Bank fraud is more common than people think,read this article and keep these tips in mind to avoid loosing out in the end..

Fraud
Bank Related – Automated Teller Machine (ATM) Credit Card Readers.
While using an ATM, false parts may have been installed on the machine by criminals making it capable of reading your card and PIN. This may result in the fraudulent use of your card at a later date. Report any suspicious machines to the Police.
Another scam…
You may have lost your purse or wallet containing your bankcard. The con artist will call you claiming to be from the bank asking you to verify your PIN number so they can cancel the card and issue you a new one. Again, armed with your card and now the PIN number, your account could easily be drained. No bank employee or police officer will ever ask you for this number.
Take extra Care …
• Get your bank or credit card back as soon as the transaction is completed.
• Never give out your bank or credit card number over the telephone or over the internet to an unsolicited caller.
• Sign the backs of new cards as soon as you get them. Cut your expired card.
• Never give someone a cheque without filling it out yourself.
• Don’t endorse cheques in advance.
• Report lost / stolen cards or cheques immediately.
• Review your bank statement regularly.
• Cover your PIN when keying it in.

When renting property make it safe for you and your loved ones,read this article to gain helpful knowledge..

Apartment Security
Advice for Families in Rental Housing
Your home is your castle
…or is it? Are you really safe once your get apartment and lock your door? In an open society your apartment should be the sanctuary for you and your family. Your apartment is the only environment where you have control over who can get close to you or your family. Protecting your apartment and family from criminal intrusion should be high on your list of priorities.
Burglary
By far, the most common threat to an apartment unit is burglary. Burglary, by definition, is a non-confrontational crime, but being victimized can leave a family feeling vulnerable and violated. To prevent a burglary, it is important to first gain an understanding of who commits them and why. The majority of apartment burglaries occur during the daytime when most people are away at work or at school. Burglaries also occur at night when there are obvious signs that no one is home. Most apartment burglars are young males looking for things that are small, expensive, and can easily be converted to cash. Items like cash, jewelry, guns, watches, laptop computers, and other small electronic devices are high on the list. Quick cash is needed for living expenses and drugs.
Statistics tell us that more than 30% of all apartment burglars gained access through an open door or window. Ordinary household tools like screwdrivers, channel-lock pliers, small pry bars, and small hammers are most often used by burglars. Although apartment burglaries may seem random in occurrence, they actually involve a selection process.
The burglar’s selection process is simple. Choose an unoccupied apartment with the easiest access, the greatest amount of cover, and with the best escape routes. What follows is a list of suggestions to minimize your risk by making your home unattractive to potential burglars.
Doors and Locks
The first step is to “harden the target” or make your apartment more difficult to enter. Remember the burglar will simply bypass your apartment if it requires too much effort or requires more skill and tools than they possess. Most burglars enter via the front, back, or garage doors. Experienced burglars know that the garage door is usually the weakest followed by the back door. The garage and back doors also provide the most cover. Burglars also know to look inside your car for keys and other valuables so keep it locked, even inside your garage. Apartment managers should use high quality locks on exterior doors that will resist twisting, prying, and lock-picking attempts. A quality Grade-1 or Grade-2 deadbolt lock will have a beveled casing to inhibit the use of channel-lock pliers used for forced entry. A quality door knob-in-lock set will have a ‘dead latch’ mechanism to prevent slipping the lock with a shim or credit card.
• Use a solid core wood or metal door for all entrance points
• Doors should fit tightly into the door frame
• Use a quality, heavy-duty, deadbolt lock with a one-inch throw bolt
• Use a quality, heavy-duty, door knob-in-lock set with a dead-latch mechanism
• Use a heavy-duty strike plate with 3-inch screws to penetrate into a wooden door frame
• Use a wide-angle 160° peephole mounted no higher than 58 inches
Forced Entry
The most common way used to force entry through a door with a wooden frame is simply to kick it open. The weakest point is almost always the strike plate that holds the latch or lock bolt in place. The average door strike plate is secured with only 1/2-inch screws set into the soft doorjamb molding. These lightweight moldings are often tacked on to the door frame and can be torn away with a firm kick. Because of this construction flaw, it makes sense to upgrade to a heavy-duty four-screw strike plate. They are available in most quality hardware stores and home improvement centers and are definitely worth the extra expense. Install this strike plate using 3-inch screws to cut deep into the door frame stud. This one step alone will deter or prevent most through-the-door forced entries. You and your family will sleep safer in the future.
Sliding Glass Doors
Sliding glass doors are usually installed at the rear of an apartment making them good candidates for entry by a burglar. In warm climates, an experienced burglar knows that sliding glass doors are often left standing open for ventilation or for pet access. Since they slide horizontally, it is important to have a secondary blocking device in place to prevent sliding the door fully open from the outside. This can be easily accomplished by inserting a wooden dowel or stick into the track thus preventing or limiting movement. Other blocking devices available are metal fold-down blocking devices called “charley bars” and various track-blockers that can be screwed down.
Sliding glass doors are notorious for failing to prevent a forced entry attempt especially in apartment buildings. This is because of the wear and tear and lack of maintenance they receive and due to the inadequate nature of many of the latching mechanisms. Sliding glass doors don’t have locks on them, only latches. The latches are made of aluminum and can become worn or out of adjustment. The most common methods used to force entry, aside from breaking the glass, is by prying the door near the latch or lifting the door off the track. The blocking devices described above solve half the equation. To prevent lifting, you need to keep the sliding door rollers in good condition and properly adjusted.
You can also install anti-lift devices such as a pin that extends through both the sliding and fixed portion of the door. There are also numerous locking and blocking devices available in any good quality hardware store that will prevent a sliding door from being lifted or forced horizontally. Place highly visible decals on the glass door near the latch mechanism that indicates that an alarm system, a dog, or block watch/operation identification is in place, if applicable. Apartment managers should be careful not to misrepresent that these devices are in place if they are not. Burglars dislike alarm systems and definitely big barking dogs.
• Use a secondary blocking device on all sliding glass doors
• Keep the latch mechanism in good condition and properly adjusted
• Keep sliding door rollers in good condition and properly adjusted
• Use anti-lift devices such as through-the-door pins
• Use highly visible alarm decals, beware of dog decals, or block watch decal, if applicable
Sliding Windows
Windows are left unlocked and open at a much higher rate than doors. An open window, visible from the street or alley, may be the sole reason for an apartment to be selected by a burglar. Ground floor windows are more susceptible to break-ins for obvious reasons. Upper floor windows become attractive if they can be accessed easily from a stairway, tree, fence, or by climbing on balconies. Windows have latches, not locks, and therefore should have secondary blocking devices to prevent sliding them open from the outside. Inexpensive wooden dowels and sticks work well for horizontal sliding windows and through-the-frame pins work well for vertical sliding windows.
For ventilation, block the window open no more than six inches and make sure you can’t reach in from the outside and remove the blocking device. In sleeping rooms, these window blocking devices should be capable of being removed easily from the inside to comply with fire codes. Like sliding glass doors, anti-lift devices are necessary for ground level and accessible aluminum windows that slide horizontally. The least expensive and easiest method is to install screws half-way into the upper track of the movable glass panel to prevent it from being lifted out in the closed position. Place highly visible decals on the glass door near the latch mechanism that indicates that an alarm system, a dog, or block watch/operation identification system is in place, if applicable. Apartment managers should be careful not to misrepresent that these devices are in place if they are not.
• Secure all accessible windows with secondary blocking devices
• Block accessible windows open no more than 6 inches for ventilation
• Use anti-lift devises to prevent window from being lifted out
• Use crime prevention or alarm decals on accessible windows, if applicable
Be a Good Neighbour
Good neighbors should look out for each other. Get to know your neighbors on each side of your apartment and the three directly across from you. Invite them into your apartment, communicate often, and establish trust. Good neighbors will watch out for your apartment and vehicle when you are away, if you ask them. They can report suspicious activity to management, to the police, or to you while you are away. Between them, good neighbours can see to it that normal services continue in your absence by allowing authorized vendors to enter your apartment.
Good neighbors can pick up your mail, newspapers, handbills, and can inspect the inside of your apartment periodically to see that all is well. Allowing a neighbor or management to have a key solves the problem of hiding a key outside the door. Experienced burglars know to look for hidden keys in planter boxes, under doormats, and above the ledge. Requiring a service vendor to contact your neighbor to gain access will send the message that someone is watching. This neighbourhood watch technique sets up what is called ‘territoriality.’ This means that your neighbors will take ownership and responsibility for what occurs in your mini-neighborhood. This concept works great in apartment communities. This practice helps deter burglaries and other crimes in a big way. Of course for this to work, you must reciprocate and offer the same services.
The biggest difficulty getting to this level of oversight is taking the first step. You can take it by calling your local crime prevention unit at the police department. Most police departments in large cities have neighborhood watch coordinators to help you set this up. You should invite your adjacent neighbors over to your home for coffee and begin the information exchange. You’ll be amazed how the process runs on automatic from there.
• Get to know your adjacent apartment neighbors
• Invite them into your home and establish trust
• Agree to watch out for each other
• Do small tasks for each other to improve territoriality
• Return the favor and communicate often
Lighting
Interior lighting is necessary to show signs of occupancy inside a residence at night. Seeing a dark apartment night-after-night sends a message to burglars that you are away. Light-timers are inexpensive and can be found almost everywhere. They should be used on a daily basis, not just when you’re away. In this way you set up a routine that your neighbors can observe and will allow them to become suspicious when your normally lighted apartment becomes dark.
Typically, you want to use light-timers near the front and back windows with the curtains drawn. The pattern of them clicking on and off simulates actual occupancy. It is also comforting not to have to enter a dark residence. Timers can also be used to turn on the television or radio to simulate occupancy during the daytime. After dark, a bright television can be seen flickering through the curtains and gives the feeling that someone is home. Similarly, the radio or television can be heard through the door if turned on loud enough.
Exterior lighting is also very important. It becomes critical if you must park in a common area parking lot or underground garage and need to walk to your front door. The purpose of good lighting is to allow you to see if a threat or suspicious person is lurking in your path. If you can see a potential threat in advance then you at least have the choice and chance to avoid it. Exterior lighting needs to bright enough for you to see 100 feet and it helps if you can identify colors. Good lighting is definitely a deterrent to criminals because they don’t want to be seen or identified. Apartment management needs to have a system in place to periodically inspect and replace lighting outages.
Another important area to be well-lighted is the perimeter of your apartment building especially at the entryway. Common area lighting on apartment properties should also be on a timer or photo-cell to turn on at dusk and turn off at dawn. Exterior lighting at the rear of an apartment are usually do not turn on automatically. They require you to turn on the light inside switch. The resident can choose to turn these lights on or off. A better idea is to install security lights that activate by infra-red motion sensor. They are relatively inexpensive ($25) and can easily replace an exterior porch light or side door light on townhouse style apartments with rear doors. The heat-motion sensor can be adjusted to detect body heat and can be programmed to reset after one minute. These infra-red security lights are suggested for apartments with patios and back doors.
• Use interior light timers to establish a pattern of occupancy
• Use timers to activate the radio or television while away
• Exterior lighting should allow 100 foot visibility
• Use good lighting along the pathway and at your door
• Use light timers or photo-cells to turn on/off lights automatically
• Use infra-red motion sensor lights for the back door of townhouse apartments
Alarm Systems
Alarm systems definitely have a place in an apartment security plan and are effective, if used properly. The reason why alarms systems deter burglaries is because they increase the potential and fear of being captured and arrested by the police. The deterrent value comes from the alarm company lawn sign and from the alarm decals on the windows. Apartment burglars will usually bypass a unit with visible alarm decals and will look for another property without such a decal. Some people, with alarm systems, feel that these signs and decals are unsightly and will not display them. The risk here is that an uninformed burglar might break a window or door and grab a few quick items before the police can respond. Also, don’t write your alarm passcode on or near the alarm keypad.
Alarm systems need to be properly installed and maintained. Alarms systems can monitor for fire as well as burglary for the same price. All systems should have an audible horn or bell to be effective in case someone does break in. However, these audible alarms should be programmed to reset automatically after one minute. The criminal will get the message and will be long gone without your neighbors having to listen to your alarm siren for hours, until it is switched off. If you use a central station to monitor your alarm, make sure your response call list is up to date. Burglar alarms, like car alarms, are generally ignored except for a brief glance. However, if you have established and nurtured your neighborhood watch buddy system, you will experience a genuine concern by your neighbor. It is not unusual to have a neighbor wait for the police, allow them inside for an inspection, and secure the residence. A good neighbor can also call friends or relatives for you, if pre-authorized by you.
• Alarm systems are effective deterrents with visible signage
• Alarm systems to be properly installed, programmed, and maintained
• Alarm systems need to have an audible horn or bell to be effective
• Alarm systems should automatically reset in one minute or less
• Make sure your alarm response call-list is up to date
• Instruct your neighbor how to respond to an alarm bell
Operation Identification
This is a program supported by most police agencies. They recommend that you engrave your drivers’ license number (not social security number) on televisions, stereos, computers, and small electronic appliances. They suggest this so they can identify and locate you if your stolen items are recovered. I suggest that you go way beyond this step.
I recommend that you photograph or videotape your home furnishings, electronic devices, and small appliances and make a list of the make, model, and serial numbers. You should keep this list in a safety deposit box or with a relative or neighbor for safe keeping. Beyond that I recommend that you photocopy important documents and the contents of your wallet annually. You will be thankful that you took these steps in case your home is ever destroyed by fire or flood, is ransacked, or if your wallet is lost or stolen.
• Identify your valuables by engraving your drivers’ license number (not your SSN)
• Photograph, video, or record the description and serial numbers of all valuables
• Photocopy the contents of your wallet annually and other important documents
• Store the copies off-site in a safe deposit box or with a relative or neighbour

Happy May long weekend from everyone at Cedar Publishing :) Don’t drink and drive and stay safe everyone!

Sadly child abuse affects many,on the other end of this scale there is survival which some are not so lucky..read this article to gain knowledge on how to spot warning signs and some tips to help the child out who is in need..

Childhood Abuse Survivors: Self-injury, and Expressing Emotions
Many adult survivors of childhood abuse struggle with self-injury. While most people think of self-injury as cutting, there are many other ways to self-injure, including burning, head-banging, hair-plucking, and
scab-picking, among others. Most adult survivors of childhood abuse also struggle with the inability to express their emotions, which can fuel an abuse survivor’s dependence upon self-injury.

Self-injury as a Coping Tool

Self-injury is nothing more, and nothing less, than a coping tool. While self-injury is not necessarily a safe way to manage emotions, it is very effective. When a person is freefalling into an emotional abyss, self-injuring is an immediate way to stop the freefall. Self-injuring is like flipping a switch that turns off the emotional pain. In the moment, the person who self-injures does not feel any physical pain, only relief from the overpowering emotions.

Repressing Emotions

Adult survivors of childhood abuse often struggle with very intense emotions that are left over from childhood. As children, their abusers told them through their words and actions that expressing emotions was not okay. As a result, the children repressed their emotions, including grief, terror, and rage, and they grew into adults who continued to repress these emotions. Emotions do not just go away with the passage of time: They fester inside of the person and taint every aspect of her life until she learns how to express them.

This is where self-injury enters into the picture. Self-injury is a way to give emotions a voice. While an abuse survivor might not be able to express her rage verbally, she can carve or burn her rage onto her body. An abuse survivor who feels cornered by feeling the need both to express and repress her emotions can bang her head, which expresses her internal conflict and quiets the emotions, at least for a while.

Healing from Self-injury
The first step to healing from self-injury is for the abuse survivor to recognize the action for what it is – a coping tool. Self-injury is functionally no different from having a drink or taking a valium after a bad day of work. As the abuse survivor grows to see the self-injury as a tool, she can separate out her identity from the action. She is a person who cuts to manage emotions; she is not a “cutter.”

The next step is to develop some positive coping tools to use in place of the self-injury. Here are some examples of positive copings tools from which to choose:

• Exercising

• Journaling

• Playing a musical instrument

• Puzzles

• Talking with a friend
• Walking out in nature

• Yoga & meditation

Ease yourself into using some of these positive coping tools so you can build confidence in their ability to help you cope in the moment. The more you lean on other coping tools, the less you will need to rely on self-injury to get through the moment.

The final step is to heal the underlying pain that is driving the need to self-injure. Find a qualified therapist with experience in helping people recover from the issues that are driving your pain. (The self-injury is the symptom, not the cause.) Learn how to express your emotions. Punch pillows to express your anger, and learn how to cry to express your pain. As you give your emotions a voice, you will feel much less internal pressure to self-injure.

Just a heads up on some year round safety tips,if we all follow these,less accidents are likely to occur..

Seasonal Safety Tips
January
Let’s start the New Year off right. Please drive for the weather conditions that are present. Slow down and arrive alive.
February
Clean the snow and ice off your windows and mirrors to enable a clear view in every direction while you drive.
March
There will be melting snow and ice around rivers and lakes beginning this month. Please stay clear of the banks of fast moving rivers and ice surfaces on rivers and lakes.
April
The nice weather will be starting and there will be an increased number of cyclists on city roadways. Please share the roadway and take note of cyclists around you.
May
Make sure you car is in proper repair to start your holiday weekend. Please don’t drink and drive. Kids, make sure you wear you bicycle helmet.
June
School’s out… make sure you are aware of the increased pedestrian and bicycle traffic from youths on city streets and neighbourhoods.
July
Make sure you buckle up and obey the rules of the road. Please remember to use fireworks responsibly this month.
August
It’s hot out there, make sure you lock your vehicles and homes at night to prevent thefts.
September
School’s back in, may sure you stop for school buses and watch out for students walking to and from school.
October
This is month is Halloween. Make sure your kids wear reflective costumes and please be aware of little goblins and ghouls trick or treating in neighbourhoods.
November
As the weather starts to get colder, make sure your car is in good repair and remember that the frosty nights can leave black ice on the roadways for your morning drive to work.
December
It’s the festive season; please don’t drink and drive. Make sure you have made arrangements for safe transportation home.

It’s very important to get the temperature of cooked food just right to avoid food borne illnesses,read this article for some safety tips..

Food Thermometer Food Safety Tips
Preventing food borne illness
What is food borne illness?
Food contaminated by bacteria, viruses and parasites can make you sick. Many people have had food borne illness and not even known it. It’s sometimes called food poisoning, and can feel like the flu. Symptoms may include the following:
• stomach cramps
• nausea
• vomiting
• diarrhea
• fever
Symptoms can start soon after eating contaminated food, but they can hit up to a month or more later. For some people, especially young children, the elderly, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems, food borne illness can be very dangerous.
Public health experts estimate that there are 11 to 13 million cases of food borne illness in Canada every year. Most cases of food borne illness can be prevented by using safe food handling practices and using a food thermometer to check that your food is cooked to a safe internal temperature!

Why should I use a food thermometer?
The answer is simple: for your safety and the safety of those you prepare food for. By cooking food to a safe internal temperature, you can destroy harmful bacteria. Most of us have years of experience in the kitchen, but some of the old methods and myths are not reliable.
Using a food thermometer lets you check the inside temperature of the food to find out if it is cooked to a safe temperature. Help prevent food borne illness by always using a food thermometer.
Myth-Buster #1:
Can I tell if meat is cooked by cutting it open and looking at it?
No, you can’t. The only way to be sure that food is cooked to a safe internal temperature is to use a food thermometer.
Research has shown that the inside colour of a hamburger and its juices are not reliable indicators of how well the burger is cooked. Sometimes previously frozen ground beef turns brown before it reaches a temperature high enough to kill harmful E. coli bacteria.
Foodsafe tip: Check the internal temperature of your hamburger patty and all food made with ground beef, even spaghetti sauce. If it is 71°C (160°F), it’s safe to eat. Remember . . . it’s not done until it’s 71°C (160°F)!
Myth-Buster #2:
Do I have to overcook all my food to make it safe to eat?
Absolutely not! Using a food thermometer can make you a better and safer cook! Cooking your food to a safe internal temperature will kill harmful bacteria. It also helps you cook to just the right temperature to prevent overcooking.
Foodsafe tip: Cooking a chicken? A turkey? For maximum safety, food safety experts recommend cooking the stuffing in a separate dish. Why? It takes longer for both the stuffing and the meat to reach a safe internal temperature, so why not cook un-stuffed and save time? Stuffing and meat must each reach separate safe internal temperatures. See table.
Myth-Buster #3:
Do I have to check the internal temperature of every ground beef patty?
Yes – but it’s easy. Buy an instant-read digital food thermometer. When you think the food is almost done, take it away from the heat using a clean utensil and surface and take the temperature according to the manufacturer’s instructions, typically by inserting the food thermometer into the thickest part of the food. If the burgers aren’t done, cook them longer and check the temperature again.
Foodsafe Tip: Wash the thermometer’s stem and any other utensils you have used with soap and hot water after every use. Why? Because you can also contaminate other foods if you haven’t washed the thermometer after being in contact with raw, undercooked or fully cooked meat juices.
When is my food ready to eat?
Food Temperature
fully cooked and ready-to-eat meats (e.g. ham, roast) 4°C (40°F) cold
60°C (140°F) hot
beef and veal steaks and roasts 63°C (145°F) medium-rare
71°C (160°F) medium
77°C (170°F) well done
pork chops, ribs, roasts; ground beef, ground pork and ground veal, including sausages and other foods made with ground beef/pork/veal, eggs when cooked using a direct heating method (not a microwave) 71°C (160°F)
stuffing (inside a carcass), casseroles, hot dogs, leftovers, egg dishes, ground chicken and ground turkey, including sausages and other foods made with ground chicken/turkey when using a microwave 74°C (165°F)
chicken and turkey breasts, legs, thighs and wings 74°C (165°F)
chicken and turkey, whole bird 85°C (185°F)
The safe cook’s guide to food thermometers
Food safety experts recommend using a food thermometer that gives an actual temperature reading, not just a range. Oven-safe thermometers stay in the food while it cooks. The instant-read type is used when you think the food is done.
Read the manufacturer’s instructions carefully! For most thermometers, simply insert it into the thickest part of the food, away from fat, bone or gristle. Food is ready to eat when it has reached the proper internal temperature. See table.
Digital instant-read thermometers read quickly. The thermometer works well in both thin and thick food – just insert it near the end of cooking time.
Digital instant-read thermometer-fork combinations can also be read quickly. The fork sensor needs to be fully inserted into the thickest part of the food.
Dial oven-safe thermometers are for thicker foods, like roasts and casseroles, not for thin food. They can stay in the food while it’s cooking in the oven or barbecue.
Disposable temperature indicators are for one-time use with specific foods. Temperature-sensitive material changes colour when the proper temperature is reached.

If you have ever wondered about the fire hydrant,read this article to gain some interesting knowledge!

A Brief History of the Hydrant

Firefighting existed before the hydrant and the idea of getting the wet stuff onto the red stuff is very old. The inventor of the first device that we’d recognize today as a fire hydrant can’t be told, because the hydrant was developed over a period of many years by many people. The first hydrants were used for public water supply from the earliest municipal water systems. They resembled faucets and were at best suited for the bucket brigade method of firefighting. Prior to municipal water systems, there were other means to provide water in the event of a fire.
Firefighting cauldrons were placed in strategic locations in ancient China and kept filled with water — at the ready — in the event of a fire.
In colonial America cisterns were used to store water for early fire fighting purposes, and these continued to be used even after the introduction of the hydrant in many cities. Moreover, as late as 1861, Louisville, Kentucky employed 124 cisterns but no fire hydrants. Cisterns are still used today for firefighting.

The Advent of Pressurized Municipal Water Supply

The term “fire plug” dates from the time when water mains were made from hollowed out logs. The fire company (usually volunteers) would head out to the fire, dig up the cobbles down to the main, then bore a hole into the main so that the excavation would fill with water which they could draft using their pumper. When finished fighting the fire, they’d seal the main with — you guessed it — a “fire plug”. The next time there was a fire in the neighborhood, they’d dig up the plug and not have to cut into the main.
Cast iron would come to replace wooden water mains, and when cast iron started becoming popular, branched fittings were placed on the mains at intervals, much like today’s fire hydrants. These were like underground hydrants which could draw water from the water mains in a crude fashion.
The first post or pillar type hydrant is generally credited to the Chief Engineer of the Philadelphia Water Works around the year 1801. It had a combination hose/faucet outlet and was of “wet barrel” design with the valve in the top. It is said that the Chief Engineer held the first patent for a fire hydrant, but this cannot be verified: the patent office burned to the ground in 1836, destroying all the U.S. patent records!

Cast Iron Hydrants Were Also Developed
In 1802, the first order for cast iron hydrants was placed with cannon maker Foxall & Richards. In 1803, the Chief Engineer introduced an improved version of the fire hydrant with the valve in the lower portion. These were inserted into wooden mains with a tapering joint. In 1811, Philadelphia claimed to have 230 wooden hydrant pumps and 185 cast iron fire hydrants.

Regarding the further development of the cast iron hydrant, the R.D. Wood Company’s catalog of 1877, gives this account:
“In 1803 the Chief Engineer designed for the then recently constructed Philadelphia water-works, a stand-pipe intended to remain permanently in position and to be constantly charged with water “.
“This was a most important advance in the design of fire-plugs, since it gave us a hydrant that in mild climates might remain ready for instant use. Its valve was placed at the bottom of the stand-pipe near the level of the top of the main pipe, and it introduced a drip, or waste, that opened by action of a spring as the main valve closed, so that all water remaining above the main valve in the stand-pipe at once drained off, provided the spring was still in order. This model of hydrant, which was admirable in many respects for use in southern cities, was for many years followed generally in the construction of similar apparatus in other of the larger cities. The nozzles of these hydrants were generally placed about two feet above the ground surface, so that they might be above obstructions of mud, snow and ice, and they were generally housed by a covering box of iron or wood, that was removable to afford access to the valve-rod key “.
“…The necessity, on account of above faults in principles of construction, of packing and covering hydrants in winter with manure, tanbark, straw, &c., as practiced in many cities, to lessen the liability of freezing”. Such was the hydrant, varying but slightly as made by different manufacturers, in general use throughout, when the “Mathew’s Hydrant” was first introduced.”

As late as 1869, New York was still installing wooden case hydrants, according to the first annual report of their public waterworks. But by this time the days of the wooden case hydrant were over. Indeed, by 1865, Philadelphia had installed cast iron hydrants that were very similar to today’s models. Many companies were now making cast iron fire hydrants, and hydrants were deployed in major cities and many smaller ones. Europe, too, was installing such hydrants: Zurich, Switzerland had their first hydrant system in place by 1870. In Asia, the City of Yokohama, Japan, installed their first 131 hydrants in 1887.
Three basic types of hydrants were established for connection to the pressurized municipal water supply: the dry barrel, the wet barrel and the below ground or flush type.

The main challenges of hydrant design — anti-freezing, hydraulic efficiency, ease of repair — were all known and dealt with, to varying degrees of success, early on, before 1900. The first steamer or pumper outlet came about around 1860 following the invention of the steam fire engine. Although materials have improved and some of the elements of hydrant design have been refined, the basic form of both the dry barrel and wet barrel hydrants have endured relatively unchanged since the mid 1800s.