At present, in London, and some other large towns, fire-ladders are kept in every church-yard, for the service of any fire which may happen within a reasonable distance. This regulation is in a great measure rendered useless from inattention in the keeping of the keys of the locks, which are applied to prevent the ladders front being im properly removed. A key is generally deposited with each churchwarden, and one with the clerk of the parish ; but the nearest watchman, or every patrole, should be pro vided with a key, that no delay may occur in rendering assistance. A melancholy instance of the necessity of this regulation occurred in London a few years ago, when three persons were burned, at the windows of a house, from which they had a sight of the fire ladders; but the church warden, who lived at some distance, could not be awaken ed to procure the key until too late.
We have seen, some years ago, a long ladder, provid ed with a pair of wheels, which were fitted upon an axle tree attached to the lower end of the ladder, within about three feet of the extremity. A weight was attached to the end of the ladder, to counterbalance so much of its weight, that one man, by treading upon the lower end, could ele vate it upon the axle of the wheels; but when raised to about an angle of 65 degrees, the end of the ladder touch ed the ground, and therefore if it was elevated more than that, the wheels were borne off the ground, and left the lad der to support itself independent of them.
This simple addition of wheels to a fire-ladder is of great advantage, not less in conveying it to the place, than in rearing it, which is always a work of much labour, and among those who are unused to it, of no small difficulty. With the wheels, nothing is more easy, the weight being balanced, and three or foUr men can draw it along the streets as quick as they can run, whereas, at the utmost, they can only walk quickly when bearing a long ladder on their shoulders, from the difficulty of stepping exactly equal paces. The length of the ladder should be from 25 to 30 feet, according to the kinds of houses in the neighbourhood where it is to be kept. This simple contrivance appears to us of more utility than any other fire-escape which we have seen proposed. Amidst the number of ingenious, but complicated machines, which have been rewarded and published by different learned societies, we have no doubt that a sufficient number of lire-ladders, thus mount ed, and kept as the ladders now are in the church-yards, would be the most effective provision that could be made against accidents of this nature. As we are not altoge
ther without hopes of seeing this arrangement adopted, we shall add a few words on the best and most economical method of constructing such machine; because when great numbers are required, the expence is an object of atten tion. The two spars of the ladder may be formed out of a clean piece of fir, such as is used for masts and oars. Each should be about five inches by three at the lower end, and regularly tapering up to three by two at the other; now, as the spars are much weakened by the holes bored through them, for the rounds or steps, we propose to use another method, and at the same time to truss the .1pars, to render them more strong. For this purpose, each Is to be divided from the middle to within three or four feet of each of its ends, by a saw-kerf, made in the direc tion of the length of the piece ; a wedge is then to he driven into the cleft, to open it in the middle, to a width of eight inches, and small blocks of wood arc to be fitted into the opening, which will he eight inches wide in the middle, and gradually diminishing to nothing towards the ends, where the spars have not been divided. One of these blocks should be placed at the proper place for every round or step which is intended to be made in the ladder ; and the ends of the rounds are to be fixed in these pieces, except towards the ends, where the cleft being narrow, the ends of the rounds themselves being made square, may be fitted in the opening instead of the blocks. The blocks and the ends of the rounds, where they touch the insides of the opening, should be let into the wood the eighth of an inch to prevent them from moving. The whole is to be bound fast by slight iron hoops, driven on feom the ends, and particularly at the solid ends, to prevent the opening splitting farther than was intended. By this method a ladder is formed of very great strength, without increas ing the weight. It is the same mode of strengthening spars, which has been proposed by Air G. Smart, for tem porary yards for ships. The wheels of the ladder should be of the largest size used for phaetons, which is about five feet eight inches, with twelve spokes. It is an ad vantage to have the wheels as large as possible, because a smaller balance weight will then be sufficient. The w eight should be of cast iron, and fixed across between the two spars, in the manner of a cross-rail at the extreme end, so that it will be as far as possible removed from tho axle.