Chap. 8. Large Engine made by Hautsch at Nuremberg, 1656. 323 which is added several curious inventions, peculiarly attributed to England and English men." We shall offer no apology for closing this chapter with the following abstract, although the concluding part only refers to our subject. "Fine Spanish needles were first made in England by a Negro in Cheapside, who refused to communicate his art; but in the eighth year of Queen Elizabeth's reign, Elias Corous, a German, made it known to the English. About the fifth year of Queen Elizabeth, the way of making pins was found out by the English, which before were brought in by strangers to the value of 60,000 pound a year. Watches were the invention of a German, and the invention brought into England Anno 1580. The famous inventers and improvers were Cornelius Van Dreble and Janus Torrianellus. The first clocks were brought into England much about the same time. Chaines for watches are said to be the invention of Mr. Tomackee. The engine for clock wheels is an English invention of about one hundred years standing, as likewise that for the speedy cutting down wheels for watches. Other late inventions there are, to whom as their inventers the English lay claime, as an engine for raising glass, an engine for spinning glass, an engine for cutting tobacco, the rouling press, the art of damasking linnen, and watering of silks, the way of separating gold from silver and brass, boulting mills, making caine chairs, the curious art of colouring and marbling books, making of horn ware, and the engine to extinguish fire, and the like."

CHAPTER VIII.

FIRE-ENGINES continued: Engines by Hautsch-Nuremberg-Fire-engines at Strasbourg and Ypres -Coupling screws-Old engine with air chamber-Canvas and leather hose and Dutch engines-Eugines of Perier and Leopold-Old English engines-Newsham's engines-Modern French engine-Air chambers-Table of the height of jets-Modes of working fire-engines-Engines worked by steam. FIRE ENGINES IN AMERICA: Regulations respecting fires in New Amsterdam-Proclamations of Governor Stuyvesant-Extracts from old minutes of the Common Council-First fire-engines-Philadelphia and New-York engines-Riveted hose-Steam fire-engines now being constructed. Devices to extinguish fire without engines-Water bombs-Protecting buildings from fire-Fire escapes-Couvre feu-curfew bells-Measuring time with candles-Ancient laws respecting fires and incendiaries-The dress in which Roman incendiaries were burnt retained in the auto da fe.

THE fire-engine mentioned in the previous chapter, which Schottus witnessed in operation at Nuremberg in 1656, appears to have been equal to any modern one in the effects ascribed to it, since it forced a column of water, an inch in diameter, to an elevation of eighty feet. One German author says a hundred feet. It was made by John Hautsch, who, like most of the old inventors, endeavored to keep the construction of his machine a secret. He refused to allow Schottus to examine its interior; though the latter it is said readily conceived the arrangement, and from his account it has been supposed the cylinders were placed in a horizontal position. The cistern that contained the pumps was eight feet long, two in breadth, and four deep; it stood on a sled ten feet in length and four in width, and the whole was drawn by two horses. The levers were so arranged that twenty-eight men could be employed in working them. The manufacture of these engines was continued by George Hautsch, the son, who is supposed to have made improvements in them, as some writers ascribe the invention of fire-engines to him.

324

Strasbourg Fire-Engine.

[Book III. In the 16th century no place could have furnished equal facilities with Nuremberg for the fabrication of, and making experiments with, hydraulic machines. It was at that time the Birmingham of Europe. "Nuremberg brass" was celebrated for ages. Its mechanics were so numerous that, for fear of tumults, they were not allowed to assemble in public "except at worship, weddings and funerals." No other place, observes an old writer, had "so great a number of curious workmen in all metals." The Hautschs seem to have been favorites with the genius of invention that presided over the city; an aptitude for and an inclination to pursue mechanical researches were inherited by the family. From a remark of Dr. Agricola of Ratisbon, in his curious work on Gardening, we learn that one of them did not confine himself to devices for throwing streams of water into the air; for he contrived a machine by means of which he intended to raise himself into the upper regions. "What can be more ridiculous [exclaims the author just named] than the art of flying, sailing or swimming in the air? Yet we find there have been some who have practiced it, particularly one Hautsch of Nuremberg, who is much spoken of for his flying engine. In the mean time it is well for the world that these attempts have not succeeded; for how should we seize malefactors? They would fly over the walls of towns like Apelles Vocales, who they tell us saved himself by flying over the walls of Nuremberg, and the print of whose feet is there shown to strangers to this day." The art of flying was a standard subject with Nuremberg mechanics for centuries, and several curious results are recorded, but perhaps nothing more so than the above objection to it.

No. 145. Fire-engine belonging to Strasbourg, A. D. 1739.

For nearly a hundred years after the date of Hautsch's engine those used throughout Europe, with the exception perhaps of a few cities in Germany, were very similar to those described by Belidor, as employed in France in his time. They consisted simply of two pumps placed in a chest or cistern that was moved on wheels or sleds, and sometimes carried by men like the old sedan chair. These engines differed from each other Nos. 145 and only in their dimensions and the modes of working them. 146 will convey a pretty correct idea of them during the early part of the 18th century. The former belonged to Strasbourg, the latter to Ypres.

Chap. 8.]

Fire-Engine at Ypres.

The front part of the cistern in which the pumps are fixed, is separated by a perforated board from the hinder part, into which the water was poured from buckets. The cylinders were four inches in diameter, and the pistons had a stroke of ten inches. Each pump was worked by a sepa rate lever, A A; an injudicious plan, since a very few hands could be employed on each; and as the engine had no air vessel it was necessary, in order to keep up the jet, that the piston should be raised and depressed alternately-a condition not easily performed by individuals unused to the operation, and acting under the excitement of a spreading conflagration. The contrivance for changing the direction of the jet was very defective, and considering the date of this engine it is surprising that such a one was then in use. A short leathern pipe would have been much better. It will be perceived that the jet pipe is connected to the perpendicular or fixed one by a single elbow, instead of a double one, like the ordinary goose-neck. The joints were also made differently. The short elbow piece had a collar or ring round each end, and the jet and perpendicular pipes, where they were united to the elbow, the same. these collars were made smooth, so as to fit close to and at the same time turn on each other: loose flanches on the pipes were bolted to others on the elbow, and thus drew the collars together so as to prevent water from leaking through. Now it will be seen that although the joint which unites the elbow to the perpendicular pipe would allow the jet pipe to be turned in a lateral or horizontal direction, there appears no provision to raise or to lower it, and no apparent use at all for the other joint. We and were at first at a loss to divine how the stream could be directed down as occasions might require, for Belidor has not explained it; but on examining more closely the figure in his work, we found that the jet pipe itself was not straight, but bent near its junction with the elbow: this dissolved the mystery, for it was then obvious that by twisting this pipe round in its joint, its smaller orifice could be inclined up or down at pleasure. This very imperfect device is also shown in the next figure, the jet pipe being curved through its whole length, instead of a single bend as

in the last one.

The faces of

up

No. 146. Fire-engine at Ypres, A. D 1739.

The pumps of this engine are substantially the same as those of the last, but the piston rods are moved by a short vibrating beam placed directly

326

Fire Engine

[Book III. over the cylinders. The axle of the beam is continued through both sides of the wooden case, and to its squared ends two iron rods are fitted, like crank handles on the axles of grindstones. To the lower ends of these rods are attached, by bolts, two horizontal bars of wood, on the outside of which a number of long pins are inserted, as shown in the cut. When the engine was in use men laid hold on these pins, one man to each, and pushed and pulled the bars to and fro, somewhat as in the act of rowing, and thus imparted the requisite movement to the pistons: a mode of working fire-engines that might, we think, be adopted with advantage in modern ones; for the vigorous working of these is so exhausting, that the strongest man can hardly endure it over a minute at a time. The jet pipe of this engine is connected to the other by coupling screws or union joints," the most useful and ingenious device for joining tubes that ever was invented; and one which, from its extensive application in practical hydraulics, in gas and steam works, and also in philosophical apparatus, has become indispensable. We notice it here on account of its having been erroneously attributed to a modern engineer; whereas it was not new when introduced into Ypres fire-engines above a hundred years ago.

66

Two of the greatest improvements ever made in these machines were introduced about the same time, viz: the air chamber and flexible pipes of leather and canvas; upon these principally the efficiency of modern engines depends. By the former the stream ejected from a single pump is rendered continuous; and by the latter, it is no longer necessary to take the engine itself into, or close to, a building on fire; where in most cases it is impossible, from the heat of the flames and from smoke, to use it with effect. The modern author, or rather introducer, of the beautiful device for rendering the broken or interrupted jets of old engines uniform, is not known. In accordance with the customs of the age, he probably kept it secret as long as he could. We suspect that Hautsch's engine was furnished with an air chamber, and that it was on that account chiefly that he was so anxious to prevent its construction from becoming known. Beckman states that Hautsch used a flexible pipe to enable him readily to change the direction of the jet, "but not an air chamber, which Schottus certainly would have described." How Schottus could have done this, when according to Prof. B. himself, Hautsch refused to let him see the interior of the engine, it is difficult to imagine; and unless he had been acquainted with the properties of an air vessel, had the engine even been thrown open to his inspection, he could hardly have comprehended its action, unless explained to him by the manufacturer; at any rate, the secret, if it was in Hantsch's possession, was not long after divulged; for in 1675 an anonymous writer in the Journal des Scavans figured and described an engine with this appendage. The account was the same year translated and published in volume xi of the Philosophical Transactions, p. 679. As this is the earliest notice of the application of an air vessel to pumps in modern times that we have met with, it is entitled to a place here.

"This engine [No. 147] is a chest of copper, pierced with many holes above, and holds within it the body of a pump whose sucker is raised and abased by two levers. These levers having each of them two arms, and each arm being fitted to be laid hold on by both hands of a man. Each lever is pierced in the middle by a mortaise, in which an iron nail [bolt] which passes through the handle [rod] of the sucker, turns when the sucker is raised or lowered. Near the body of the pump there is a copper pot, I, [air vessel] joined to it by the tube G, and having another tube K N L, which in N may be turned every way. To make this engine play, water is poured upon the chest to enter in at the holes that are in the cover

Chap. 8.]

With Air Vessel, A. D. 1675.

327

thereof. The water is drawn in to the body of the pump at the hole F, at the time when the sucker is raised; and when the same is let down, the valve of the same hole shuts, and forces the water to pass through the hole into the tube G of which the valve being lifted up, the water enters into the pot, and filling the bottom it enters through the hole into the tube KNL in such a manner, that when the water is higher than the [orifice of the] tube K, and the hole of the tube G is shut by the valve, the air inclosed in the pot hath no issue, and it comes to pass, that when you continue to make the water enter into the pot by the tube G, which is much thicker [larger] than the aperture of the end L, at which it must issue, it must needs be, that the surplus of the water that enters into the pot, and exceeds that which at the same times issues through the small end of the jet, compresses the air to find place in the pot; which makes that, whilst the sucker is raised again to make new water to enter into the body of the pump, the air which has been compressed in the pot drives the surplus of the water by the force of its spring, meantime that a new compression of the sucker, makes new water to enter and causes also a new compression of the air. And thus the course of the water, which issues by the jet, is always entertained in the same state." The box or chest had two projecting pieces on each side, through which two staves were passed for the convenience of carrying it. This small engine appears to have been in every respect an effective one; the whole of the parts, both of the pump and apparatus for working it, were well adapted to produce the best effect. The goose-neck seems to have been formed of a species of ball and socket joint.

No. 147. View and Section of a Fire engine with Air Vessel. A. D. 1675.

One might suppose that when this account of the construction and effects of air chambers was published to the world, and in the standard journals of France and England, that they would speedily have been adopted in fire-engines throughout Europe. Such, however, was not the fact; on the contrary, they appear to have remained comparatively unknown for nearly fifty years longer; for it was not till the expiration of the first quarter of the 18th century that they began to be much used, and some years more elapsed before they were generally employed. We can only account for this by the limited circulation of the scientific journals named, and their being confined principally to learned men; who then as formerly felt indifferent towards mechanical researches: mechanics in those days were no great readers, and the few who possessed a taste for books were commonly without the means to gratify it. It is, however,