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The first automatic sprinklers system was created
in England in the early 1800s. It was made up of a pipe with several
valves held closed by counterweights attached by string. When the flames
burned through the string the counterweight dropped to the floor, which
opened the valve that released the water and extinguished the fire.
Manually operated systems were developed around the turn of the
nineteenth century as well. Manual systems consisted of a number of
perforated pipes fed by a main riser, which was activated from an adjacent
area. Manual systems were effective at dousing fire. However, water damage
to the building and the contents not affected by the flames were often
more costly than the fire damage.
In America, Henry S. Parmalee, in 1874, invented a sprinkler head to control
the discharge of water. He used this new sprinkler head on a sprinkler
system to protect his piano factory. The newly designed head incorporated
a heat-sensing device that only opened the valve when a predetermined
temperature was reached. The heat of the fire activated specific heads,
leaving all other areas unaffected by the fire, dry.
Until 1940s and 1950s, sprinklers were almost exclusively for the
protection of buildings, especially warehouses and factories. Insurance
savings, which could pay back the cost of the system in a few years time,
were the major incentives.
Following the fire with large losses of life (Coconut Grove Nightclub,
Boston 1942 492 dead; LaSalle Hotel, Chicago, 1946 61 dead; Winecoff
Hotel, Atlanta 1946 119 dead) fire and building officials searched for a
means to provide life safety for building occupants. They found that
factories and other buildings equipped with automatic sprinklers had a
amazingly god life safety record compared with similar buildings without.
From the days when fire sprinklers randomly sprayed water to systems
that can regulate the discharge covering an area of a few square feet, automatic
fire sprinklers systems protect property saving millions of dollars
annually. Most importantly, they save lives. |
