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Please tell me what you think of this paper that i am writing.. im not completely finished with it yet.
Jennifer M. Pratt-Raymond
12-01-2010
Fire Science
Capt. Vinny Calenda
The Evolution of the Fire Engine: From Steam Power to Automotive Technological Advances.
Imagine, pulling a hand pump or steam pump to a fire, miles away. Well that’s how it was done in the 1700’s. They had either a hand pumped or a steam powered tank of
water that they pulled by hand to the fires. The first self propelled engine
was born in the late 1800’s.
“Water pumps on wheels” is what the firemen called the hand pumps they pulled to the fires. They used these to aid the “bucket brigades”. The crew, if they weren’t
pulling them, had to run behind the trucks. Due to the “bucket brigades”, most
of the time, the fire was out before the crew even got there. Every house had a
bucket; everyone participated in the bucket brigades. When there was a fire the
first thing you grabbed was your bucket. After you grabbed your bucket everyone
formed a line from the source of water, usually a well or pond, to the fire. On
these wells was a hand pump with the same basic engineering technology created
by the Greek engineer Ctesibius of Alexandria. The hand pumps operated on the
principle of a siphon and could propel a jet of water towards the blazing fire.
Hand-operated pumps were placed on wagons making them more mobile. Some of these pumps, shooting up to 80 feet in the air, required up to 28 men to operate them. The first fire
hose was invented in 1672 by the Dutch inventor Jan van der Heiden. It was
constructed of flexible leather and coupled with brass fittings at 50 foot
intervals, the standard interval of today. In 1743 Thomas Lote of New York produced the
first American-built fire pump.
Constructed in London, 1829, by John Braithwaite, was a steam-powered fire pump capable of pumping
30-40 tons of water per hour. This phenomenon was brought to America.
Volunteers thought of it as a threat to their social organizations, the steam
engine would eliminate most of the need for the men.
The construction of a self-propelled steam engine was contracted by a group of New York insurance companies in 1841. Yet again, the firemen resisted its use, saying that their
jobs were at risk. Since most of the existing pump wagons required numbers of
men to push and pull them through the streets, self propelled engines would put
them out of work. However, in the early 19th century, though the steam powered
engines weren’t favored, the horse-drawn fire wagons were. A yellow fever
epidemic reduced the availability of manpower in New York, so volunteers at the New York
Mutual Hook and Ladder Company No. 1 voted in 1832 to purchase a horse to pull
their engine.
The horse-drawn era was no doubt accelerated in the United States by “The Great Fire of Boston” in
1872. The fire began at a time when the horses used to pull the heavy steam
pumps were suffering from an epidemic of equine influenza. With out their
horses the fire men had to pull the engines, once again, through windy narrow
roads to this fire. “The Great Fire of Boston” burned for 20 hours, consuming
over 60 acres of downtown Boston.
Thirty people lost their lives and about $70 million of property was damaged or
lost. This accelerated the search for alternative ways to transport firemen and
their equipment.
Cincinnati, 1853, the first steam-powered engine comes into service. Designed by Cincinnati engineers Able Shank and Alexander Latter, it was affectionately named “Uncle
Joe Ross.” “Uncle Joe” was able to shoot water 225 feet and only required 3 men
to operate. By the end of the century the steam fire engines were found in
numerous fire stations. The last horse-drawn pump was retired in Chicago on February 6,
1923. On that same day Chicago became the first
completely motorized fire department in the United States.
Once the steam engine was popular, inventors and firemen started thinking of new ways to further ease the difficulty of their mission. The aerial ladder wagon
made its appearance in the fire service by 1870, followed by the hose elevator
in 1871.
Internal combustion fire engines that were built in the United States were first used in service in 1907. They were either used as pumping engines or tractors to pull
pieces of equipment. By 1910 both uses
were combined, causing only one gasoline-powered engine to propel the truck and
drive the pump.
Firefighting vehicles today have evolved highly from what they once were, and can do many more highly specialized functions than before. Modern engines allow
firefighters to respond quickly to a wide variety of emergencies. Usually the
diesel powered trucks include ladder trucks with aerial platform apparatus that
can access high buildings and sending steam applications to heights up to 130
feet. Some of the other trucks are; rescue trucks, brush trucks, mobile command
vehicles, smoke ejectors, high pressure spray trucks, and foam trucks. These
trucks allow us to put out numerous kinds of fires. For example the Federal Aviation Administration has special fire trucks made for airplane crashes. Refineries also
have their own special trucks that have different chemical applicators than the
usual fire truck.
The modern day diesel pump for a fire engine can deliver up to 2,000 gallons of water per minute through a light weight hose, made up of artificial fibers and measures
up to three inches in diameter. A fire boat, not limited to hydrant supply, can
easily deliver as much as 10,000 gallons per minute.
The aerial work platform, otherwise known as the “cherry picker”, is simply a bucket attached to a mechanically bending arm on the fire truck. This allows
the firemen to reach the corners of the fire that are otherwise unreachable.
The fire engine, as we know it today, was defined in the 1960’s. Along with
ladders, “cherry pickers”, and water pumps, fire trucks now have enclosed seats
for the crew. The men must be happy that they don’t have to run behind the
truck any more.
The “turntable ladder” is commonly known as the ladder truck or “sticks”. It enables the firemen enter and save the people on the higher levels of the
buildings. Also it enables them to have water at a higher point in order to
help put the fire out. Most “sticks” are also pumpers. The “sticks” with the
hydraulic arms are called “town ladders”. The hydraulic platform is a type of
“stick”, which allows for the men to move up and around some objects on the
higher levels.
Water tenders are basically tanks of water on wheels. They are more commonly found in rural areas where there aren’t many fire hydrants. This helps the firemen to be
able to have access to more water. Firemen usually use lakes or ponds to fill
these trucks.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by DUST on
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You have a lot of good information here. However, it is the FAA not the TSA that requires the specialized ARFF apparatus or "crash trucks" at commercial U.S. airports.
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Permalink Reply by Brian Dumser on
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Asssuming that none of your work is plagiarized, this looks like a great paper. Let us know what kind of grade you get on it. Good luck and stay safe!
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Permalink Reply by Art on
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Be certain that you cite you work. Your school should have sometype of plagiarism checking program, Be sure to use and and keep the score above 90%.
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Pratt-Raymond on
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oh well my book told me the TSA.... but ok.. thank you
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i have all of my work cited in a foot note on every page. =) thanks for the feedback though
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thank you. its not plagiarized, so thanks a lot!
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Wow. Hey don't hold back Jim, tell her how you really feel!
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Permalink Reply by John Sees on
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Recheck your figures in the last paragraph todays engines can pump more than 2,000 gpm, I have seen a picture of a engine with a 3,000 gpm pump built for a refinery, I also remember reading that 3,000 gpm pumps were used by the British in London during WWII. 5" dia. hose seems to be the standard for a supply line. The gpm on fire boats is low the FDNY has one or two that can flow 50,000 gpm and even the older ones built in the 30's can flow more than 10,000 gpm. Good luck with your paper.
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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on
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For starters, and understand that I have a pretty good idea what you are looking for as far as input Jenny.
• the flowery font... cheesy. don't be such a girl. be vanilla, use ariel 12 font so we can more easily read your paper.
• you have collected a lot of facts and thrown them into paragraphs but there is no flow in your paper
• your opening paragraph is suppose to tell us what you are going to tell us, and you only cover one of the points, fix it.
• the body of your paper has tons of facts, but it looks like you researched stuff and just threw it out there, organize your thoughts and for god's sake use spell check.
• your final conclusion paragraph... do you really think it ties the paper together or are you just going off on another tangent, talking about modern day diesel pumps and fire engines.
Conspicious by it's absence... where is the information about how fire engines are typed or "categorized"?
Heres a FFN post that has the info on a very important reference source for your paper.
http://www.firefighternation.com/forum/topics/2010-incident-respons...
Once you have downloaded this PDF file, go to page 92 - Engine and Water Tender Typing.
There's the rest of the story.
Keep working on your paper, and pay close attention to your punctuation... It's one thing writing things here on the FFN, and quite another when you are concerned about grades.
CBz
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thank you john i'll be sure to check that out and correct them.
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the paper is not finished yet. it's not even the full first draft. I have used spell check on everything, and the names that's how they were spelled in my book. I know its all jumbled up and "thrown out there" but that's what makes my work mine. I don't write like everyone else. It's not supposed to be a formal type of writing. Thank you for the source I could really use it so again thanks, and sorry if this comes out a little harsh but I don't like the name "Jenny" unless its family. So it's Jenn or Jennifer, please and thank you.
Jenn
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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on
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I've resisted commenting on your paper simply because I felt I wouldn't have much good to say about it, but since you've decided to take Mike to task for HIS effort to critique your work, I think I can comment now without feeling I'm being harsh.
For starters, Mike Schlags has recently ENDED (retired) his 35 year *paid* career so I think that more than a little respect is required here. The fact that you don't like to be called jenny is irrelevant, this is an online forum (of mostly adults), you probably need to thicken your hide some.
Secondly, since you feel it's acceptable to reprimand Mike in how he addresses you, let me point out that asking people to review YOUR school work is a questionable practice (at best) in that you should be the one editing and rewriting your own work, not asking others to "assist" you. Moreover, having asked for the help, you should probably be a bit more gracious even if you don't care for the way you were 'addressed'.
Finally, with regard to your paper, it comes across as something an average achieving high school senior might produce, certainly it doesn't appear worthy of someone in college. And your comment, "I don't write like everyone else. It's not supposed to be a formal type of writing," if you're in college I can't understand how it wouldn't be a formal paper. Perhaps not a dissertation but your paper appears (to me) to be far to "chatty" and casual to be a college assignment.
I think you best summed up your own paper with this comment, "I know its all jumbled up and "thrown out there" but that's what makes my work mine." Perhaps, but it's also what makes it sloppy. If you think presenting a written paper that is 'jumbled up' and 'thrown out there' is acceptable then I would have to question why you even bother asking for opinions and more importantly, what kind of firefighter you would be.
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