Who else has a copper fire extinguisher?
Mine is a “Success” by John’s Mannvile
They run on sodium bicarbonate solution and a small cup of sulfuric acid at the top. When turned over the acid mixes into the sodium bicarbonate generating gas pressure to force the water out the hose.



To me, these copper extinguishers display high levels of skill in:
Design
Metallurgy
Chemistry and
Manufacturing.
They also show off the art inherent in function driving form

Attached Images

1225E034-AD6F-4A4B-B4F2-D5C979C72A16.jpg (50.5 KB, 408 views)

__________________
Buy American
Vote Responsibly

There is a corner of my sunroom that I've turned into a place for mementos and memorabilia from my career. My copper extinguisher is right below my Cairns New Yorker leather helmet. Next to it is a brass carbon tet extinguisher...

Attached Images

IMG_0426.jpg (39.0 KB, 148 views)

I had a brass soda acid one.. gave it to a friend restoring an antique firetruck...

Ya oughta spiff it up. Maybe some sorta electric buffer and a can of Brasso (or whatever works on copper...) Spray some lacquer (?) on after polishing to keep the shine...

I have one.

__________________
Kenny
Endeavor to persevere.

OP here.
I gave this one to my Mom over 40 years ago. She had it polished and lacquered but over the decades it tarnished through the lacquer. When my parents downsized their house I got it back and it’s a nice keepsake.

__________________
Buy American
Vote Responsibly

OP here.
I gave this one to my Mom over 40 years ago. She had it polished and lacquered but over the decades it tarnished through the lacquer. When my parents downsized their house I got it back and it’s a nice keepsake. My appreciation of fine design, craftsmanship and beauty in utilitarian articles comes from her.

__________________
Buy American
Vote Responsibly

I have a brass Kontrol, made by Stempel Fire Extinguisher Co. in St. Louis. It's the foam version, which debuted in the early 1900's, but I'm pretty sure mine is post war. I also have a glass Red Comet fire grenade and a newer chrome SECO, of the same design as the Kontrol. Very neat history . . .

__________________
Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

Your mementos reminded me of when my friend retired from the FDNY and moved to AZ. He not only collected vintage fire apparatus, but had inherited FD collectibles from generations of his FD family.
His moving company charged by weight, and his extensive collection of vintage fire hydrants were incredibly heavy, costing him a small fortune to move.

******Beemer and other collectors PLEASE do not read!******



Years back we had to clear out a old warehouse that was scheduled to be torn down and the place was loaded with those tip over type extinguishers. I was a apprentice then and my boss had me strip them out, throw into the back of a PU truck and go to the junkie. Quite a few dollars in scrap value there which was split up 3 ways.

__________________
14 S&W Revs none with locks!

Hopefully empty and cleaned out. Carbon tetrachloride is
a super nasty toxin.

Carbon tetrachloride - Wikipedia

my grade school had some of those ,..late 60's early 70's

My high school chemistry teacher had a squeeze bottle of carbon tetrachloride. He used it to clean grease pencil off laboratory glassware. Ah — The good old days.

__________________
Buy American
Vote Responsibly

I would leave it as is. The patina was acquired over many years and will be impossible to replicate. I think the same advice applies here as we would give to someone wanting to refinish a classic old Smith and Wesson. Then again, if shiny is your thing, it's your antique.

My father had one of the old carbon tet pumper types hanging in his "shed". No idea what happened to it.

__________________
Foster Positivity.

My uncle was a printer in Philadelphia until he passed away. They used to use carbon tetrachloride to clean the ink off the printing plates. He died from cancer when I was still pretty young but we never knew for certain if the carbon-tet was the cause, but more than likely it was.

My Dad was a printer as well. Carbon Tet was the every day go to.

I worked with him Summers and used it as well. Of course I was just a kid and didn't know any better. It was my goto as well, just to wash my hands before going home.

Dad DID die of cancer (30 years later) but we attributed it more to his cigars. I swear he had retired for 10 years before the black ink marks in his pores finally went away.

The discussion on another thread centered around lead poisoning from shooting boolits. I'm sure it didn't affect me. But now that I think of it maybe it was the Carbon Tet that made me goofy...

I have one of those, but is minus the hose and nozzle. I polished it years ago but has turned to patina. I was going to make a lamp out of it but got side tracked.

__________________
Kevin in Oregon

My wife bought this one about 4 decades ago.

Attached Images

DSC00496.JPG (136.3 KB, 35 views)

__________________
Ken

I have an old carbon tet extinguisher also. It is still probably half full and haven’t checked into what I should do to make it safe. Any ideas?

__________________
GreyOwl

I’ve always wanted a copper/brass extinguisher and diving helmet.

__________________
213th FBINA

Got one of those in the garage somewhere. All brass.

__________________
SWCA #3356, SWHF#611

How so safe? it's in there, you're out here.

Do you want to empty it?

__________________
SWCA #3356, SWHF#611

I used to have a small automotive size copper/brass unit that was filled with carbon tetrachloride, you turned it upside down and opened the valve...that stuff was a great degreaser.

My grandfather had a fire in the engine room of his commercial Salmon troller. His fire extinguisher was one of the Carbon Tet types. This was in the early 1950's and he fished alone. He told us that he barely made it out of the confined area to fresh air when the fire was out. Nasty stuff!

Best,
Rick

Empty it, yes. Concerned that the grandkids might get ahold of it when I’m not around.

__________________
GreyOwl

There was an old wooden building around here that had glass bottles of Carbon Tet. in brackets screwed to the rafters. The brackets were made of, or had an insert that was a low melting point alloy. The idea was that during a fire the brackets would melt and drop the bottles of Carbon Tet. on to the floor where they would break and extinguish the flames.

__________________
Fools despise wisdom.

Those old copper, sodium bicarbonate, sulfuric acid, fire extinguishers, were still in use in my two story, four grade brick school house, while I attended school there, circa 1936-1940.

I still have a new looking carbon-tec. fire extinguisher hanging in place, ready for use, in my garage. It has hung there for more than 77years, installed when we built our connected, house/garage/breezeway. I should get rid of that nasty carbon-tec., but just haven't got around to it.

Chubbo

I forgot to mention, in my last post, that the playground of our school, also had a multiple hole outhouse in service at that time. That convenient, well used, outhouse didn't contain water, heat, cooling, or plumbing of any kind. It was used at recess, to keep the children from wearing out the school house's door hinges, to get to the indoor toilet facilities.

That playground also contained several large boulders, setting under a long row huge, maple, shade trees. The old, school custodian, would sometimes set on those boulders, while consoling children, that had received spankings from their teachers, for their unruly behaver.

Can't one just imagine the children of today's era, coping with those conditions? It also makes one compare the results, of the educations received in that era, to the educations being received in this era. ???

Chubbo

I have one. It needs a cleaning, but is in good shape.

This one belongs to my sister.

Her husband was a captain in the Houston Fire Department.
It has been in their home for over thirty years and is a 'daily user'. She loves to have it where she can see it.

bdGreen

Tap image to enlarge.