Posted 14 years ago
Mamapeach417
(1 item)
Can anyone help identify the contents? My husband found this in his grandparents barn when he was a kid. They let him have it to keep him busy. He didn't find any holder, just this ball. I've searched the web, but can't find anything on this company. I do know that some companies filled the balls with water while others used a nasty chemical.
It weighs 26 oz. 5 3/4" x 4"
The gold & black label reads: Red Ball Co. Automatic Fire Protection Salt Lake City, Utah.
Thanks for your help.
These 'Fire Grenades' are filled with carbon tetrachloride (what we used to clean tape deck heads and other electronic components). The grenade would have been thrown at the base of a fire to extinguish it. It finally came to be understood that Carbon Tet is a carcinogen and is no longer used (don’t accidentally break it…)
Thanks for the info. However, some of these "fire grenades" actually contained water. Does anyone have any info on this particular company? Thanks.
I don't know anything about the company. However, what you have would sit in a wall hanger with a spring loaded pin held in place by a metal fusible link. When fire heated the fused link to a set temperature, the link parted releasing the pin which would break the glass container and hopefully extinguish the fire. It could also be hand thrown. The contents, carbon tetrachloride, was an excellent fire extinguishing agent but is highly toxic when heated to approx. 800 degrees and no longer used for that reason.
I have four of them in hangers in my barn. I was wondering what would be the best way to get rid of them.
Will,
You might try to find a 'Firefighter's Museum' in your area and see if they want them to display. Otherwise, most Counties have a periodic 'hazardous waste disposal' event where local citizens can take pesticides, etc. Perhaps they would accept them. Don't dump them, though. Worst case, let them continue to hang in your barn...
Just wondering if these are worth anything or if the should just be disposed of?
Ihave A Red Ball That Says San Antonio Tex.
The US Forest Service just had a hazardous material specialist remove eight of them from a hotshot warehouse, three were Red Comet and five were Red Ball Inc. out of Salt Lake City Utah. They are filled with carbon tetrachloride and the legal disposal cost is between $500.00 to $5,000.00 depending on how the product is packaged for the disposal firm. Carbon tetrachloride is extremely poisonous and very dangerous if exposed to humans or other life. It is a carcinogen and toxic to very many organs. Why anyone would have such a dangerous device around is in my opinion very foolish.