Catapulted “Bomb” Puts Out Fire (Aug, 1935)
Filed under: General — @ 2:02 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1935
| Buy on Ebay
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1935
| Buy on Ebay
Catapulted “Bomb” Puts Out Fire
A GLASS “bomb” fire extinguisher throws itself into the flames when heat melts a plug to release spring tension in the wall bracket. When catapulted, the bursting bulb spreads an extinguishing fluid to smother flame.
Why must this contraption catapult itself into the fire anyways… Isn it too dangerous that the thingy will possible miss the fire and splash far away without doing anything?
Not even thinking of someone trying to escape the fire and finally finds himself dodging glass bombs here and there, not to mention fire fighters…
Sounds very weird to me…
Comment by Roflcopter — January 31, 2008 @ 4:28 am
I think the assumption is that if it’s hot enough to melt the plug, there’s not much in the room other than the fire.
Comment by Eli — January 31, 2008 @ 8:44 am
I like the company name (reminiscent of “The Producers”) and the inevitable ad tagline:
“If this puts out a fire it’s a MIRACLE!”
Comment by Stannous — January 31, 2008 @ 10:35 am
This reminds me of an old Joe E. Brown movie:
“Fireman Save My Child”
It is part of a Ring Lardner baseball trilogy, and Brown has little “bombs” to put out fires that he’s trying to sell.
Comment by Dane — January 31, 2008 @ 12:32 pm
I have several of these ‘bombs’. As best I can figure there are no hazardous materials involved. They are remarkably common in the eaves and furnace rooms of buildings constructed c. 1910.
Comment by mdhatter — February 1, 2008 @ 10:30 am
Actually, you might want to be careful with those. Often the contents of those fire extinguishing globes was carbon tetrachloride.
I have a manual pump fire extinguisher that was filled with it – now it resides in a sealed flask in my workshop. The fumes from that stuff will cause kidney failure…leading to its banning for common usage as a spot remover/dry cleaning fluid.
ajr
Comment by Alan J. Richer — February 1, 2008 @ 10:34 am
The George Pal “Doc Savage” movie featured anti-fire bombs.
Dane…
Is that the movie with a fireman/inventor who starts a fire in an office wastebasket and puts it out with two squirts from his experimental extinguisher?
Was it a musical or did it have a musical sequence?
Comment by jayessell — February 1, 2008 @ 11:18 am
My grandparents house has at least five of these, but they are just the bulbs. The house is pretty old, it’s from the early 1940’s or so.
Comment by Patrick — February 2, 2008 @ 12:20 am
I may be wrong but it looks like the product doesn’t match the description.
It looks like the model shown simply breaks the bottom off the glass bulb when the striker is released. There is no mechanism for the bulb itself to be jettisoned.
Comment by Adrian — February 5, 2008 @ 11:35 am
Jayessell-
The Joe E. Brown character almost burned the building down–he had the wrong briefcase–the one without bombs! Eventually he got them and they worked beautifully. Then it was off to the ballgame for more heroics. Don’t recall a musical theme…
Comment by Dane — February 14, 2008 @ 12:30 pm
Hi, I have one of these carbon tet. Fire extinguishers stored away in a padded wooden crate. I removed it from my Grandmothers farmhouse, it was attached to the insulated chimney that passed through the second story. It is quite alot fancier than this model shown but still activates when the flame is hot enough to melt the solder on the spring mech. There were also 3 that looked like the one shown located in the old barn. The reason these things worked well was because the Carbon Tet. Displaces oxygen in a room almost instantly…. problem being, It also displaced the oxygen in peoples lungs just as fast.
Comment by Rob Groves — September 13, 2008 @ 7:48 pm
I have one of these i’ve had it for 25 years anybody know if its worth any thing
Comment by D.J. — November 9, 2008 @ 8:42 pm
I have been looking for one, If any are for sale or trade.
Comment by Paul — December 12, 2008 @ 12:01 am
Paul, please contact me as I do have some for sale. I have no idea of what they’re worth–do you??
lshemanski “at” verizon.net
Comment by Laura — December 29, 2008 @ 11:11 am
Paul
I have 3 for sale, 2 round and one oblong and pointed at one end. If interested you can contact me at lorilowens@gmail.com.
Thanks.
Lori
Comment by Lori Owens — January 1, 2009 @ 1:29 pm
I have contacted the two above and I’m still looking for one. Paul.
Comment by Paul — January 11, 2009 @ 1:04 am
Hello
Thank so much for your time.Am Mark and i will like to 10 pound Fire Extinguishers and what is the price for this and also what type of payment do you accept..Thank you and waiting for your reply.
Regards.
Mark
Comment by mark — August 6, 2009 @ 9:08 pm
Hi Mark,
Are you wanting to buy a 10 Lb. Fire Extinguisher ????? That is what I’m understanding from
your post. I do not sell them, I just collect old ones.
Paul
Comment by Paul — August 7, 2009 @ 10:50 am
Actually I think he’s cleverly trying to order a fire extinguisher from a 1935 magazine clipping. I see that a lot on this blog.
Comment by Firebrand38 — August 7, 2009 @ 11:24 am
What do these go for? I have a new “red-juice” one. And an extra one,ball only, with red juice) in the original box. I would sale them for a fair price,especially to a collector.
Thanks,
RWillie
Comment by Bob Nelson — August 7, 2009 @ 11:13 pm
Is it the orginal red juice ?
Paul.
Comment by Paul — August 8, 2009 @ 10:04 am
Be advised that there is a good chance that the “juice” as you call it is in fact carbon tetrachloride. Manufacturers ignorant of it’s toxicity began using that in place of the old sodium bicarbonate/water solution.
http://blog.nj.com/southjersey.....guish.html
If it’s a Red Comet brand it’s certainly carbon tet unless it’s been replaced with colored water.
http://www.littletongov.org/hi.....dcomet.asp
An idea of going prices cab be found by searching for glass fire grenade
http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R4.....Categories
or glass fire extinguisher
http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_n.....;_osacat=0
Comment by Firebrand38 — August 8, 2009 @ 2:50 pm
Well if it does not contain the orginal carbon tetrachloride, I would not want it, EPA has very over rated the dangers of carbon tet. same as others such as mercury. I was a member of a Haz-Mat team in my County and if a thermometer got broken we would be called out and it would be on local news. Anyway a little (common sense) with carbon tetrachloride and it is can be safe to handle. When we picked it up we would use it for our own use. But for the record we call it red juice. another note of fact they were effective whene thrown at the base of a small fire it would quickly burn out the oxygen in the fire, thus putting out the fire.
The ones I have seen on e-bay have been altered & way over priced, however they show up at flea markets.
Paul.
Comment by Paul — August 8, 2009 @ 8:51 pm
Looks like the Brits got taken in as well http://msds.chem.ox.ac.uk/CA/c.....oride.html and http://www.hpa.org.uk/web/HPAw.....5032867783 so it isn’t just the EPA. It is nasty stuff.
Never heard it called red juice. It always looked kind of colorless to me.
I know it was effective against fires. Just like asbestos made a crackerjack insulation and building material. For the record.
Comment by Firebrand38 — August 8, 2009 @ 9:37 pm
It is colorless and we are talking about an amount the size of base ball, Not drum size and I did say use some (common sense) !!! Asbestos can only be dangerous to the body if it is air borne, Halon 1040 fire extinguisher systems are still in use all over the country!!! Have you ever heard of protective gear ??? Are you one to call wolf ??? You are right it is not just EPA it all the stupid people that did not know what they were doing and did not care.
We are talking about a glass fire Extinguisher the aprox. size of baseball, and if you droped it and it broke, you do not stick your nose in it. Gosh man lets be real here.
Paul.
Comment by Paul — August 8, 2009 @ 11:10 pm
I still collect them along with other fire extinguishers and they all fine safe equipment.
Paul.
Comment by Paul — August 8, 2009 @ 11:14 pm
Ya know water can be nasty also , if Ya jump in a swimming pool over your head and cannot swim. H2O
Paul.
Comment by Paul — August 8, 2009 @ 11:22 pm
No fooling? Look, carbon tet is far from harmless and you were coming across that when it came to hazardous materials everyone was stupid but you.
The reference to asbestos was to your point that fire grenades were effective when thrown at a fire. No kidding. There was lots of stuff that was effective at the time that we don’t screw with anymore (but you knew that).
Comment by Firebrand38 — August 9, 2009 @ 10:08 am
I have several of these in my house and to the best of my knowledge, the DO contain the RED JUICE. There are a few other random old type about as well. We are def wanting to sell these, preferably to a collector. I feel they are just too dangerous to have in my home with a 2 year old, but we are too afraid to move them.
Please contact me ASAP for more info. Micspick@yahoo.com
Comment by Jill — September 22, 2009 @ 3:39 pm