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From Our Berlin Correspondent.

18th June 1908, Page 16
18th June 1908
Page 16
Page 16, 18th June 1908 — From Our Berlin Correspondent.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Berlin's motor omnibuses carried Immo more persons during the recent Whitsun holidays than during the Whitsuntide of toom

Important Visitors.

For the start of the "Prinz Heinrich" tour, which commenced at 6 a.m., on the 9th instant, from the Tempelhofer Feld, where the Kaiser is wont to review the regiments quartered in Berlin, a special service of motorbuses was put on, and, so far as I could judge, was well patronised. A light " Adler " delivery van had been requisitioned for conveying " Prinz Heinrich " literature to the scene, and the legend it bore, " Presse," prompted enterprising photographers to scramble on to its roof for the purpose of taking snaps ; indeed, the " Adler " proved extremely useful to several of the fraternity. Amongst the crowd of spectators, I noticed Herr Schippert, business director of the Daimler works at Marionfelde. Herr Franz Knecht, designer of the lgo8 Gaggenau engine, of which I supplied a description some months ago, was at the wheel of the Gaggenau car. Herr Ernst Bussing, of Brunswick, drove a Metallurgique.

International Congress for Rescue Work, at Frankfort.

In accordance with a previous announcement, associated with this con

gress, held at Frankfort-on-the-Main from the loth to 14th instant, was a tolerably comprehensive exhibition of appliances and vehicles designed for life-saving purposes. The exhibition had two sections : a techno-scientific section, and a purely technical one. For the latter, Director Kleyer, of the " Adler " Company, had placed the firm's velodrome at the disposal of the committee. Numerous interesting types of self-propelled ambulance wagons were on view, exhibited by private firms as well as municipal authorities.

Amongst the exhibitors of self-propelled ambulance wagons may be noted the North German Automobile and Motor Works, Bremen, which showed an electric wagon driven by the Krieger system of propulsion, and possessing a body constructed by G. Kruck, Frank fort's leading coach-builder, whose name affords sufficient guarantee for elegant as well as practical and sound

carosserie. F. Trebst, a first-class Leipzic builder, also sent an electricdriven wagon, with a Siemens and Schuckert electrommor of Slop. ; couple of stretchers for persons severely wounded, likewise a single stretcher for those .slightly wounded, figure in its internal equipment. From Amsterdam MITIC a 3oh.p. Spyker vehicle, with ambulance arrangements according to the design of Dr. C. W. A. Essers, a practitioner in that Dutch city, whence, by the way, the automobile reached Frankfort under its own " petrol," without any difficulty whatever. Dr. Fssers has used similar vehicles for conveying patients to distant health resorts, and inside is a stretcher, also sitting accommodation for an attendant.

The German Mercedes Selling Company, of Frankfort, exhibited a Lohner_ Porsche electric wagon, the carosserie arid ambulance fittings of which were supplied by Frankfort and Hanover firms respectively, and, not to be in the background, the Adler Company produced an i8h.p. petrol limousine, well sprung and manifesting up-to-date ideas on the ambulance type of automobile : I believe this vehicle represents the company's first essay in this province. It is, perhaps, almost needless to add that all the foregoing vehicles are internally lighted by electricity : the lamps are supplied with the necessary current from accumulators.

Apropos of ambulance work, I see that the Munich Volunteer Rescue Society has acquired a hospital automobile with a Iforch chassis, although the general tendency is towards the adoption of electric-driven vehicles as being more suitable for hospital work. Still, the hilly nature of the district may have influenced the society in its choice of propelling power, viz., a 22h.p. petrol engine. In the event of a puncture, to save time, the road wheels are equipped with detachable rims.

Berlin's First All-motor Firestation.

Berlin's first all-motor fire-station, in the Schonlankerstrasse, will be equipped with four vehicles—tender, escape, chemical engine for first-aid work, and a steamer. The first-aid vehicle (electric: driven), carries 400 litres of water—close upon 90 gallons-forced out under pressure from the car

honk acid gas in steel containers. It affords sitting accommodation for nine men. The jumping-sheet is stowed away between the two longitudinal seats. The receptacle for ladders and stand-pipe for hydrant, together with spanners, lies under the superstructure. At the hind part of the wagon is a hosereel, fitted with rubber-tired wheels, which, through the instrumentality of a forked arrangement, can be easily mounted and dismounted by two men.

The Lender serves for carrying gear

and men, likewise fuel for the steamengine. Along the under side of each running-board lie two hoses for the steam-engine, and the ladder-space contains a stretcher, in addition to ladders of various patterns. Within a very short space of time, this tender can be converted into an ambulance wagon : the hose-reel is dismounted, the backs of the two longitudinal seats are folded down, and then the stretcher is laid on four supports, which are stepped and inter-connected by wireropes, a tilt spreading over the stretcher. The men accompanying the patient stand on the running boards.

The steam-pump in the remaining

vehicle conforms with the usual type used in Berlin : at 280r.p.m. and with an open hose, it can deliver 2,000 litres of water per minute. The pumps and boiler have been neatly boarded in, for

the purpose of giving the vehicle a smarter appearance. The boiler is

heated with paraffin, the paraffin burner being started in the depot by " Blaugas." On this " Blaugas " just a few words : the distinctive part of the word is derived from one of the names of the firrn—Riedinger and Blau, Oberhausen-Augsburg—producing the gas, which consists of a liquefied oilgas, forced into steel-containers under a pressure of 40 atmospheres. Such a container is carried on the steamengine. In the event of a call, the container is opened, the gas passes to the paraffin-burner, is ignited there and, in 30 seconds, warms the burner sufficiently to vaporise at once the liquid paraffin. This " Blaugas " has proved most effective and practical.

The escape (electric driven) is of the revolving pattern, consisting of steel tubes and riveted. It has T-iron, rubber-covered rungs, and possesses a safety-balustrade of steel-ropes. The raising of the escape can be effected either by hand and crank or by the electromotor, its parts being forced out by pressure from a carbonic-acid container, or by hand. As the battery lies between the front wheels, it is possible to give the revolving tower of the escape full play. When raised, the escape is 75ft. high.


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