A FIRE-FIGHTING IDEA FOR STEAM WAGONS.
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Making Use of the Water Tank to Give a Steam-aided Jet.
THE suggestion is being put forward by the designers 1 of the Sentinel steam wagon that the 170-gallon water tank on that type of vehicle may be used for firefighting and for washing down, and a small fitting has been developed in the factory of the Sentinel Waggon Works, Ltd., which permits the tank to be used for these two purposes.
The fitting embodies a Sentinel ejector and it replaces one of the filter plugs. It has a-control lever which, owing to the position of the ejector device, is in an extremely accessible place on the side of the tank, as is shown in our illustrations. To the ejector are connected a small steam pipe and a special hose and nozzle, these connections all being permanent, the hose being coiled up and carried on a hose bracket fixed to the side member of the frame.
On the outbreak of fire it is the work of a moment or two to obtain a powerful jet of water, steamaided, from the boiler, and the readiness with which the jet of water may be impinged uponi the burning surfaces may often be the means of preventing a catastrophe or saving a load and vehicle from a disastrous fire. While steam is up, the driver may also use the jet for clean. lug down when washing his vehicle.
• So far, the. steam-wagon operator has not made a point of equipping his vehicle with the chemical type of fire extinguisher, so that this small attachment to a Sentinel wagon should serve the same purpose, unless, of course, the load happens to be of . an oily nature.