It’s been quite a while since I have posted a blog. A combination of factors such as a busy training schedule and health issues had taken over most of my time and hence the delay. However, as soon as the month of March comes to an end, I will be able to spare more time to write. Apologies to all my readers for the delay!
So far in all my blogs I have covered a lot of things on the Basics of Fire Safety. In my last blog, we have seen the media used for firefighting and I hope it was very useful to the readers. In this blog, let us go through the history of fire extinguishers. Though one may not need the knowledge of who patented or created the first extinguisher, it is always good to know the same.
The first fire extinguisher of which there is any record was patented in England in 1723 by Ambrose Godfrey, a celebrated chemist of that time. It consisted of a cask of fire-extinguishing liquid containing a pewter chamber of gunpowder. This was connected with a system of fuses which were ignited, exploding the gunpowder and scattering the solution. This device was probably used to a limited extent, as Bradley’s Weekly Messenger for November 7, 1729, refers to its efficiency in stopping a fire in London.
The modern-day dry powder fire extinguisher was invented by British Captain George William Manby in 1818; it consisted of a copper vessel of 3 gallons (13.6 litres) of pearl ash (potassium carbonate) solution contained within compressed air.
Pictures of some of the early extinguishers are as under.
The soda-acid extinguisher was first patented in 1866 by Francois Carlier of France, which mixed a solution of water and sodium bicarbonate with tartaric acid, producing the propellant CO2 gas. A soda-acid extinguisher was patented in the U.S. in 1881 by Almon M.Granger. His extinguisher used the reaction between sodium bicarbonate solution and sulphuric acid to expel pressurized water onto a fire. A vial of concentrated sulphuric acid was suspended in the cylinder. Depending on the type of extinguisher, the vial of acid could be broken in one or two ways. One used a plunger to break the acid vial, while the second released a lead stopple that held the vial closed. Once the acid was mixed with the bicarbonate solution, carbon dioxide gas was expelled and thereby pressurized the water. The pressurized water was forced from the canister through a nozzle. This type of extinguisher was used for a very long time in India till new types were manufactured and adopted.
After the Soda Acid type came in the form of chemical and Mechanical foam-type extinguishers for use on Liquid fires. These type were normally cartridge-type extinguishers and were in vogue for a long time and in some places are still used though the governments have banned them from manufacture. Then came dry chemical powder type, with sodium bi carbonate as the main extinguishing agent. Today it is Mono Ammonium phosphate.
The carbon dioxide (CO2) extinguisher was invented by the Walter Kidde Company in 1924 in response to Bell Telephone’s request for an electrically non-conductive chemical for extinguishing the previously difficult-to-extinguish fires in telephone switchboards.CO2 is still popular today as it is an ozone-friendly clean agent though it is a green-house gas. Carbon dioxide extinguishes fire mainly by displacing oxygen. It was once thought that it worked by cooling, although this effect on most fires is negligible. There were extinguishers with Carbon Tetra Chloride and Halon as extinguishing media which were later phased out due to various factors. Today they are replaced with environmentally friendly Clean Agent Gases.
Many of the early types of extinguishers were not easy to operate unless one was perfectly trained and sometimes if the fire extinguishers were not maintained properly they even exploded causing injury and sometimes death.
Below are some pictures of the extinguisher, including the ones used today.
I hope you would find the History interesting and I shall give you a lot more information on the types of extinguishers in my next blog.
Till then stay safe and be Happy!
Seshadri Varadarajan.
Sr. Corporate Trainer Usha Fire Safety.
M:0940814353.
You tube channel- Live and Let Live.