New Fire-brigade Appliances.
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A German Daimler First-Aid Vehicle.
In recent issues we have given some details of fire-brigade apparatus constructed in this country for both Metropolitan and provincial use, and this week we have pleasure in illustrating a new petrol-driven, motor, fire engine, which has been supplied recently to the fire brigade of Frankfort-onthe-Main, Germany ; this engine was built at the Marienfelde works of the Daimler Company. Of late years the fire brigades of large towns have been confronted by the necessity for providing cars which can reach outbreaks of fire rapidly, carrying a crew of eight or nine firemen, a carbonicacid extinguisher, and implements for attacking the flames at their inception. The first vehicles of the kind were converted to this use from the former horse-drawn types. Steam and electric traction were next introduced, but professional fire fighters have long regarded petrol, as a motive power, with great suspicion. At first the idea prevailed that petrol should under no circumstances be brought near the scene of a conflagration, and fears were entertained, in addition, that the petrol motor might fail to start, or would strike work altogether. These fears, happily, have been allayed in recent years, and the petrol motor is now found to form an excellent means of propulsion for fire-brigade work. At the last fire-brigade conference, held in Stuttgart in 1907, the chief superintendent of the Berlin Fire Brigade, Herr Reichel, read a critical paper upon existing, self-propelled, fire-brigade vehicles. In his survey,the petrol motor fared badly, and this, no doubt, was due to the fact that it had been employed in Germany in only a few instances, and had not, therefore, had sufficient time to show its adaptability for fire-fighting purposes. The conclusions arrived at by this conference at Stuttgart finally amounted to this, that, in town, electric power should be adopted for the propulsion of motor vehicles engaged in this class of work, whilst, for country or suburban districts, and other longdistance service, steam power should. be employed. Prior to the Stuttgart conference, the fire brigade of Frankforton-the-Main had ordered the vehicle illustrated at the foot of this page, and it was delivered in sufficient time to travel to Stuttgart for the conference, almost completely equipped, and carrying a crew of five. The distance from Frankfort to Stuttgart is 197 kilornetres, and this was covered in seven hours, in spite of heavy roads, pouring rain, and other obstacles, and, on the same day, the car was demonstrated to a number of interested fire-brigade ex perts connected with the conference. Since the car has been put on duty, it has been tested every morning, immediately after parade, and there are the usual daily trial runs, in order to insure that everything is in working order, and, up to the time of writing, some 3,000 kilometres have been covered in 145 runs_ The fire engine under discussion is fitted with a fourcylinder, 28-32h.p. Daimler engine : the first horse-power is given at 800r.p.m., and the second at gsor.p.m. The speeds attained by this vehicle under test were as follow : on first speed, up a 14 per cent, gradient, 7.2km.p.m. ; on second speed, up a gradient of 7 per cent., r.6km.p.h. ; on third speed, up a gradient of 2.5 per cent,, tykrn.p.h. ; on fourth or top speed, up a gradient of one per cent., 3okm.p.h. The petrol tank is fixed, as is the custom in vehicles of this manufacture, at the after-end of the chassis, under the frame, from whence the spirit reaches the carburetter under pressure. In order to insure additional safety, this tank, in the present vehicle, has less than one-third of the capacity of the normal petrol tank; this gives a working radius of about yoktre, and, as the tank is always kept full, it is available at all times for the full working radius. In other details the chassis is of the usual type sold by Milnes-Daimler, Limited, of 221, Tottenham Court Road, W.; this type is, of course, well known to our readers.
The body work has been carried out according to the requirements of the Frankfort fire brigade? partly by the Daimler Company, and partly by the fire brtgade itself. The driver's seat has been enlarged to hold three men, and, behind this, longitudinal seats have been arranged to carry three men on each side, the back of these seats being formed by a small hose reel, which carries rso metres of somm section hose ; the jumping sheet serves as a cushion. The vehicle, it will thus be seen, carries a crew of nine. Behind these seats, a water tank of 300 litres capacity, and two carbonic-acid cylinders are fitted. The carbonic-acid cylinders are arranged to the right and left of the rear water tank. The pipes, nozzles, and valves are also arranged conveniently by the water tank, and behind the chassis a detachable hose carrier is suspended. Behind the driver's seat, and at the back of the water tank, are supports which carry a hose shaft with several ladders and a small fire escape. Compartments are arranged, under the longitudinal seats and footboards, for the storage of the smaller gear used by the brigade, the disposition of this will be noted from our illustration. The vehicle, completely equipped, and with its crew of nine men aboard, has a total weight of 4,928 kilogrammes.