The first fire extinguishers were of the "annihilator" pattern, so
arranged in a building that when a fire occurred carbonic acid gas was
evolved, and, if the conditions were right (as the mediums say), the
fire was put out. It worked very nicely at experimental fires built
for the purpose, but was apt to fail in case of an involuntary
conflagration. About the year 1867 a patent was granted to Carlier
and Vignon, of France, for an apparatus in which water saturated with
carbonic acid gas was projected upon the fire by the expansive force of
the gas itself. As the apparatus was portable and the stream could be
directed to any point, it was obviously the desideratum needed. Mr. D.
Miles, of Boston, purchased the American patent, and subsequently sold
the territory, exclusive of New England, to the Babcock Co., who, at the
time, had a crude apparatus of their own. The first machines sold under
the new patent were filled with water and loaded with cartridges of dry
acid and bicarbonate of soda--the cap screwed down hastily, and, as the
chemicals dissolved, the gas was generated, the pressure raised, and
the water charged by absorption. The pressure of some 80 pounds was
sufficient to project a stream 50 feet or more, and the machine was set
upon the shelf so as to be ready for any fire that might occur. In many
cases, however, the pressure escaped after a short time, and the machine
when needed was found to be useless.
The most important step in the evolution of the modern extinguisher was
the adoption of a device for mixing liquid acid with the soda solution,
by the turning of a handle or screw, _after_ the alarm was given. This
was a practical machine, and proved of such value that an immense
business was built up. The result of this prosperity was the development
of new companies with new devices for accomplishing the same result,
which were successfully offered to the public with varying success.
As these were direct infringements upon the patent rights acquired by
the Babcock Company, their encroachments were resisted in the courts,
and much money was spent in the effort of the company to sustain their
rights, including the purchase of the patents of several rival machines
that possessed real merit or whose business was worth controlling.
Among these purchases was the right and good will of the "National"
Extinguisher Co., who used an acid cartridge of glass, the acid being
liberated by breaking the glass. This feature, united with important
improvements in general construction and the use of a peculiar glass
bottle instead of a tube, is the Babcock machine of to-day, the
combination making the simplest and most effective and reliable
apparatus ever built. In the meantime, an investigation before the
courts brought out the fact that the French patent was antedated by an
American invention, for which a patent was applied by a Dr. Graham, in
1837. and which possessed the essential features of the principle in
dispute. Graham, through lack of means, or for some other reason, had
failed to perfect his papers up to the time of his death, and, as the
invention was one of obvious importance, a bill was passed through
Congress for the reopening of the case, and the patent was issued to the
Graham heirs in 1878. Soon after the issue of the Graham patent, several
extinguisher firms, viz, Charles T. Holloway, of Baltimore; W. K.
Platt, of Philadelphia; S.F. Hayward of New York; the Protection Fire
Annihilator Co., of New York; the Babcock Manufacturing Co., of Chicago,
and the New England Fire Extinguisher Co., of Northampton, Mass., were
licensed to manufacture under the patent, by Archibald Graham, as
administrator of the estate of his father, who bound himself in these
licenses to issue no other licenses except with the approval of all
those who were included in the combination. This arrangement left
several enterprising manufacturers out in the cold, and one of these,
in investigating the status of extinguisher patents at Washington,
discovered an assignment of a quarter interest of the Graham patent to
a Mr. Burton, who, at the time of Graham's second application for a
patent, had assisted him with $500. This assignment had long been
forgotten--Burton having died, and his heirs knowing nothing of its
existence. The widow of Burton was hunted up, an assignment was secured
for $30,000, and a consolidated fire extinguisher company was formed,
which became the owner of the one quarter interest in the patent.
This combination, known as the "Fire Extinguisher Manufacturing Co.,"
included the Protective Annihilator Co., of New York; the Northampton
Fire Extinguisher Co, of Northampton, Mass.; and the North American Fire
Annihilator Co., of Philadelphia. The combination bought out the Babcock
Co., who had already acquired the patents of the Champion Co., all the
patents of the Conellies, of Pittsburg, and of the Great American Co.,
of Louisville, as well as the licenses of S. F. Hayward and W. K. Platt.
This covers all the extinguisher patents in existence, except those of
Charles T. Holloway, of Baltimore.
The advantages of the chemical engine are well summed up in the
following statement: