Edinburgh Fire Establishment-Helmets 1929 - [download PDF]
In 1928 the whole country was connected to the National Grid and every household had access to electricity by 1929.
This meant it became dangerous to tackle a house fire wearing a metal helmet. It was therefore agreed to revert to wearing leather helmets.
The one chosen was a standard leather helmet manufactured by Hendrys of Glasgow, it was decided however that it would have a brass trim with a circular brass badge showing the City’s coat of arms and the title of Edinburgh Fire Brigade.
 This piece of equipment was used in the Scottish Borders for clearing choked chimney vents by manipulating the pig on a length of chain attached to a line. When a choke was located the pig was lowered to the top of the burning soot, the pig was then pulled up by the man on the chimney head and allowed to fall onto the packed soot.
This was repeated until the pig broke through and cleared a passage for the water used to extinguish the fire.
In Edinburgh the same procedure was used but using a metal ball on a length of chain attached to a line, the line and chain being longer because of the height of the tenements.
If working on a gable end the equipment could be lowered on the outside of the wall to ascertain the distance from the roof of the choke.
This was useful if the wall had to be opened to clear the choke, but was usually found by excessive heat in the internal wall or discolouration of the plasterwork. It was known as the Ball and Chain and was carried on the machine in a metal bucket.
The two Cleikes or Hooks which hang in the Museum of Fire may be five or six hundred years old.
The larger of the two with the spike at the back is a little more than 30 feet long and weighs three-quarters of a hundredweight*, while the shorter one is over 14 feet long and weighs one-quarter of a hundredweight. Hooks for similar purposes were used in olden days in other parts of the country and the continent.
They were sometimes called ‘thatch hooks’ and varied in length from seven feet long and upwards. They also varied in weight. As to length, it is difficult to tell whether there was any standard, as the wooden shafts of the smaller ones may have been cut or shortened. Some of the shorter ones had rings fixed to the shafts so that ropes or chains could be attached and tugged by helping hands once the hook had got its grip.
As well as dragging down burning roofs and thatch they were also used to scatter burning stacks. In 1929 these two Cleikes were found in a dungeon in Edinburgh Castle and were acquired by the North British and Mercantile Insurance Company Ltd., and were displayed in their offices at 64 Princes Street, Edinburgh until the building was demolished.They were then presented to the Museum of Fire and during a test held at Lauriston it was found that it required six Firefighters to operate the Cleikes.
* Hundredweight: a British unit of weight equal to 112 pounds (50.802 kg).
The ‘Salvus’ breathing apparatus is of closed circuit regenerative type employing oxygen. It consists of a cylinder containing 3.5 cubic feet of oxygen at 1,800 lbs.per sq. In pressure, a valve group, breathing bag, carbon dioxide absorbent and cooler, all of which operate on the same principles as in the ‘Proto’*. The reducing valve is, however, adjusted to give a flow of two litres per minute.
The valve group is connected directly onto the breathing bag, which is of similar construction, and respiration is carried out through one breathing tube only; both the cooler and the absorbent container are inserted between the tube and the breathing bag.
This set was carried on the first machine on two pump stations and was used mainly by the Officer In Charge who, in conjunction with other BA wearers, would carry out snatch rescues or to check the fire situation and decide on a plan of attack. Known in the Service as a half hour set its use could be enhanced by controlled breathing. All oxygen sets were later replaced by the introduction of compressed air in 1960.
The Brigade disposed of all its oxygen BA sets for the sum of £150.
Speaking Trumpet | Megaphone | Figurine - [download PDF]
 Speaking Trumpet - This was presented to Robert H McKay of Edinburgh by the
Vienna Fire Company No1 of Ontario, Canada as a token of their
esteem, May 24th 1860.
Presented to the Museum of Fire by Madeline Currie of Homecrag
House (last living relative of Robert H McKay).
Megaphone - This was introduced to Edinburgh Fire Brigade by Firemaster Peter Methven (1927-1941) and was used by him when conducting drills in Lauriston Station yard, or when giving orders at large fires.
Figurine - Shows an American firefighter
using a trumpet sometimes called a
Bullhorn by American and Canadian
Brigades.
In the book ‘Last man down’
Battalion Commander Richard
Picciotto used a modern version
of the Bullhorn to try to attract the
rescuers when he and the other
firefighters were trapped by the
collapse of the Twin Towers in New
York. The modern version has a siren
fitted to it.
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