FIRE-EXTINGUISHER (FritE-A.xxium,tron, ante), an apparatus for extinguish ing fires by water surcharged with some substance of an anti-corn bustible nature. The substance chiefly employed for this purpose is carbonic acid gas, the conveniences for generating which, for use at the moment it is wanted, are various. The ordinary fire-extinguisher is a cylindrical vessel, holding about eight gallons; it is made to be strapped to the back, and provided with a short hose and nozzle, through which a stream of considerable force may be discharged. The cylinder is filled with water, and within are two small vessels, one containing a bicarbonate, the other a.strong acid. When the apparatus is to be used, the contents of these vessels are emptied into the water, and the carbonic acid, set free by chemical action, is taken up by the water. The pressure created by the confined gas forces out the liquid in a strong jet when the passage is opened. The gas, in coming in contact with the flames, assists in extinguish ing it by excluding the atmospheric air. For subduing a fire in its first stages this contrivance is often very effective. The first apparatus of this kind ever brought into successful use was made in London in 1816. The contrivance for generating the gas was slightly different from that above described, although the principle was the same. Within the last 12 or 15 years various methods of charging the water in the cylinder have been devised. The Babcock extinguisher is filled with a solution of bicarbonate of soda, in which is suspended a vessel of acid, which is made to tilt over and discharge its contents into the solution stopper is withdrawn, thus freeing the carbonic acid. Use has also been made of salts in solution, which, as the water evaporates, are left incrusting the substances in combustion, thereby excluding the air, or, failing in this, giving off incombustible gases. Lar,ge cylinders filled with chemicals in the manner above described have been mounted on wheels, and, known as chemical fire engines, have been used to some extent, but they are valuable only in the earliest stages of a fire. Various methods have been proposed for securing the automatic action of the fire-extinguisher through the increased temperature caused by fire, but they have not been very successful. An important adaptation of the fire-extinguisher has been applied to sea-going ships. A series of pipes on the upper deck communicate severally with various compartments of the hold, the coal-bunkers, the main debk, etc. The chemical agents are placed in a box, to which steam also may be admitted; when in action, the steam mingles with the carbonic acid and the two are conveyed to the place of danger, where they take the place of the air, smother, and finally extinguish the fire. The steam pipes are perforated along their sides that the distribution may be complete and positive. A system of distributing water, as in a planing mill or other factory, consists of an extended system of pipes placed near the ceiling of the different rooms and connected with a central supply, which may be a tank near the roof, or a pipe from a powerful engine. The distributing pipes are perforated with many small orifices, so small as to deliver the water in spray. If an alarm comes from a given room, the supply of water is turned to that room, which is instantly filled with spray.
a name common to all winged luminous insects, at least to all that possess much luminosity. Except the lantern-fly (q.v.), they are all coleopterous, and belong to
two nearly allied tribes, latnpyrides, to which the glowworm (q.v.) also belongs, and elaterides, to which belong our skipjack beetles, and of which the larvm are too well known to farmers as wire-worms. The male glowworm, which alone is winged, has too little luminosity ever to receive the name of fire-fly, but the fire-flies of the s. of Europe (tompyris italica) and of Canada (L. corusca) are nearly allied to it. See Fire-flies are only seen in the most southern parts of Europe. They abound in almost all the warmer parts of the world, and the brilliancy of the spectacle presented by them when glancing about in numbers amidst the darkness of night, has been often described with enthusiastic admiration. Mr. Gosse says of the Canadian fire-fly: "The light is of a yellow color, very different from the blue gleam of the English glowworm: from tuis circumstance I at first took them for candles in the woods, and though told what they were, at every one that appeared, the same idea would come across my mind. . . . They more frequently give out the light while flying, than when crawling or resting, though we may often observe the intermittent gleam as one crawls up a stalk of grass, or rests on the leaf of a tree. They fly slowly, and as they fly, emit and conceal their light with great regularity at intervals of two or three seconds; making interrupted lines of light through the air, gleaming slowly along for about a yard, then suddenly quenched, and appearing again at the same distance ahead. The insect is a pretty beetle, with soft elytra, Of a light-brown color, marked with red, and haucisomely striped; the light proceeds from the last three segments of the abdomen, which are of a delicate cream color by day. At night these three segments are bright at all times; but at the regular intervals I have mentioned, they flash out with dazzling splendor. If this part be plucked off and crushed, many patches of brilliance occur for a few moments among the flesh, but they gradually die away." He further describes those fire-flies as appearing in great numbers in sum mer evenings, over wet and marshy ground, millions of them above a river, or over the surface of a large field, like stars on a clear winter night, but flashing and disappearing, and moving about in mazy evolutions.—But still more brilliant are the fire-flies of more tropical regions, belonging to the tribe elaterides, as the fire-fly of the West Indies (elater noctilucus), which gives out its light chiefly from two eye-like tubercles on the thorax. The light is so powerful, that the smallest print may be read by it; and this becomes quite easy if a feW of the insects are inclosed in a smith glass vessel They are not unfrequently employed—particularly in St. Domingo—to give light for household pur poses; and they are used for purposes of decoration on festival-days by women, who attach them to their dress or to their hair. One which had been accidentally brought Paris, once astonished and alarmed the Faubourg St. Antoine. These insects are caught in some parts of the West Indies—a torch being used to attract them—and brought into houses to destroy mosquitoes, which they eagerly pursue and devour. See LITMLNOSITY OF ORGANIC BEINGS.