HOW THE NFD'S 1936 AMERICAN-LAFRANCE WATER TOWER WORKED

Newark's 1936 American LaFrance water tower was the biggest, most expensive, and most powerful water tower ever built, with its four pipes capable of delivering nearly 10,000 gallons of water per minute!

The rig was a thing of beauty and engineering marvel, but have you ever wondered how it worked? Ever wonder what it took to get it into operation? Ever wonder what all those wheels, valves, and other bits were for?

Well, in the November, 1936 issue of "The American City" magazine, an excellent article appeared that will answer all those questions. Below is the article - word-for-word - as it appeared in that issue, along with the photos that accompanied the article.

I hope you find the article as fascinating a read as I did.

NEWARK’S AMERICAN LAFRANCE NIAGARA TYPE 12-CYLINDER WATER TOWER WITH 65-FOOT MAST AND TWO TURRETS

HOW IT OPERATES

The tower starts out and arrives at the fire in the locked-down position shown in the top photograph. At the scene, the first move is to extend the side-frame jacks (1), which broadens the base as much as 6 feet on each side. Then, to raise the mast, first release the mast bed lock (2) by means of a pull cable attached to a hand lever; remove safety pin (3) from the trip mechanism; stepping on the trip pedal (4) releases the cross-head hook (5), which allows the springs to take action, raising the mast to a vertical position. The speed of the mast can be controlled by a hand brake and lever (6) so that the mast will ease into the stops without excessive jolting and locked there by the raising mechanism locks (7). The crosshead locks (8) are then applied to prevent the tower from falling back to a down position when pressure is applied to the mast pipes when these are operating over the back of the tower, as safety in case the raising locks were not applied when raising. At this point, with the mast up, step to the panel carrying the six wheels. The top pair of wheels raise or lower the main mast pipe which is held in position by two locks whose handles (9) are under these wheels. The middle wheels revolve the pipes -- the left wheel revolves the mast pipe 360 degrees; the right wheel revolves the duplex pipe (lower pipe) 270 degrees. The lowest pair of wheels raise or lower the duplex nozzle. A valve directly under the panel controls the water into the duplex pipe.

To raise the extension mast, raise the locks on the uppermost wheels, which will allow the mast-pipe controlling cables to extend with the mast. The mast is cranked up by two wheels, one on either side, which are connected to cable drums on a cross shaft attached by a double-reduction gear. The mast can be locked in any position by a ratchet lock (10). Either pipe is placed in correct position by the panel-board wheels.

Now for the water. Connect hose lines to the 12 receivers (11) connected to a common discharge manifold supplying main mast and deck guns. The duplex pipe has an independent receiver (12) handling three lines of hose. Each deck pipe and mast pipe has a gage at the base registering water pressure, which averages 160 pounds. In the box (13) are 1-1/2- to 2-1/2-inch nozzles for all pipes. Adjusting bolts (14) are provide for increasing spring tension as time passes to 20 years.

The main mast, 65 feet high, with 100 pounds nozzle pressure throws a 210-foot stream, and has a capacity of 2,000 gallons per minute. The duplex pipe rates 1,500 gallons. The deck pipes are 3,000 gallons each.