Grey River Argus and Blackball News. PUBLISHED DAILY. THURSDAY, MARCH 17th, 1910

Grey River Argus, 17 March 1910, Page 2

Grey River Argus and Blackball News. PUBLISHED DAILY. THURSDAY, MARCH 17th, 1910

ÜBLISHED DAILT 'THURSDAY. MARCH 37th. 1910

one of the very strangest things ill tliis world, in which man is always finding out something new, is the ninny useful purposes that electricity is made to serve without nnyona being aWo to say that it comes » : (liin the range of human analysis. The latest purpose that electricity has been turned to is that of an automatic lire alarm. Such a device hna been long wanted, and must be dee,mo.l invaluable as a safeguard agai/isl an element that exacts a heavy toll from society in- all parts of the civjjisej world. From time to time we have

heard of automatic fire alarms of one kind or another; but they have-gen-erally failed to materialise, or wauled some essential quality to make them a success. But patience and persorerance seem to have at leiigth'beeii tho means of achieving the long-soiight-for desideratum. For a -cbnsideia)>le time back an. elctrical engineer and expert at Wellington has been engaged .in perfecting an automatic fire-.-Jiirin. Various private trials r 6f liis pnfront lias been made. These were defined so sasitfactory that a number of leading citizens persuaded the patenteo to form a company to take up the invention. This has been done, and a «.om pany under the title ,of 'The Jteicliel Automatic Fire Alarm Coy.. Lt<l.," has , been formed for the exploitation •■! l)ir invention. One of the first steps Isi ken is to issue a challengerto jany othrr lire alarm system, for £&00, to a tost of the following conditlqns : — (1) Seng^fc; iv«ness, (2) fjiciH^y J j}Lteis* i »^^Vfii^ l^' -cost" of "fnSl&flatTon aiiS maintenance; and any other qualifications the independent judging con&iittee may require.' There are other condition*) ul the test that are as as liie essentials mentioned 'above, though they need not be enumerated. A euccessful trial of the invention was made at "Wellington on February 23rd lasl ■at Messrs Sharland and-]Co's warehouse which is the "first complete installation hi New Zealand. Ainongfthose who w : l nessed the test were Mr W. Fergusoxu general manager of the Wellington Gas Company^. Mr W. Trojcp -of the Railway Dep'art;ment, Mr W. -Watson, of the Banlr, of New 'Zeal^id, y and j-epre-sentatvqs of shipping Companies and fire insuVance offices, tMether witli ropi'esentativesy of the thi^e daily p&jiois of Wellington. The foTirnaliift^ nlio were presnt at the test of the installation vied with each other in describing and landing the merits of the iurention of Mr L. T. Reichel^ a young Wellingtonian, late ch^sf electrician of the Public Works Department, and whose invention was given a five months' trial in the Government Buildings, and it) won the strong approval of Mr Holmes, Enghiejer-in-Chief, and

Captain Hugo, Superintendent of Fire Brigades. The apparatus is simple. The principle is that of the thermoile, which generates elcetricity -from neat. Thus the effect of a sudden rise ni temperature from an incipient pile, which generates electricity from thermopiles fixed to the ceiling in wrious parts of the building. This current . influences an indicator which forms a contact and gives the alarm. A wire directly connected with the Fire Brigade station communicates the £.1arni simultaneously. In the installation at Messrs Sharland and cos warehouse are' s 3 thermopiles ditnbuted throughout the building, and connected with the indicator by wires through an enamelled steel conduit. In th© ground floor of the building in which the apparatus is installed is plac cd. an indicator: board. This board shows a disc in black, and bears the word < "Safe," but when a fire occurs, the black disc swings oS } le&ving a red one bearing the word "Fire." Simultaneously with this, a bell- rings at the brigade station, and when the firemen arrive, a moment or two later, they areable to tell at a glance in what part of the building the conflagration has originated. It is here that the chief! advantage of the Reichel apparatus ■] comas in. Although the thermopile is ! exceedingly sensigve, an^ will ring the ' alarm on a sudden rise of temperature j of half a degree Fahrenheit, it wfll not operate if the rise is gradual, even if it- extends over twenty or thirty degrees. The possibility of a false al- , arm through the heating of a room" by means of the sun is thus practically reduced to &n impossibility. At the same time, a natural change in temperature will cause the black disc to swing a' little from its normal position. Should the" disc swing freely, it is proof 1 positive that all the- wires are in work--1 ing order, and that the whole "apparatus is in readiness for an alarm. The indicator cannot be tampered with, as 1 a "buzzer" is set to work when the indicator board is exposed. The space allowance Avithin. which each thermopile may be depended upon to act is 400 feet. Amongst the tests made was one by placing a tray of spirits about fourteen feet from the nearest thermopile. Thirty-five- seconds later the alarm sounded, and the rise of temperature in the face of the thermopile was only one and a half degrees Fahrenheit. With another test, the apparatus acted in thirty-one seconds, with a rise of one degree. This is cnclusivo proof of the very sensitive nature "of the invention. The invention is so interesting and valuable; that we have no hesitation in placing its merits before our readers voluntarily. It seems to fill the bill in the way of an automatic fire alarm.