The Test of the Chemical Fire Extinguisher
A skeptical crowd gathers at Second and Marion to watch a new, pressurized fire-fighting contraption in action.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Fifty people assembled at the corner of Second and Marion streets at 9 o'clock last evening to attend a trial of the merits of the 'Orient Fire Extinguisher.' Lumber—with the heads removed, so as to ensure a strong draft—was piled up and well covered with tar and saturated with coal oil. The torch was applied and the demonstration commenced. The fire was allowed to attain a good headway before the extinguisher was brought to play. The result of the test was satisfactory to those present; as soon as the stream of chemically prepared water struck the fire, it was instantaneously extinguished. Except for some charred barrels, the fire did not consume the wood of the pile before being put out. The extinguisher is a double tank, made of galvanized iron, each tank holding about three gallons of water, and connected with a flexible hose. The chemicals are carried in separate boxes, one on each tank. On an alarm of fire, the caps are put on, one in each tank, the pump worked with one hand, and the hose directed on the fire with the other. The action of the chemicals charges the water strongly with carbonic acid gas, which, as is well known, is death to fire.
“As soon as the stream of chemically prepared water struck the fire, it was instantaneously extinguished.”
Long before modern fire suppression systems or even a robust municipal department, inventors often held public demonstrations of their contraptions on street corners. The corner of 2nd and Marion is now the bustling heart of downtown Seattle, miles away from the small-town experiment atmosphere where hardware store owners proved their wares in the middle of the street.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.