History and Evolution of Fire Fighting

History and Evolution of Fire Fighting

Newsham's Fire Engine—Some Early American Engines—Continued from November 28 Issue

FIG. 6 shows an external view of one of Newsham's engines at the time of his death. The strong iron shaft by which the pistons were raised and depressed was continued along the top of the cistern, and to it the levers were secured as they were in the hand engines manufactured 100 years later. But in addition to the levers, sectors, like those that moved the piston, were also fastened to it—portions of two of these are shown in the cut and there were two others near the up-right case. To their upper parts, two long strips of plank,or treddles, were suspended by short chains, and on these planks, six men who stood upon the cistern and held by the hand rails, alternately threw their weight, first on the treddle on one side of the carriage and then on the other, and thus aided the firemen at the levers in working the engines. The box or trough, with a grate in it, at the end of the cistern, was for the purpose of emptying buckets of water to supply the pump, when the suction pipe shown directly below is not used.