Posted 13 years ago
lydabenson
(37 items)
Found this treasure for $5.00 at a yard sale, the back seam had ruptured and the copper had turned green. We took it to the expert, he repaired, cleaned, polished and lacquered it for us. Cousin Jack the firefighter provided the new piece of hose and nozzle and this sits in our living room with the other old copper and brass pieces. Any ideas on how old it might be?
I believe it was made in the 1920's or 1930's is the in cage still in it. You find them with out the cage but not very often with the cage still in it.
I have no idea what a cage is. The seam on the backside was ruptured, it had broken bits of glass inside, we had it cleaned polished and finished. the top screws off and it has a solid bottom. what is a cage?
The extinguisher holds the soda water and the acid is contained in a bottle that is held in a bracket (cage)-when the extinguisher is inverted a weight inside the extinguisher breaks the bottle releasing the acid and activating the extinguisher.They have not been manufactured since early 60's because if the hose is stopped up the pressure will cause the extinguisher to explode. that could be what the glass in it could have been and way the side was busted.
I have one like that. I use it as a bank. It was given to me in 1976 but some firefighters who were removing them from some abandoned buildings. One told me they were not used any more because they had a tendency to blow up. It makes a great bank though.
Does anyone know a gentle way of cleaning the extinguisher. I don't want to rub the copper off or scratch it up, I just got 2 of them today from antique store going out of business.
If yours is solid copper you can't rub the copper off. I had mine professionally polished and lacquer coated. Purchase some good polish and use old T-shirts to clean it with, start small. You will no doubt have scratches if they have been around for years, gives them character!