- Author
- U.S. Department of Commerce | National Bureau of Standards
- Title
- National Standard Hose Couplings and Fittings for Public Fire Service. 2nd Edition.
- Coporate
- Department of Commerce, Washington, DC National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD
- Report
- NBS C 50; NBS Circular 50; Circular of the Bureau of Standards No. 50; 2nd Edition, June 8, 1917, 34 p.
- Keywords
- fire deparments | fire hoses | standards | fire hydrants
- Identifiers
- national standard as adopted by fire protection organizations; present status of the national standard fire-hose coupling
- Abstract
- For many years there has been a great diversity in the dimensions of fire-hose couplings and hydrant connections. The appalling loss during certain disastrous fires such as the Boston fire in 1872 and the Baltimore fire in 1904 clearly demonstrate and emphasize the necessity for uniformity in fire-hose connections, fire departments of other cities frequently responding to calls for aid only to find themselves, upon arrival, unable to render assistance because their engine and hose connections would not couple up with outlets of local fire hydrants which were of a different type and diameter. The great advantages that would result from a standardization of hose connections has always been recognized by those intimately connected with fire departments and organizations devoted to the cause of fire protection, but the absence of coordinated effort among the fire departments and other authoritative organizations having control or supervision of such utilities has for many years retarded any considerable effort toward standardization of these highly important adjuncts in public fire protection. During the past 10 years, however, owing to persistent concentration of effort and vigorous action of the special committee on hose couplings and hydrant fittings appointed by the National Fire Protection Association, this necessary coordination has been materially advanced through the joining together of all of the more important national organizations which are concerned with fire protection and prevention, in a serious endeavor to terminate the existing confusion by concurrent approval and adoption of the "national standard hose couplings and hydrant fittings."