Author: Frederic Morell Holmes

Publisher:

Published: 2015-07-27

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 9781332012824

Excerpt from Firemen and Their Exploits: With Some Account of the Rise and Development of Fire-Brigades, of Various Appliances for Saving Life at Fires and Extinguishing the Flames The present volume, though complete in itself, forms one of a series seeking to describe in a popular and non-technical manner the Triumphs of Engineers. The same style has, therefore, been followed which was adopted in the preceding volumes. The profession of Engineering has exercised great influence on the work of Fire Extinguishment, as on some other things; and the subject is, therefore, not inappropriate to the series of books of which the volume forms part. The story of the Fire-Engine begins in Egypt about a hundred and fifty years before Christ. Hero of Alexandria describes a contrivance called the "siphon used in conflagrations," and some persons are of opinion that he was not unacquainted with the use of the air-chest. But it was not until nearly two thousand years later - that is, about the close of the seventeenth century - that the air-chamber and the hose seem to have been brought into anything like general use, -if, indeed, the use can be called general even then. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.