The men are on the watch to see that the retreat is not cut off; a chain attached to the balcony of the drawing-room secures escape in case of need. All the efforts of the firemen are first directed to save life; this being done, furniture is secured; if the danger presses, the furniture is disregarded, however costly; all efforts are made to prevent the fire from extending to the adjoining houses. It is not till the molten lead is pouring down from the roof, and the ceilings are falling, that the men descend by the iron chain. Drenched and nearly exhausted, they are received by the superintendent and two men below, and are sent to change their clothes and get refreshment. At length the fire is subdued; a couple of men are left to watch the ruins, which are next day carefully examined by the superintendent, who is thus able, in many cases, to detect the cause of the fire, and to recover property buried under the ruins. What is remarkable in all these proceedings, is the smallness of the force employed. In a continental city, a regiment of soldiers would probably be employed in putting out a fire and preserving the peace: in London the whole affair is managed by a few policemen, a few firemen, a crowd of willing volunteers, and a multitude of spectators, most of whom would do their best to keep the peace and assist the efforts of the authorities.

(1) Mr. Baddeley remarks, that "the only successful mode of using a fire-engine, is to take the director or branch-pipe into the building, as near as possible to the fire, and be sure that the stream of water strikes directly upon the burning materials. This cannot be too often or too anxiously inculcated on every person using a

We now come to consider the mechanical means which are adopted: first, for the extinction of fires; secondly, for the preservation of life and property during fires; and, thirdly, for the prevention of fires.

The FIRE ENGINE is undoubtedly the most efficient instrument which has hitherto been employed in the extinction of fires. Beckmann in his "History of Inventions," has a learned essay on the origin of this most useful engine. He shows, by quotations from the ancient writers, that the Romans had some contrivance termed sypho, for extinguishing fires, but no description thereof has been given. In the buildingaccounts of the city of Augsburg, bearing date about the year 1518, "instruments for fires," "water syringes, useful at fires," are mentioned. In 1657 Caspar Schott describes a fire-engine at Nuremburg, which appears greatly to have resembled the modern engine. It was drawn by 2 horses on a sledge 10 feet long and 4 feet broad; the water cistern was 8 feet in length, 4 in height, and 2 in width; it was moved by 28 men, and forced a stream of water, an inch in diameter, to the height of 80 feet. Schott does not refer to it as a new invention, but states, that 40 years before, i. e. in 1617, he had seen a similar one, but much smaller, in his native city Königshofen. These engines were, however, very imperfect; "they had neither an air chamber nor buckets, and required a great many men to work them; they consisted merely of a sucking-pump and forcing-pump united, which projected the water only in spirts and with continual interruption. Such machines, on each movement of the lever, experience a stoppage, during which no water is thrown out, and, because the pipe is fixed, it cannot carry water to remote places, though it may reach a fire at no great distance, where there are doors and windows to afford it a passage. At the same time the workmen are exposed to danger from the falling of the houses on fire, and must remove from them to a greater distance. Hautsch, the maker of the above engine, had adapted to it a

mental principle, will, in nine cases out of ten, utterly fail. When the water is thrown into the building hap-hazard from the street, it is impossible to say if any of it touches the parts on fire, or not, unless the flames appear at the windows." In order to economise the water, Mr. Baddeley has invented a spreader to be attached to the jet, the object of which is, to throw the water in such a way that the entire surface of the burning part may be wetted and extinguished, and no more water used than is required.

(2) On the Construction of Fire-Engines and Apparatus; the Training of Firemen, and the Method of Proceeding in cases of Fire," by James Braidwood. Edinburgh, 1830.

was necessary, but certainly not an air-chamber, otherwise Schott would have mentioned it. In the time of Belidor, there were no other engines in France, and the same kind alone were used in England in 1760. Professor Busch at least concludes so, from the account then given by Ferguson, who called Newsham's engine, which threw the water out in a continued stream, a new invention."

time in large cities, when houses were built with abundance of timber, and instead of party walls, mere lath-and-plaster partitions, thus making a whole block of buildings like one house, and entailing the destruction of a whole neighbourhood by fire, instead of the single house in which the fire originated.

The invention of the leathern hose was also a great improvement; by means of this hose, which was capable of being lengthened or shortened at pleasure, water could be supplied to the engine from a distance, thus rendering the laborious conveyance of water by buckets unnecessary; the extremity of this pipe which dipped into the water, was furnished with a metal strainer pierced with holes to prevent the admission of dirt, and kept suspended above the mud by a piece of cork. By means of the hose the fire-pipe also could be properly adjusted. This invention belongs to two Dutchmen, named Van der Heide, who about 1670 were inspectors of the apparatus for extinguishing fires at Amsterdam. In 1690 they published a folio volume containing some valuable engravings, "the first seven of which represent dangerous conflagrations at which the old engines were used, but produced very little effect. One of them is the fire which took place in the Stadthouse of Amsterdam in the year 1652. The 12 following plates represent fires which were extinguished by the new engines, and exhibit at the same time the various ways in which the engines may be employed with advantage. According to an annexed calculation, the city of Amsterdam lost by 10 fires, when the old apparatus was in use, 1,024,130 florins, but in the following 5 years, after the introduction of the new engines, the loss occasioned by 40 fires amounted to only 18,355 florins, so that the yearly saving was 98 per cent."

The English were very slow in availing themselves of the discoveries of the German and Dutch engineers. At the close of the 16th century, hand squirts were in use for extinguishing fires; they were made of brass, of the capacity of from 2 to 4 quarts. A syringe capable of discharging two quarts of water, was about 2 feet long and 1 inch in diameter, that of the nozzle being half an inch. Every syringe required 3 men to work it; one man on each side grasped one of the two handles of the instrument with one hand and the nozzle with the other, while a third man worked the piston or plunger. In filling it the nozzle was immersed in water and the piston drawn out; the bearers then elevated it and directed the nozzle towards the fire, while the third man pushed in the plunger. Several of these instruments are still preserved in the vestry-room of St. Dionis Backchurch in Fenchurch-street, London. They were improved by being fixed in a portable cistern, and furnished with levers for working the piston; but in their best form they were inefficient contrivances, and had very little influence in checking the extensive

The principle of the fire-engine will be understood from the section, Fig. 925, in which H is the pipe or hose, which is extended by means of screw-joints to the plug or cistern, whence the supply of water is obtained. This pipe H communicates with two valves v V, which open into the pump barrels of two forcing-pumps A A, containing solid pistons p p. The piston-rods of these are connected A with a working-beam, so arranged as to be worked by a number of persons on each side. From the sides of the F.g. 925. pump-barrels above the valves v v, proceed force-pipes, which communicate with an air-chamber c by means of valves v' v' opening upwards into it. Through the top of the air-chamber passes a pipe e down nearly to the bottom. To the upper part of this pipe is attached the hose or jet used for directing a stream of water on the fire. This arrangement being understood, the action of the engine will be apparent. By the alternate motion of the pistons p p, water is drawn through the valves v v, and propelled through the forcing-valves v' v'. Or to confine our attention for a moment to one of the pumps: on raising the piston p in the direction of the arrow, the valve v opens, water rushes into the cylinder A by the hose H, following the piston p as high as it ascends. On depressing this piston, the valve v closes, thus preventing the water from returning into H by way of v. As the water must escape somewhere from the downward force of the piston, it acts first upon the point of least resistance, which is the valve v' opening upwards. The water forces this open, and rushes into the air-chamber c. The piston being then at the bottom of the cylinder, again commences its ascent, during which the valve v' closes, the valve v opens, and water rushes into the cylinder as before. It is obvious, that as one piston is ascending while the other is descending, a continuous action is thus kept up, and water is always being forced into the air-chamber through one of the two valves v.' Now it is evident that directly the water rises above the lower mouth of the pipe e, the air in the air-chamber is completely shut in, and just in proportion as the water accumulates, the enclosed air is compressed; the effect of this is, that the air in the air-chamber acts as a spring under constant

compression. Its elastic force being exerted on the surface of the water, forces a column of water into the pipe e, and out through the hose and jet attached to it, with a force depending partly on the degree of condensation, and partly on the elevation of the extremity of the hose above the level of the engine. The pressure of the condensed air has first to support a column of water, whose height is equal to the level of the end of the tube above the level of the water in the air-chamber; and until the pressure of the condensed air exceeds what is necessary for this purpose, no water can spout from the end of the hose; and secondly, the force of the jet will be proportional to the excess of the pressure of the condensed air above the weight of the column of water, whose height is equal to the elevation of the end of the hose above the level of the water in the air-vessel. When the air in the air-chamber is condensed into half its bulk at atmospheric pressure, it will act upon the surface of the water with double the atmospheric pressure; while the water in the force-pipe being subject to only one atmospheric pressure, there will be an unresisted upward force equal to one atmosphere, which sustains the column of water in the tube. Consequently a column will be sustained or projected to the height of about 33 feet. When the air is reduced to one-third of its original bulk, the height of the jet will be 66 feet, and so on according to the proportions shown in the following table :

Fire-engines on the above principle were constructed towards the close of the 17th century in France, Germany, and England. Newsham's engine was patented in England about this time, and continued in use to the year 1832, when the Insurance Offices of London, having combined in forming a general fire-engine establishment, adopted an improved form of engine. Newsham's engine consisted essentially of a strong oak cistern, about three times as long as it was broad, mounted upon four wheels. The pumps and air-vessel were enclosed in a case, from the top of which issued the jet-pipe. The suction-pipe was of strong leather, with a spiral piece of metal running throughout its length to prevent it from collapsing as soon as the air within it became rarefied by the first working of the pump. One extremity of this pipe was screwed to a nozzle at the lower end of the cistern, the other extremity being furnished with a

strainer immersed in the water. In cases where the suction-pipe could not be used, water was poured by means of buckets into a wooden trough furnished with a strainer, from whence it passed into the cistern. A three-way cock, situated beneath the hinder trough, was turned according as the water was drawn through the suction-pipe, or was poured in by hand. The piston-rods were connected by chains to a double sector. There were two chains to each piston, one passing from the top of the sector to the lower end of the piston-rod, the other from the top of the piston-rod to the bottom of the sector; the chains were riveted to the sectors, and attached to the piston-rods by screw-nuts. Long handles connected with the sectors could be worked on each side. With such an engine, the water could be thrown in a continuous jet to the height of 60 or 70 feet, and with sufficient velocity to break windows. The engine was successful on its first introduction; it was purchased by the Government, by the nobility and gentry, by the different parishes, and by the insurance companies founded about this time, viz. the Hand-in-Hand, 1696; the Union, 1714; and the London Assurance Company, 1720.

In 1792 an improvement on Newsham's engine was patented by Mr. C. Simpson. In this engine the valves are contained in separate chambers instead of being placed within the cylinder and air-vessels, so that if a valve should fail, it was only necessary to unscrew and remove the covering-plate, when the valve could be got at without disturbing the other parts; whereas, in Newsham's engine, if one such valve became deranged, the whole engine had to be taken apart. Fig. 926 is a sectional view of one of these engines made by Mr. W. J. Tilley of London, such as is recommended by Mr. Braidwood in his work on Fire-Engines. This engine is furnished with 6-inch barrels, and has a 7-inch stroke. The cistern A is of oak, the upper part B, and the side-boxes or pockets of Baltic fir. The sole, D, upon which the barrels stand, and which also contains the valves, is of cast-iron, with covers of the same material screwed down, and the joints made good with leather. At each end of the sole are brass pieces, E, in one of which is the suction-cock F, and to the other is attached the air-vessel G. This is of sheet copper joined at R, and attached to E by a screw. The exit-pipe n is attached to the under side of E by a swivel screw. The valves I are of brass, and ground truc, so as to be watertight. The barrels K are of cast-brass, and the bushes L of the same material. The engine is set on four grasshopper springs M. The hind axle is kneed at the cistern. The handles, h, of the levers P, are of lancewood. The box s is used for keeping wrenches, cord, &c. It has a false bottom, and the space T below it is used for keeping the materials necessary for a fire-escape, a chain ladder of 80 feet, a large canvas bag, and two strong belts. The hose is kept in the fore part of the cisterna and the box B. The directors and suction-pipes are carried in the side-boxes or pockets. The rest of the tools required are arranged about the engine. There is also a bar for locking

the shafts to prevent them from interfering with the wheels when the engine turns. The director or jet-pipe, Fig. 927, is of copper, with a brass nozzle. The hollow screw at A is made to fit the coupling-joints of the hose. The joint в unscrews at c to allow the jet to be cleaned out. The interior should be polished to diminish the friction, and the orifice protected by being sunk a little within the metal.

The Steam Fire-Engine is an ingenious application by Mr. Braithwaite, of the moving power of steam to the working of fire-engines. The mechanical arrangement consists of two cylinders, the one 7 inches in diameter, which is the steam cylinder, and the other 6 inches in diameter, which is the waterpump. Both cylinders are in a horizontal position, by which means the parallel motion is easily produced. The boiler is on the construction and principle of Braithwaite and Ericson's patent steam generator. This engine will deliver about 9,000 gallons an hour to a height of 90 feet through an adjutage of inch. The time of getting the machine into action from the moment of igniting the fuel is 18 minutes, the water being cold. As soon as an alarm is given, the fire is kindled, and the bellows attached to the engine are worked by hand. By the time the horses are harnessed in, the fuel is thoroughly ignited, and the bellows are then worked by the motion of the wheels of the engine, so that on arriving at the fire, the steam is ready. The expense of fuel is estimated at 6d. per hour.

In 1793, Mr. Joseph Bramah took out a patent for a fire-engine on the vibratory principle. [See PUMP.] This engine was defective in action. It was reproduced by Mr. Rowntree in the modified form, but not very successfully. Mr. John Barton, however, so far improved upon these attempts as to produce a tolerably good working engine, of which a section across one end is represented in Fig. 929. a is the cylinder or working-barrel of brass or iron; 6 is the fan or piston forming a radius of the circle, and composed entirely of metal on the expanding principle, with springs and segments as in Barton's metallic pistons. cccc are 4 valves opening upwards; d is the air-vessel with the exit orifice at its lower part; e is the water

piston 6 being air-tight, tends to produce a vacuum below on that side of the cylinder a where the handle is elevated, and the pressure of the atmosphere causes the water to rush up into this space. During this stroke, the air that occupied the other side of the cylinder has been partly expelled, and this space, on the second stroke being made, is filled with water, while that already on the other side of the piston is forced up into the air-vessel, and thence through the exit-pipes in a continuous jet."

A new form of engine was patented a few years ago, by Mr. White, of Salford. In this engine a