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Equipment Used Afloat, Ashore An Improved System of Automatic Fire Detection for Use on Board Ships—New Design Magnetic Brake—Describing a Diesel Engine OMBUSTION! What would C modern shipping and commerce do without combustion? The combustion of coal or oil furnishes the motive power. Combustion is the efficient and essential servant. All too often this erstwhile servant be- comes the master, and then lives and property are lost. All fires, except those rare after- maths of explosions, are small in their beginnings. If they can be detected at their inception they can be easily extinguished. The need is for an au- tomatic means of detecting fire. Au- tomatic because much marine prop- erty—especially cargo holds, and fuel bunkers of vessels, piers, docks and warehouses—is not under constant hu- man supervision. Then again, humans cannot be depended upon to do the right thing in an emergency. An alarm must be transmitted in a definite, positive manner to those in authority. Automatic means the elim- ination of the human element from the equation of detecting and report- ing fires. Such a system must be ab- solutely dependable. A Fire Alarm System Marine fire protection engineers are evidencing considerable interest in a new system for marine fire detection developed by the Garrison Fire De- tecting System Inc., 79 Madison av- enue, New York. The heart of this system is a fire detecting wire which is graphically described in Fig. 1. This continuous thermostat, when con- nected to the control panels and bat- teries, carries current on its two conductors. When heat comes in contact with this wire, the fusible alloy melts, ex- pands and spurts through the lateral slot of the inner conductor and per- meates the thread serving and makes a short circuit by coming in contact with the outer conductor, which is a spiral wrapping of brass tape. Thus, the fire itself gives its own alarm. The fusing and expansion of the al- loy are not dependent upon the nerves, instinct or training, but upon a stable basis, an immutable law of chemistry, a law very similar in character to that which governs the expansion of the volume of the water when that water is turned to ice. All of us have had experience with broken bottles, and broken pipes, from freezing water. It is just this kind of a force which causes the fire to tell on itself when the property is protected by means of the fire detecting wire. Detecting Wire Improved This fire detecting wire has been on the market for several years. The core and the brass sleeve have not been fundamentally altered, but re- cently a new improvement has _ been made of special interest to marine people, namely the original varnished FIG. 2—A TYPICAL SIX CIRCUIT PANEL BOARD FOR THE ALARM WITH THE FIRE DETECTING WIRE SYSTEM cambric insulation has been abandoned and the outer insulation now is a tube of rubber which is _ absolutely waterproof. Each coil of wire, after the rubber tube has been applied, and before the outer braid has been af- fixed, is immersed in water and the rubber tube is subjected to a high DISTINGUISHING OUTSIDE DIAMETER Oy 21s" RusbER Tuse,_” INSULATION Fic. | voltage break-down test. This water- proof feature is of special value be- cause moisture or water getting be- tween the core and the brass tape sleeve might effect a short circuit and send in a false alarm. A false alarm of this character cannot happen in an installation of this new product. Another new feature that has just made its appearance is a complete system. While the fire detecting wire is the “heart” of any installation, it is of little or no value unless it is connected up to the proper apparatus in order to make use of the short cir- cuit caused by heat. In Fig. 2 a typical six circuit panel board is shown. The panel board used for this illustration was for a factory, but in place of the “1st floor’, “2nd floor’, “38rd floor’, ete. there can be “hold No. 1”, “hold No. 2”, “hold No. So Obes oA, This panel board has pilot lamps which light up with the giving of the fire alarm. In addition to these visual signals there are fire gongs. The number and location are deter- mined by the size and arrangement of fire stations on a ship or dock. The visual lamp signals may be duplicated in the engine room, or at any other point that the organization of the ship’s crew may require. Heat Is Determining Factor It is quite interesting to note that a fire may have any or all of the fol- lowing three elements: (a) smoke (b) heat (c) flame. All fires do not have smoke in their beginning, and all fires do not have flame. Fires of spontaneous combustion are most deadly and should be detected at their very inception. Thus, it will be seen from analysis that the only element of the three that all fires possess is that of heat. Heat alone is required «C Fusiate Arroy "E” THREAD SERVING YA’ Sreev Tuse INSULATING SLEEVE FROM CORE FIRE DETECTING WIRE