A fire alarm system detects the presence of fire by monitoring the changes associated with combustion. The early response towards a fire attack yields positive results. The fire alarm systems protect loss of lives and property by alerting responsible people to stop the fire. From recorded history, people knew this and there existed ways to alert people to respond to a fire in a place. They used hand bell-ringers, factory steam whistles and church bells to get the attention of the fire brigade. Unfortunately, this equipment did not give much detail and they often directed the fire department to the wrong direction.
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In the early 1840s, there was an invention of telegraph by Samuel Morse. This invention gave the firefighters a faster a more precise fire reporting system. The transmission by Morse code consisted transmission of dots and dashes. In 1947, New York was the first city in America to start construction of a municipal fire system. The system was for relaying alarms of fire from the city hall to the fire stations. In 1851, William Channing convinced Boston city to install the alarm system that used Samuel Morse`s system. The system had 40 miles of fire that connected the central station to 40 signal boxes (Jones, 242). It had 19 bells in schools, churches and fire engine houses. The system had some technical problems but they were resolved and the system could transmit electric signals in form of Morse code. In April 30, 1852 the first fire alarm transmission occurred. The fire was on Causeway Street.
William presented many lectures concerning the Boston fire alarm system. In March 1855, he was presenting a lecture at Smithsonian Institute when Mr. Gamewell first heard of the invention. Gamewell became interested and he bought the rights to construct the fire alarm system in the South and West and then the whole of America. Gamewell worked with Gardiner who had vast knowledge on clocks and other systems. They improved the alarm system by utilizing models driven by spring that eliminated interference in the fire alarm boxes. In 1880, Gardiner patented his design of fire alarm system.
In 1871, private companies started to operate to provide messenger service to the business and homes on fire alarm and burglar alarm. William Watkins in the 1870s designed electric fire sensor. The sensor monitoring was remotely using heat detectors. Watkins founded the first private fire alarm institution called the Boston Fire Alarm Company (Forest, 195). Alexander Ross developed the first electric fire detector. He did this in Brooklyn, New york.
The automatic fire alarm telegraph detects any dangerous fire. It operates from the ceiling of every office, elevator and office in the building. The alarm tells the exact location of the fire to the firefighters before they leave the station to stop the fire (Binggheli, 369). The instruments the service by constant security guard who is ready to act in time of fire.
In the early 1900s Grinnell and Automatic Fire Protection established contracts with each other to supply fire equipment to central stations and other monitoring services. The businesses in the fire alarm system and monitoring systems grew and it led to the development of the devices used in detection of fire. George Smith patented the first pneumatic system in 1907 that later became the Aero Automatic Fire Alarm. The companies that develop the fire alarm system make a few improvements in the existing inventions.
Works cited
Binggeli, Corky. Building Systems for Interior Designers. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons, 2010. Print.
Forrest, Clarence H. Official History of the Fire Department of the City of Baltimore: Together with Biographies and Portraits of Eminent Citizens of Baltimore. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1898. Print.
Jones, A M. Fire Protection Systems. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning, 2009. Print.
