rant it, the firemen can effect an opening for the stream with his fire-axe.

Hard conditions, great risks and the sacrifice of large property and many lives are preliminary to the establishment of standards, and by such means wire-glass has come to be recognized as standard, and the degree of honor which is its legitimate due should be generally recognized.

Succinctly stated, wire-glass has yielded two fixed values as its contribution to fireproof building construction:

It retards fire without hiding it—permits the blaze to declare itself.

It can be cracked, but it cannot be scattered. If fractured it retains its place.

Now, we have to remember what we can't forget, and we are mindful, therefore, of experiences which enable us to fully appreciate the value first stated. Of the many embarrassments to which the fire-fighter is subject, that which prevents fire from disclosing its location in its incipient stage is the most serious. Within the congested districts of our great cities, our organizations are such as enable us to reach the scene of action and have our nozzles in hand within two or three minutes of the alarm, and if we could immediately get at the fire, we would, in most cases, have little difficulty in confining the blaze within the limits of the apartment in which it originated.

Modern science has equipped our departments with devices necessary to combat fire, the most contagious, virulent and disastrous of all perils to which buildings are subjected; and modern science has devised the means by which fire can be confined within the walls of buildings without rendering the same inaccessible to us, but the adoption of the means available is not general, and upon arriving at a fire we are frequently confronted with tin-covered and iron-clad shutters which obstruct our vision and our efforts to locate and conquer a blaze which becomes a conflagration because of the precious moments lost in concentrating our energies upon the seat of trouble.

This condition has long been a serious menace in all cities and it is now intolerable, because the installation of wire-glass presents no technical difficulties. It is of acknowledged efficiency and no less economical than effective. It has withstood the severest tests and its cost is well within the means of all building owners. The insurance companies give "preferred" rates when it is installed,

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and thus practically invest in it. Their scheme is to reduce hazards, and in the belief that wire-glass effectually accomplishes this, they induce its adoption by substantial indorsement. Its ability to abate horrors and loss which attend conflagrations in cities is ample justification of the reasonable laws providing for its adoption, and an exigent public duty is presented to building inspectors to prevent these laws being nullified by official inertia.

There is a region paved with good intentions, and many easygoing owners of buildings contribute to this paving-fund by deferring the adoption of known means of protection, and at the same time create occasion for regret from heavy financial loss and probable loss of life. I want to see the obligation placed upon owners of buildings to prevent such losses by the means which will effectually render fire non-communicative, and I think I have specified the means. The significance and overwhelming argument in favor of wire-glass as a fire-stop is the fact that when fractured it retains its place and continues to retard draught and its attending flames.

Doubtless, many of the chiefs present have had occasion to recognize the efficiency of wire-glass as a fire-stop, and, of the many, Chief Musham's experience is especially worthy of reference. The fire which destroyed the Armour Lard Refinery, Union Stock Yards, Chicago, on the night of May 16, threatened for a time the entire district. Chief Musham was present, and he has stated that the wire-glass in the windows of the several walls prevented any communication through them and demonstrated the ability of wire-glass to prevent the spread of flame. The building destroyed was of recent construction, 100' x400', five stories. in height, and subdivided into four sections by fire-walls, two of which were completely destroyed.

The quantity and nature of the material in combustion-refined lard-resulted in the hottest kind of a fire, and its intensity and duration are hardly comprehensible. The Chief tells me that the flames reached to a height of 150 feet above the roof and the combustion was so perfect that scarcely any sparks were observed.

I am quoting Chief Musham because I think, perhaps, his observation of wire-glass in this instance was under a better condition than can be conceived for an actual service-test of wireglass. The entire interior of the building was of inflammable construction, made more so by being saturated with lard, and its five great floors were loaded with tons of this highly combustible

product. Tanks containing thousands of gallons of rendering were exploded and their contents dashed against the walls and windows, and the intensity of the heat was so great that the walls holding the frames and sash which accommodated the glass crumbled, but until they fell the wire-glass retained its place.

This fire establishes conclusive proof of the efficiency of wireglass as a fire-retardant and its staying qualities, and for the purpose of illustrating my subject I have considered it preferable to my own experience.

[But wire-glass is not subjected to a fire-test every day, and except when fire is present it has undesirable, even dangerous, qualities. When the Engineering Experiment Station has time to study wire-glass, it will find in the many acres of this material at the South Terminal Station in Boston àmple food for study and reflection. In the windows that face east, south and west, and in the thousands of feet of pent-roof over the street sidewalks, there is hardly a sheet of the glass that is not cracked and shivered into a dozen or a hundred different pieces of glass, just now held in place by the imbedded wire and the unequal planes of fracture of the glass itself. But where cracks are, there moisture and acidgases can penetrate, and when corrosion has done its work on the wire there is likely to be many a repetition, less innocent, too, of the incident which attended President Roosevelt's reception in this city a few weeks ago, when, as the newspapers reported, a sizable piece of this shattered wire-glass fell onto the platform not far from the President. Meanwhile, before the time comes when falls of heavy pieces may be looked for, much of this shattering of the glass is already accompanied by the flying of fine splinters of glass, and as the oculists of Boston are said to have recognized a class of injury that they call "elevated-railway eye," it is not impossible that they have been called on to treat for wire-glass eyes travelers who have to use the Boston Terminal Station. As fracture occurs least often on the north side and most frequently where the windows face the rising sun, it is evident that the manufacturers must give further study to the qualities of radiant heat before wire-glass can be held to be a perfectly safe material to use. EDS.]

Mr. E. A. Creevey, U. S. Consul at Glauchau, reports (Sept. 5, 1902): One of the most interesting features of the Düsseldorf Exposition is the department for public health, in which a new street-sweeping apparatus, manufactured by the Salus Strassenkehrmaschinen Gesellschaft, of Düsseldorf, attracts special attention. This apparatus might be termed a combination street washing and sweeping machine and a mud dredger. The cylindrical brush draws the mud to the middle, instead of throwing it off to one side, and it is carried up through an inclosed chute by an endless chain of small buckets and dropped into a cart attached to the rear of the machine. Some interesting and minute tests have been made with the Salus sweeper, and the following report, taken from a German newspaper, will be of interest to American cities interested in the matter of clean streets :

year, as We understand,

It appears from the reports that, without throwing up the least dust, the machine cleared the road as well as if it had been done. by hand; droppings, grit, stones the size of a child's fist-nay, entire bricks-were dealt with indiscriminately by the broom. In the opinion of city engineers and others, this apparatus meets every requirement of such a mechanical street sweeper. The only drawback appears to be its high initial cost-nearly 6,000 marks ($1,428)-but this would indeed be a poor objection to its introduction, if the whole sum is recovered in the course of the manufacturers claim for their machine. moreover, that this price is subject to a material reduction as soon as a demand is created; and for this, it may be hoped, we shall not have to wait too long. A German contemporary ("Technisches Gemeindeblatt," Berlin) has calculated that in case of an average scavenging district, ordinarily served by two horses and a night shift of twenty scavengers, the Salus would effect an annual saving of 9,000 marks ($2,142) in wages, the staff being reduced to one-half. Against this must be set the price of the machine and the increased cost of maintenance, as compared with horse. brooms. It is not likely, however, that the latter will swallow the balance of the saving, so that even in the first year after adoption

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Tar or Oil for Laying Dust.

a clear profit can be made, in addition to securing greatly im proved sanitation.

There can be little or no doubt that it is superior to the ordinary practice of sweeping by horse brooms, whether for efficiency or economy. It would indeed be a very poor contrivance if it did not surpass the commonplace machine broom, the excuse for which was its cheapness. One of the superior features of the Salus is the easily detachable dust cart, without which, of course, the apparatus would be a cumbrous device. If we are not mistaken, the ingenious sliding platform, with the attached scraper, forms another feature of novelty. Antwerp, Cologne, Essen, and several other towns in Germany are using the machine, and it was awarded the golden medal of the Prussian Ministry for Home Affairs at Berlin last year.

TAR OR OIL FOR LAYING DUST.

The continental press has given considerable notice to experiments made by Dr. Guglielminetti, of Monte Carlo, for laying dust by means of oiling or tarring the roads. One paper says:

The experiments in oiling or tarring the roads at Champigny were very successful. The apparatus in use were perfected by M. Audouin, engineer-in-chief of the chemical department of the Compagnie Parisienne du Gaz. Two successive processes of using tar were employed.

(1) Distribution by means of a special type of sprinkler, fitted with a fan-shaped nozzle, pierced with two rows of orifices.

(2) Distribution by means of a tank of about 200 quarts capacity, heated by a traveling furnace, and operated in the same manner as an ordinary sprinkling tank.

It is shown that the road, macadamized and well rounded, should be thoroughly washed and brushed on the day before the tarring operation, and to the extent of laying bare the macadam. After all trace of humidity has disappeared, the hot tar should be spread upon the road in a thin layer.

In the trials at Champigny, when the tar commenced to cool, fine sand was scattered over the section treated. Orders were then given that the road should be closed to traffic for a few days, and it is assumed that in a few months the value of the experiments will be demonstrated.