The age of carbontet
Extinguishers
The examples shown here are just a sampling of the ShelCraft collection. Most have been reworked and many are able to be taken apart to reveal the inner workings. Some will occasionally be up for sale so check back from time to time.
A few
notes on
patents.
After about 2 years of researching carbontet devices at the US Patent and Trademark Office a little over 100 patents have been found along with a dozen or so trademarks through their public access search engine. These have been used to help understand these extinguishers and determine origins of various types etc, but only loosely for dating. Where listed in the text below they are primarily for informational purposes and do not represent a method for absolute dating. What is generally certain is that when patent numbers are on a label the issue date for the highest number shown represents the earliest possible date the device could have been manufactured (it is believed the USPTO does not assign a number until just before the date of issue).
The Hand Pump World
One of the earliest examples of an actual General Detroit made carbontet, c.
1936-1940. It is thought that General did not start making their own
little
hand held extinguishers until after they moved from
Trademark application and first use in commerce for the words “Fire Guard” was in November of 1934. No information has been found for the origins of the S.O.S portion but it is known that “QuickAid” took over the top spot around December of 1946.
Aside from the distinctive and very busy label graphics what sets this extinguisher apart from later models is the flat angular pump handle and the multipart latching mechanism on the lid. This is very different than the usual cast in place arrangement found on most other models and brands.
Fyr-Fyter
was a fairly early and strong
player in the carbontet world giving Pyrene a run for their money.
Early
examples like the Junior model shown here had a highly stylized logo
with
angular text with a flame background. The Junior was fairly unique in
the hand
pump world with the nozzle being mounted on the edge of the lid rather
than the
bottom like other extinguishers. Thought to have been made in the mid
‘20’s the
only examples seen of this model all have the same old style label
which dates
back to WWI. The only patent found for this design shows a filing date
of
March, 1924 with an issue date of September 1931.
The Junior was most likely made and marketed for home or maybe even automobile use. Because of the lid mounted nozzle it is not particularly easy to aim and operate. Another hint as to the market for this device is a small label on the base of the mounting bracket. It contains a Radium dot that would glow in the dark making it easier to locate at night, well, at least that’s the way it was advertised.
As luck would have it this is the earliest example ShelCraft has been able to obtain. The oldest example seen has a handle with a double flair at the base as opposed to what you see in this picture. It is thought that the second and more squared off protrusion helped keep the handle in the locked position while in the bracket. As a matter of fact this particular bracket has a narrow straight piece just to the right of the handle base that would seem to coincide with the second flair.
Perhaps the granddaddy of the carbontet world is Pyrene. One of the early models shown here is fairly easy to identify if you know what you are looking for. The handle needs to have a screw in the top and a dog-eared vented filler cap on the front of the lid. Canister characteristics include rounded horizontal ribbing above and below the label and vertical fluting all the way around back side. The label itself has the main logo standing alone (not circled like 1917 or so and later models) and a second block letter logo a little further down with patent dates in columns on both sides. If you find one meeting the preceding specifications then it was likely made between 1911 and 1914. Models made between c. 1914 and sometime in 1917 do not have the second block letter logo and the patent dates are arranged in rows going all the way across the label.
Another interesting find for this example is the use of pot metal for the handle and filler cap. It wasn’t until the cleaning phase that this was discovered and also the realization as to why these parts were later made of brass. The latch dogs on the pump handle were broken and when removal of the cap was attempted one of the dog ears popped off. Perhaps it was learned early on that the much less brittle brass was the better choice for these essential parts.
Both the earliest (1907) and latest (1911) patents listed on the label of this unit belong to Edward Davidson, assignor to the Pyrene Company and pertain to the chemical agent used – carbontetrachloride in solution with carbon dioxide, the latter of which also added oil of amber, nitrobenzol and passing anhydrous ammonia into the mix under pressure.
Allstate as a
brand name was created by Sears Roebuck
in the mid 1920’s.The insurance branch with the same name was not
founded until
c. 1931. Since Sears has never been known as a manufacturer, who made
the
extinguisher shown here and when was it made? The patent number at the
bottom
of the label is assigned to Empire Fire
Equipment Manufacturing Company, N.Y. with an original
application
date of
March, 1934 and final issue date of May, 1938. Further examination of
the label
shows a manufacturer/plant mark indicating the device was actually
produced by Stop-Fire Inc. in
In general terms before WWII brand name labeling would often also list the actual manufacturers name and after the war the use of manufacturer/plant marks became more common. But there is a rule of thumb that is fairly accurate as well. If it looks like a Pyrene, General or in this case a Stop-Fire then it probably is, regardless of the name or logo on the label.
Like the Allstate above there is more to the story
than what
stands out on the label. The
While there is little to go on as to when this
extinguisher
was made there is a hint on the label. Prior to WWII Fyr-Fyter listed
their
location as being simply
In
every crowd there is always
a non-conformist or two and Wilbur
is no exception. What sets this
extinguisher
apart from the rest is that the pump is located on the outside of the
canister.
For use simply swing the pump up to a horizontal position, which also
opens the
valves, and pump the handle. There were actually two companies involved
in
producing this device, WIL-X-M’FG.
Corporation, believed to be run by PL Wilbur, and MLCo,
an abbreviation most often associated with The Miller LampCompany
.
Did it work? You bet. When received there was still a full load of carbontet on board and it worked exactly as advertised after who knows how many years of lying around (contents were emptied into a plastic container and taken to the Haz-Waste folks).
All 4 patents listed on the label were issued between 1932 – 1933 with the earliest having a filing date of November 1926. PL Wilbur was no stranger to the patent office having received an issue in November 1908 while working for The Pyrene Company.
While it is unknown how long this design remained in production the patent dates listed above indicate manufacture as early as the mid 1930’s. They are not that uncommon to see at auction and elsewhere so, they must have been fairly successful.
Switching gears to the other side of the Atlantic
pond the
English were no strangers to the carbontet world. After all, the
founder of
Pyrene came from
While the ShelCraft endeavor centers primarily on US manufacturers this Nuswift item with the nasty looking King Cobra on the label was just too interesting to pass up. What it actually turned out to be is an early carbontet stored pressure unit that was most likely sold to folks with big estates and Bentley’s or Rolls to be chauffeured around in. The reason for this train of thought is due to construction and servicing. What appears to be black paint on the canister, lid and nozzle is actually an extremely hard finish process called “blackening” or in reality a chemical corrosion process that causes the surface of the copper to turn black. The second hint at royalty is that it is of a cartridge based stored pressure design. To refill the spent cartridges they had to be exchanged at a local dealer or sent off to the factory (the cartridge is located inside the labeled outer canister).
Not unsurprisingly US and British patents read
about the
same with the major differences being theirs has more His/Her Majesty
and Crown
stuff than ours. Aside from that the patent obtained through the “The
Patent
Office” in
Like the Americans the British didn’t have a clue as to how accurate their cobra label really was. A spitting cobra is not any more dangerous to humans than the contents of the cartridge when sprayed on a hot open flame.
Industrial Strength
Perhaps the real roots of carbontet as an extinguishing agent was in the industrial world where its use could put out small fires in machinery, electric motors or even bails of cotton without causing further damage. The larger units shown below apparently didn't start showing up until the mid 1920's, at least no earlier examples have been seen as of this writing.
Fyr-Fyter
made their presence known with one and
two gallon
models introduced in the later 1920’s.
The smaller 1 gallon “The
Captain” (left) was essentially an over sized "Junior" with an internal
air pump and fluid outlet located on the edge of the lid. There was
also a twin pump model available.
The "Central Station" (right) may have been one of the largest capacity
portable carbontet devices made at 2 gallons. The pump is a single
action fluid type which is a departure from Fyr-Fyter's usual air pump
designs. While the design perhaps dates to the '20's this particular
unit was probably made in the late '40's to early '50's due to the
addition of an anti-corrosive device mounted on the side of the pump
housing. Note: it is believed that most manufacturers did not start
adding anti-corrosive devices until c. 1948 or so.
Phister
also had its origins in
industry starting in the early to mid 1920’s. From those early
beginnings they
developed into one of the toughest 1 gallon extinguishers ever made ….
So
strong and durable that the military used them extensively in WWII and
perhaps
even into the Korean conflict.
Weighing in at a healthy 23 pounds empty these 1 gallon capacity models could be pressurized by the built in hand pump or by an outside air source via an installed Schrader valve.
What made them so heavy besides the brass and copper construction was triple chamber design held together by about a pound or so of lead. The center chamber was the hand pump mechanism followed by an intermediate air pressure chamber and lastly the outer chamber which held the agent. This design was necessary to keep any moisture (in the compressed air) from coming in contact with the carbontet. Unfortunately the combination would cause everything from corrosion to thick goo that would render the extinguisher useless.
Last but not least for this showing is a Pyrene 2 quart stored pressure device probably manufactured in the later 1930’s to ‘40’s. This was most likely made for in-house industrial use because it did not have a built in hand pump. Pressurization depended on having a local shop air supply available such as would be found in factories or service stations (you know, those places that used to pump your gas, wash your windshield and repair your car all in the same place).
One interesting note on this extinguisher is even though the name on the label says Pyrene all three patents listed belong to the A.B. Phister Company.
You have just seen a sample of what was produced
during the
60 plus years that encompass the age of carbontet. Other companies,
some with
names like
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