MUNICIPAL APPLIANCES UNDER TEST.
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Demonstrations of Laffly Fire-engines, Watering and Sweeping Machines, and a Gully Emptier.
LAST WEEK, at the invitation of the Laffly (England) Co., Ltd., 20-26, Lonsdale Road, London, N.W.6, we attended a very interesting. demonstration of their vehicles specially designed for municipal purposes and, in particalar, of the "combined watering wagon and road sweeper fitted with a. suction pump for obtaining water from any convenient source, and a pressure pump by which the machine can be con7 verted into A fire-engine caPable of discharging a jet of. water to a height of 150 ft. through a "-in. nozzle.
The first machine to show its powers was the neat little portable fire pump of the trailer type, which has a fourcylinder engine of only 7 h.p. The output of this efficient appliance is 7,700 gallons per hour with a nozzle pressure of 13 lb.
The tests showed that the trailer pump 4ives very powerful jets of water and with one nozzle can reach to the top of a house 120 ft. high, and with two nozzles to a height of 80 ft. Coollog is effected by tapping some of the water from the pump, so that no radiator is required, and the temperature is
kept constant and low,' even when the engine iS exceeding its nominal output.
The next test was with the light fire. engine, which is suitable for urban districts. This -uses a similar pump, but is, of course, more powerful, and it gives an output of 11,000 gallons per hour. Tests were made with three nozzles in use, and there was no sign that the engine was being overloaded. This engine recently made a journey to Southampton and back in 4 hours; and On the return journey towed the portable trailer pump.
The combined machine, to 'which we have already referred, is a really remarkable appliance. It can easily water at one pasSage the whole width
of a 60-ft. roadway, whilst it has an -effective sweeping width of 6 ft. and a tank capacity of 790 gallons. In Paris, where there are 300 of these machines, they proceed to the scene of a fire and get into action before the ordinary fireengines can have their hoses coupled.
The last tests were made with the Laffly gully emptier, and Cho results showed that an ordinary gully contain• mg water, mud and stones could be corn. pletely emptied in less than half a minute. It has a very large combined air exhaitster and air pump. The tank is divided into two compartments, the refuse being sucked into the upper compartment and any liquid being siphoned off int& the lower.
Clean water is carried for sealing purposes, and the machine is certainly one of the most efficient which we have ever seen in operation.