Jan 21, 2024 09:00:00

What was the danger of the 'throwing fire extinguisher' used in England in the 19th century?

Fire

extinguishers used for initial extinguishing of fires include general fire extinguishers that spray extinguishing agent toward the source of the fire using compressed air, as well as fire extinguishers that can be used to extinguish the fire in the initial stage by simply throwing it toward the source of the fire. There is also a genre called ' throwing fire extinguishers .' Such 'throwing fire extinguishers' were first introduced in England in the 19th century.

The beauty and danger in Victorian Glass Fire Grenades – Museum Crush
https://museumcrush.org/the-beauty-and-danger-in-victorian-glass-fire-grenades/

Throwing fire extinguishers, which were introduced in England in the 19th century, are mainly made of glass with company names printed on them, and are typically thrown toward the source of a fire at a fire scene, or when the glass breaks due to heat, the extinguishing agent inside is thrown into a sprinkler system. It was used by hanging it from the ceiling for the purpose of scattering it like this.

It was filled with a mixture of salt water and ammonium chloride. Salt water does not freeze under normal conditions, and heating ammonium chloride produces ammonia, which is said to help suppress fires. However, the effectiveness of extinguishing fires with ammonia produced by heating ammonium chloride was not very good.

Since the beginning of the 20th century,

carbon tetrachloride has been packed in glass containers. Carbon tetrachloride has the property of becoming a gas at approximately 76°C. In addition, gaseous carbon tetrachloride has a higher density than air, so it spreads near the ground and can suppress the spread of fire.

However, subsequent research has shown that carbon tetrachloride is carcinogenic, and that touching it or inhaling it can cause damage to the lungs, kidneys, and liver. It has been reported.

Furthermore, when carbon tetrachloride heated to 200°C to 400°C comes into contact with water, it generates a toxic gas called

phosgene , which can be life-threatening if inhaled. In fact, phosgene gas was used in World War I, and it is said that 85% of the 900,000 people who died from poison gas were poisoned by phosgene gas.

According to Museum Crush, which introduces British art, fire extinguishers using carbon tetrachloride were used by the British royal family at the time, and British company Imperial Fire Extinguisher Company said, ``Our fire extinguisher was sold at Sandringham, England . There are records of it being used around 1886.'

Later, as improvements were made, these fire extinguishers changed from being made of colorful glass to being made of clear glass or frosted glass. At the same time, the decorations attached to the glass were gradually removed, and it evolved into something more functional.