncombnstibie dresses. and mnrched at a slovv pace behitid eacb ollier, repnatedly pa.-sed througli the j whöle lentth betwecn the tvvo rows of flamej which were consta ntly fed tvith additional combustibles. One of the lïrenmn carried on his back a child eight years old in a wicker basket covered with mt-tnllic gnuzp, and the chiid had no other dress than a cap made of :imi;miliine cloth. In February, 1829, a etill more strikincf experiment wns made in yard of the barracks nf St. Gervais. Two towers were erected i two et or ios hgh and were surroundèd with heap of inflnnied material, consisting of f rots and straw. The firemen brnv d the danper with impnnity. In opposition to the advice of Af. Aldini, one of ihera, with the basket and chüd, fiislred in'. o a mwrów place, whero the flunies were róging eight yards high - The viblencê of the fire was so grn-it t ha t lie i conld not be seen, while a thick smoIiR spread aroiaid) throwjng out a heat vyhich was insnp portable by ihe ppeclntors. Tlie fireinan remained sb ng invisible tbat s'prioua doiibts were Piitertained of lus stífety. lío at length, liowever. issued from the iierv friïlf ifninjúrOd, and prond of having succeeded in braving so great a dang-er. It is a romarkíible result of tlieso expefi siients, that the firpmrn are aole to breathe without difficully in the middle of tlie fi-inies. Fliis cffi'ct is owing, not only to the heat being intercepted by the wire-ga'izo as it passes to the hinus, in consequence of which its tempcrature becomes supportabln, bnt al.so to the sinoT-ilar power which ihe body posssses ofïetnpting great heats. and of breatbingairof high teniperatuies.

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Subjects
Signal of Liberty
Old News