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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The Hon. Elislia Dyer, in a paper devoted to the Providence 

 Fire Department, states that the first successful suction engine 

 made in the United States was manufactured by Sellers & Pen- 

 nock, of Philadelphia, in 1822, for the town of Providence. It was 

 named Hydraulion No. 1. At about this date all the engines of 

 the New York department were provided with suctions. Proba- 



Fig. 5. First Suction Hand Engine. (From a Sketch and Reminiscences of the Provi- 

 dence Fire Department. ) 



bly at that time many of the old engines, in different parts of the 

 country, were changed to suction engines, while the first new one 

 built was Hydraulion No. 1, of Providence. With the introduc- 

 tion of suctions the general efficiency of the engines was greatly 

 increased. Every pond, brook, and bucketless well was at the 

 service of the firemen, and a new impetus was given to the manu- 

 facture of fire apparatus. 



In 1834, Button & Company, of Waterford, New York, 

 entered the field. They continued building hand engines until 

 the introduction of steam, when they followed the example of 

 Hunneman & Company, of Boston, and began the building of 

 steam engines. Their successors lately consolidated with the 

 American Fire Engine Company, who, as the successors of Hun- 

 neman & Company have discontinued the manufacture of fire 

 engines, now form the oldest house of the kind in the country. 

 The Button hand engines are still placed upon the market for 

 the use of small country departments. 



In 1848, William Jeffers, of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in con- 

 nection with two or three other mechanics, altered over the 

 pumps of a hand engine. He met with such good success that 



