Fire Engine, a machine for throwing a stream of water for the purpose of extinguishing fires. The earliest notices of machines used for this purpose are in some allusions of ancient Roman writers to an apparatus, nowhere described, which they called a sipho, and which some now regard rather as the name of the aqueduct pipes for supplying water to houses than as an especial fire-extinguishing machine. That they were very inefficient may be inferred from the remark of Seneca, that owing to the height of the houses in Rome it was impossible to save them when they took fire. Apollodo-rus the architect, perhaps, was the first to suggest the use of a kind of hose, in recommending for the conveyance of water to high places exposed to fiery darts the use of the gut of an ox having a bag filled with water affixed to it; by compressing the bag the water was made to rise in the tube. In early periods of English and French history the chief protection against destructive fires appears to have consisted in the care with which those used for domestic purposes were managed. The curfew bell, or couvrefeu, was sounded at 8 o'clock as a signal for the fires ,to be extinguished.

In Germany fires were of frequent occurrence in the latter part of the 15th century and in the 16th; and ordinances were established regulating the manner of building houses and the methods to be adopted in preventing fires. At Augsburg fire engines, called "instruments for fires" and "water syringes useful at fires," were in use in 1518. The Jesuit Kaspar Schott describes one he saw at Nuremberg in 1657, which much resembled those in use at the present time; and he mentions that 40 years before he had seen a similar engine of smaller size in his native city, Konigshofen. The one at Nuremberg was placed upon a sledge 10 ft. long and 4 ft. broad, which was drawn by two horses. It had a water cistern 8 ft. long, 4 ft. high, and 2 ft. wide. It was moved by 28 men, and forced a stream of water an inch in diameter to the height of 80 ft. The cylinders are described as lying in a horizontal position in a box. No mention is made of an air chamber, nor of anything more than a short flexible discharge pipe, which could be directed to one or the other side.

The oldest record of fire engines in Paris is in the work of Perrault, published in 1684. From this it appears that there was one in the king's library, which, though having but one cylinder, threw out the water in a continuous jet to a great height; a result attained by the use of an air chamber, of which, as introduced into the fire engine, this is the earliest notice. Destructive fires were of frequent occurrence in Paris and in the provinces in the latter part of the 17th century, the work of incendiaries, who were known as boutefeux. In 1699 a special officer was charged with the duty of constructing, keeping in repair, and using at fires the 17 pompes portatives belonging to the royal service, and in 1722 the number of these had increased to 30. There were besides many others not included in this particular service. It is believed that none were provided with air chambers; for in 1725 a paper was published in the Memoircs of the academy of sciences at Paris describing this improvement as adopted in the engines at Strasburg, and in it no intimation is expressed of the same contrivance ever having been introduced in Paris. Leathern hose was invented about the year 1670 in Amsterdam by two Dutchmen named Van der Heyde, and the apparatus was speedily introduced into all the engines of the city.

They also invented the suction pipe. In 1090 the inventors published a folio volume containing engravings, the first seven representing dangerous conflagrations at which the old engines had been used to little purpose; the twelve following represent fires which had been extinguished by the new engines, and the method of working the machines. The details of their construction are not given. The title of the work, which is regarded as exceedingly valuable on account of its excellent engravings, is Beschrijing der nieuwlijks uitgevonden slang-brand-vpuiten.-It was long before the inventions of the Dutch were introduced into England. At the close of the 10th century the only engines there known were "hand squirts," or syringes, made of brass, and holding two or three quarts of water. Some of them are still preserved in the vestry room of St. Dionis Backchurch in Fenchurch street, London. Each one required the labor of three men, one on each side to hold the instrument steady with one hand, and with the other to direct the nozzle, while the third man worked the plunger.When discharged, the piston was taken out and the nozzle was dipped into water, which flowed in and filled the body. They were afterward fitted into a portable cistern, and furnished with levers for working the pistons.

About the close of the 17th century Newsham's improved engine was patented in England. This was a strong cistern of oak, placed upon wheels, furnished with pumps, air chambers, and a suction pipe of strong leather, to prevent its collapsing when the air began to be exhausted from it by the action of the pumps, through which was run a spiral piece of metal. The end for receiving the water was provided with a strainer. In case the suction pipe could not be conveniently used, the water was supplied to the cistern by buckets passed by hand.-Modern engines consist essentially of two vertical double-acting force pumps (see Pump), one under each end of a lever beam (or sometimes four single-acting pumps), to which are attached long brakes for many men to take hold of and work by hand. The pumps discharge into one reservoir, the upper part of which contains air, that acts as a spring to cause the water alternately introduced by each pump to flow in a uniform current through the discharge pipe. This pipe opens in the reservoir below the surface of the water, and leads without to any required distance, according to the number of lengths of leathern hose that may be attached together by the brass couplings with which they are furnished.

The water is discharged through a tapering metallic pipe, upon the end of which is screwed a tip of any required bore, which is held in the hand to direct the stream upon the lire. A suction pipe from the lower end of the force pump is always ready to be used when necessary; but where a stream of water with sufficient head, as from the aqueduct hydrants, can be introduced, the suction pipe is not required. The machine is attached to a carriage constructed expressly for the purpose, and furnished with various implements such as are likely to be wanted in conflagrations. The brakes are long wooden arms extending over the wheels each way beyond the extremities of the engine, or sometimes transversely to the carriage, and attached at right angles to the lever beams, which are arranged along the horizontal axis placed over the centre of the carriage. They are moved up and down by men standing on the ground each side of the engine, working with others who take their position on the top.-The great modern improvement in fire engines is the application of steam power to work them.

This was first attempted by Mr. Brath-waite, in London, in 1830. His first engine was of barely six-horse power, weighing a little over 5,000 lbs., was furnished with an upright boiler, in which steam was generated to a moderate working pressure in 20 minutes, and was capable of forcing about 150 gallons of water per minute from 80 to 90 ft. in height. It had a steam pump of the same form as those now in common use, the steam and water pistons being on opposite ends of the same piston rod, the former being 7 in. in diameter and the latter 6 1/2 in., and the stroke of each 16 in. A larger engine of the same general construetion was built by Brathwaite in 1832 for the king of Prussia; but though its performances were highly spoken of, this attempt to apply the power of steam for fire-engine purposes cannot be said to have been successful. The time required for raising steam, and the great weight of the apparatus when adequate boiler power was obtained, were undoubtedly the principal difficulties. In New York, after the great fire of 1835, premiums were offered for plans of steam fire engines, and in the year 1841 an engine was built, from plans by Mr. Hodges, under a contract with the associated insurance companies, and was on several occasions brought into service at fires with good effect; but though very powerful, its great weight proved to be a fatal objection, and it was at last sold and converted to other uses.

To the city of Cincinnati belongs the credit of giving the first practical demonstration of the feasibility of this application of steam, and of making steam fire engines the basis of a fire department of unequalled efficiency. They are usually drawn by horses, one or two pair being used; but in a few instances steam has been successfully employed to propel them. Such a one, made by the Amoskeag manufacturing company, was brought into use at the engine house No. 20 in New York city in 1873. A view of it is given in the preceding engraving, in which d represents the boiler; a, the air chamber for compressed air; cc, steam cylinders for working the pumps, p p, through eccentrics not shown, moving at the same time the small balance wheel, over the pulley of which is seen a stout chain which passes over a drum on the axle of the drive wheel, h. The suction hose is attached at d, and the discharge hose at f, which is connected with the air chamber. The apparatus for steering is controlled by the capstan, g, placed in front of the driver's seat. This engine weighs about four tons, and is capable of propelling itself at the speed of a rapid trot. It has a capacity for throwing water through a 1 3/4 in. nozzle to a height of 140 ft. and to a horizontal distance of about 250 ft.

Through a 1 1/4-in. nozzle it will throw a stream about 220 ft. vertically and 300 ft. horizontally. The usual working pressure of steam is from 60 to 80 lbs. per square inch, the steam escaping by a safety valve when above the latter pressure.When standing at the engine house the boiler is kept supplied with water and steam from a heater in the basement, at a pressure of about 70 lbs. per square inch. The fireplace is kept charged with kindling wood and other combustibles, which are capable of supplying sufficient heat in one minute after ignition, during which time the water and steam supplied from the heater are capable of giving propelling force.

Self-propelling Steam Fire Engine.