NEW FIRE EXTINGUISHER.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 209, 21 August 1911, Page 7

NEW FIRE EXTINGUISHER.

At Joctoucan. a quaint little village almost lost in the great forest of pine ext ending from Bordeaux down to the sea. lives a humble parish priest, the Abbe D. Daney, who has invented a remarkably successful fire-extinguisher. Meaning to recognise the high merit of this priest, the French Government has granted him a decoration, and a decree to this effect was published in the ‘ Journal Officiel. In a huge conflagration in 1 f»O6 his parish was completely ravaged. Moved bv the desolation caused through this disaster, the Abbe Daney set himself to comfort and relieve his people. Being a man of more than ordinary intelligence and will, he was not satisfied with this alone. He conceived other and lofty projects, and henceforth ga\e himself up to the study of the invention winch was untimately to conduce to his lame. He turned his presbytery into a chemical laboratory, made patient and dangerous experiments oi er gases and salts, and no less than nine times was he* injured whilst at his work, twice grievously, and nearly at th(‘ cost of his lite. At last, .after three years of closest research. science delivered the long-looked-for secret. A chemi* al compound, thrown out by a special engine, proved its ability to conquer the fire element, to choke in an instant the fiercest flames as easily as to put out a candle. The chemical compound is described as follows

A mixture of “ignifugc gases” as a physical agent. This mixture utilises its elastic force to project a liquid impregnated with salts as a chemical agent. It renders incombustible the gases of the atmosphere which burn in every fire. An effervescent liquid in which art' found salts in a stale of solution. These salts, unknown before, were obtained by the Abbe Daney through electric furnaces of from 3uoo to 5090 amperes. When projected they produce other extinguishing gases, which increase the effect of the ignifuge alluded to above. When reaching the blazing material they cover it with a peculiar dust-like coat which makes it fire proof. An important detail which may be susceptible of most interesting applications is thissome linen previusly plunged into the extinguishing liquid. and thrown into a blazing mass was taken out quite undamaged.

Remarkable demonstrations which took place of late in Paris, in the presence of notabilities of science and polictics, at Bordeaux. Lyons, and in other country places all over France, have produced the conviction that it is the last word in the science of extinguishing fires. The invention of Abbe Daney it is to be hoped will in the future be a great means of reducing in a large measure the losses and terrible disasters caused by fire. An active campaign has been begun to introduce these new extinguishers all over France and also in other countries