The Steam Fire Engine and the Old-time Fire Bell

The development of fire-fighting machines cannot be claimed exclusively by recent generations. As early as the reign of the Ptolemies in Egypt, some 200 years before the Christian era, a hand-pump fire engine was constructed which was similar to those later used in the 19th Century. This first known fire engine was described by the Greek writer Heron, who reported that the machine operated through a pump and air-chamber mechanism which forced water out of a spout by means of compressed air. As has frequently happened in the up-and-down course of history, the techniques involved in the manufacture of this early engine were lost.