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Post by silverdragon on Jan 17, 2018 9:39:22 GMT
Who invented the fire hydrant.
Well, according to what I can find so far, one Frederick Graff invented the pillar-type cast iron fire hydrant in 1801, however...
And this is not a joke, its reportedly true, there is no actual record of him doing that, because the records were destroyed in 1836 by a serious fire at the records office.
Got me to thinking, what else do we have on a daily basis that we all use that was invented by someone that we know not who?.
I know the answer to who invented Cars eyes reflectors down the road, but for instance, who came up with a lever operated door handle?.
And then Lamp posts... where did they come from?. Did they start by lighting a fire up a tree, obviously thats silly, but how did they get with having a source of light up a pole?.
And of course, is there a way to set a series of these mini-myths into a single show.
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Post by the light works on Jan 17, 2018 16:26:43 GMT
and this article gives official credit to George Smith in 1817, due to the missing records. www.firedex.com/blog/2015/10/20/from-buckets-to-fire-hydrants/but before that, firefighters would dig up a water main and breach it, closing it afterwards with a plug. and according to wikipedia, street lighting was first mentioned in the 4th century, but the lamppost wasn't really a thing until the 1700s. |
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Post by silverdragon on Jan 18, 2018 7:32:43 GMT
I wonder what side of the Pond got credited with the invention first?.
But then again, who discovered Australia first?.
And both of the european claims, Van Deamon, etc, all were "Out" by a fair bit if you consider the Chinese knew about it for many years, and the original Aborigine had been there for millennia.
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Post by the light works on Jan 18, 2018 15:45:16 GMT
I wonder what side of the Pond got credited with the invention first?. But then again, who discovered Australia first?. And both of the european claims, Van Deamon, etc, all were "Out" by a fair bit if you consider the Chinese knew about it for many years, and the original Aborigine had been there for millennia. both the listed inventors were in the US. this is understandable, because European hydrants tend to be underground fittings that get a standpipe fitted as needed. |
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Post by silverdragon on Jan 19, 2018 5:29:19 GMT
Good point, we dont tend to leave roadside furniture where it can get hit?.
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Post by the light works on Jan 19, 2018 15:19:21 GMT
Good point, we dont tend to leave roadside furniture where it can get hit?. it bears mentioning we have two basic types of hydrant. a dry barrel hydrant has its valve buried below ground to protect it from freezing and crashes. a wet barrel hydrant has individual valves on each outlet, to make it easier to hook up multiple hoses, but it means the hydrant barrel is pressurized at all times.  it is the wet barrel hydrants that most commonly make a fountain when a car hits them. |
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Post by c64 on Apr 14, 2018 11:53:48 GMT
In middle Europe, most fire hydrants are "underground". You can't damage them with a vehicle.  The downside is that you can park a vehicle on top. Since they are usually located in the middle of a sidewalk, they can only be blocked by false parking. If the Hydrant is on the road, there is a "no parking zone". When a vehicle has parked on a hydrant, the fire fighters are allowed to smash the windows and push the car away. And when p***ed by your parking skills, a fireman tends to smash ALL of your windows. Back in the 60s/70s when my dad drove one of these:  it was handled a bit differently. My dad occasionally went home late spending an extra hour or two at the station with a bucket of paint making his truck look nice again. The official "pull rating" is over 50 tons. The inofficial "crush rating" is over 80 tons...  |
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Post by GTCGreg on Apr 14, 2018 13:58:12 GMT
Around here, underground hydrants would be a little hard to find under 3 feet of snow. Sometimes even above ground hydrants are hard to locate. I have a hydrant in front of our house. I usually keep it clear in the winter.
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Post by the light works on Apr 14, 2018 15:35:28 GMT
some of our old water tenders looked that rough, but none of them had a roof gunner's hatch.
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Post by the light works on Apr 14, 2018 15:39:22 GMT
with aboveground hydrants you don't have to move the car.  although they should have opened the doors to reduce the kinks in the line. |
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Post by c64 on Apr 14, 2018 21:26:13 GMT
some of our old water tenders looked that rough, but none of them had a roof gunner's hatch. Only the military has roof gunner's hatches. The civillian THW has a built in AC! |
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Post by the light works on Apr 15, 2018 1:22:55 GMT
some of our old water tenders looked that rough, but none of them had a roof gunner's hatch. Only the military has roof gunner's hatches. The civillian THW has a built in AC! our newest one has a remote controlled deck gun, but it only shoots water. |
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Post by c64 on Apr 15, 2018 8:46:24 GMT
Only the military has roof gunner's hatches. The civillian THW has a built in AC! our newest one has a remote controlled deck gun, but it only shoots water. Well, the top hatch actually was useful for the THW. Since they handle disaster management, they have heavy technical equipment to support the fire fighters where their equipment fails. Those old Magirus Deutz trucks could do things no modern truck could do so they have lost quite an awesome ability to help people. Those old Magirus Deutz trucks are perfect for driving in flooded areas. While modern trucks can drive through water reaching the hubs of the wheels at best, the old Magirus can have the water level up to top of the front wheel house opening. All you need to do is to put the batteries onto the hood using an extension cable. And if that is not enough, all belts are taken out of the engine and the batteries are fully removed. Then the air brakes are disabled and the engine started by an external generator, battery or just plugged into another truck. The truck doesn't need any electricity to operate. All the engine needs is power for the electric starter and the fuel cut off valve to stop. Then the truck can handle any depth - at least even deeper than when the driver drowns. Until the 1980s, people stayed at their homes in flooded areas and lived in the upper floors. The THW then had a shuttle service. This is where the gunner's hatch is handy. You can enter and exit the truck without letting floating debris in. Behind the cab you can see a blue narrow ladder for roof access. When the truck accidentally drives into a deep spot, the crew can escape easily through the hatch. The orange ladder on top is tied to the back as a ramp to reach the 2th floor windows to allow passengers climbing onto the roof. They drove kids to school, husbands to their workplace and wife to shopping. Nowadays, they can't do that any more. They use rafts for rescue purposes only and the area needs to be evacuated. |
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Post by silverdragon on Apr 15, 2018 10:25:54 GMT
From a Driver of the UK's fire tenders, back when I was interested in joining up, I would have been about 20-something, if a vehicle is parked in a no parking area and there is a fire hydrant underneath, they either push or throw a chain on it and pull it out the way unless the driver is sitting in the vehicle.
Obviously with some care, try not to damage it too much...
Damage by being moved?. You wanna claim that?. The penalty for parking over a fire hydrant is MUCH more than your damage claim, hows about you just keep stum and we trade off that we wont say anything if you do your own repairs?..
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Post by the light works on Apr 15, 2018 10:33:01 GMT
our newest one has a remote controlled deck gun, but it only shoots water. Well, the top hatch actually was useful for the THW. Since they handle disaster management, they have heavy technical equipment to support the fire fighters where their equipment fails. Those old Magirus Deutz trucks could do things no modern truck could do so they have lost quite an awesome ability to help people. Those old Magirus Deutz trucks are perfect for driving in flooded areas. While modern trucks can drive through water reaching the hubs of the wheels at best, the old Magirus can have the water level up to top of the front wheel house opening. All you need to do is to put the batteries onto the hood using an extension cable. And if that is not enough, all belts are taken out of the engine and the batteries are fully removed. Then the air brakes are disabled and the engine started by an external generator, battery or just plugged into another truck. The truck doesn't need any electricity to operate. All the engine needs is power for the electric starter and the fuel cut off valve to stop. Then the truck can handle any depth - at least even deeper than when the driver drowns. Until the 1980s, people stayed at their homes in flooded areas and lived in the upper floors. The THW then had a shuttle service. This is where the gunner's hatch is handy. You can enter and exit the truck without letting floating debris in. Behind the cab you can see a blue narrow ladder for roof access. When the truck accidentally drives into a deep spot, the crew can escape easily through the hatch. The orange ladder on top is tied to the back as a ramp to reach the 2th floor windows to allow passengers climbing onto the roof. They drove kids to school, husbands to their workplace and wife to shopping. Nowadays, they can't do that any more. They use rafts for rescue purposes only and the area needs to be evacuated. last time I did a deep water crossing I accidentally washed my wheel chocks out of the brackets on the underbody of the truck. didn't even think about when it dropped into the water, the slope of the chock would push it out. our old 2½ ton military trucks had an even better deep water feature. there are spline fittings on the front and back of the axles, and for water too deep to drive through, they can connect drive lines with the tow bars, and the trucks that aren't under water will turn the wheels of the trucks that are under water. that way , they can put a cap on the air intake and submerge the truck completely. |
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Post by the light works on Apr 15, 2018 10:35:03 GMT
From a Driver of the UK's fire tenders, back when I was interested in joining up, I would have been about 20-something, if a vehicle is parked in a no parking area and there is a fire hydrant underneath, they either push or throw a chain on it and pull it out the way unless the driver is sitting in the vehicle. Obviously with some care, try not to damage it too much...Damage by being moved?. You wanna claim that?. The penalty for parking over a fire hydrant is MUCH more than your damage claim, hows about you just keep stum and we trade off that we wont say anything if you do your own repairs?.. you mean like if it belongs to the local widow and she is on a small pension, and can't see well enough to know she is parking on a hydrant? |
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Post by c64 on Apr 15, 2018 10:44:13 GMT
From a Driver of the UK's fire tenders, back when I was interested in joining up, I would have been about 20-something, if a vehicle is parked in a no parking area and there is a fire hydrant underneath, they either push or throw a chain on it and pull it out the way unless the driver is sitting in the vehicle. Obviously with some care, try not to damage it too much... Damage by being moved?. You wanna claim that?. The penalty for parking over a fire hydrant is MUCH more than your damage claim, hows about you just keep stum and we trade off that we wont say anything if you do your own repairs?.. The usual drill is "4 men - 4 shovels!". They push a shovel under each tire and then drag the vehicle away in any direction they need. Iron on asphalt can be moved surprisingly well even with heavy vehicles. It depends on if there is timefor that. If there are people trapped in a collapsed building, every second counts and then they didn't bother "in the good old times". If the owner insists, endangering the life of people by false parking is fined with 6 months without driver's license, a lot of money and (especially if people had died because the THW was late) prison! Also back then no court would decide the emergency response crew is to blame for any damage. Nowadays it is different  |
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Post by silverdragon on Apr 15, 2018 10:47:00 GMT
From a Driver of the UK's fire tenders, back when I was interested in joining up, I would have been about 20-something, if a vehicle is parked in a no parking area and there is a fire hydrant underneath, they either push or throw a chain on it and pull it out the way unless the driver is sitting in the vehicle. Obviously with some care, try not to damage it too much...Damage by being moved?. You wanna claim that?. The penalty for parking over a fire hydrant is MUCH more than your damage claim, hows about you just keep stum and we trade off that we wont say anything if you do your own repairs?.. you mean like if it belongs to the local widow and she is on a small pension, and can't see well enough to know she is parking on a hydrant? More a case I could plough a 5ton tractor unit of a articulated into the back of a parked car at 10-15mph and not do any damage at all to my bumper so a full fire tender could do the same, maybe write the car off, but why do that when a standstill to 1mph max "nudge" would just scuff the paintwork?. As you know, most service people do care about other people and their property, unless that person is a twerp. Mistaking a Fore Hydrant "no park" zone where the signage is scuffed away and not that visible is easy sometimes?. |
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Post by c64 on Apr 15, 2018 10:49:41 GMT
that way , they can put a cap on the air intake and submerge the truck completely. The "civilian" THW just had their snorkels and home made S-shaped extensions for the exhaust pipe in case the engine stalls. |
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Post by the light works on Apr 15, 2018 11:03:02 GMT
that way , they can put a cap on the air intake and submerge the truck completely. The "civilian" THW just had their snorkels and home made S-shaped extensions for the exhaust pipe in case the engine stalls. my understanding is the M-1 Abrams tank has a fitting to screw an extension tube into the commander's hatch and seal up the rest of the tank to drive it under water. |
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