be manned with two men at each handle. When 

 sufficient rope was let out, the drums would be 

 clamped to the pendulum arm, the ropes running 

 out, one at each end of the engine, and from the bot- 

 tom of the drums alternate pulls would swing the 

 pendulum and operate the pump. In places where 

 there was not sufficient room to run out these long 

 ropes, a single-tree attached to it, with ropes at each 

 end, would give three ropes, with six rows of men to 

 man them. 



On being asked how he expected to take from the 

 crowd men and boys who would make the alternate 

 pulls in harmony, he replied: That was easy. In the 

 first place the members of the company would be 

 trained; besides that, he proposed to have a stand or 

 a seat, alongside of the gallery on which the men 

 stand to manage the branch pipe, for a foreman, 

 leader or conductor in sight of all the men manning 

 the ropes; this leader would wave a conspicuous 

 baton, and at the same time have a ringing call, like 

 the boatswain's call to the men when hauling a line, 

 that would soon bring the alternate pulls in har- 

 mony .... 



My father, who had not the most distant idea that 

 Perkins was in earnest, laughed, and said he had 

 expended much ingenuity, and he would like to 

 know how he expected to hold his engine with all 

 his pulling and tugging? 



Perkins replied: That is provided for by radial 

 bars from each axle, with shoes or scotch blocks that 

 would be dropped, wedging under and securing all 

 the wheels; bfsides this, he should have an extending 

 steel-pointed rod from each corner of the engine 

 against the ground. 



On father bantering him on the waste of thought on 

 such a picture, Mr. Perkins very triumphantly drew 

 from his hat a contract signed between Perkins & 

 Sellers and a newly organized fire company, in which 

 P. & S. agreed to build, within a certain time, a fire 

 engine that would throw more water than the new 

 "Diligent," and so much farther as to completely wet 

 the ground where, on competitive trial, the Diligent's 

 last drop should fall; and on these conditions being 

 complied with the company were to take the engine, 

 paying a certain price. 



This put a serious face on the matter, and decided 

 father to retire, which he had a right to do at the 

 expiration of a year, or sooner, on finding an acceptable 

 person to take his place. Dr. Jones was such, but he 

 could not take hold before the expiration of the year, 

 and before that time the great engine was completed. 



Its high-arched gallery and uncouth shape had, 

 among the boys, got it the nickname of the "hunch- 

 back," that soon settled to the "Perkins Dromedary." 

 When everything was ready for the trial, Perkins, 

 baton in hand, mounted his perch. The ropes were 

 drawn taut, and the signal given; a few slow pulls 

 followed the motion of the baton, when the pressure 

 of the escaping water at the nozzle began to be felt. 



The fun grew fast and furious; the men and boys, 

 shouting, tugged at the ropes; the engine reared and 

 jumped about; the men at the branch pipe fell on 

 their knees, grasping the sides of the gallery; Perkins 

 shouted and screamed to the men to stop; but he was 

 neither heard nor heeded. In less time than it takes 

 to tell it he was thrown from his perch and badly 

 bruised; but he was a man of indomitable will and 

 perseverance, and would never acknowledge defeat. 

 He said that on that day week he would have another 

 trial; that by that time everything would work right. 



He had already conceived the changes he would 

 make. He would attach a square pole a little longer 

 than the engine body at its center to the lower end 

 of his bell crank pendulum. He would make arrange- 

 ments to carry on the engine eight poles, each twelve 

 feet long; these he would connect by socket and key, 

 four at each end of the engine; these, with his cross- 

 handles, he could man with ioo men. Each pole was 

 provided with a pair of spreading steel-pointed sup- 

 porting legs, jointed to the pole, the motion to be like 

 a standing rower. By this arrangement the men 

 would be compelled to work in concert, the same as 

 with common levers. The advantage over the ropes 

 would be that every man could exert some power to 

 push as well as pull. 



The changes were made; the day of trial came; a 

 great crowd collected to witness it; a few swings of the 

 poles and pendulum and a solid stream of water came 

 from the nozzle, looking like a stick of black glass, 

 without any of the ordinary crackling noise, and the 

 ground was thoroughly wet fully 20 feet beyond any 

 previous record from the same size nozzle. 



Perkins was almost beside himself; urged the men 

 who partook of his enthusiasm, and they thrust and 

 pulled with all their power, lengthening their stroke 

 until the engine jumped its chocks and was jerked back 

 and forth so furiously that the two men at the branch 

 pipe lost their hold, which, by the force of the stream 

 and bend of the goose neck, went flying around, 

 deluging with water the crowd of lookers on. 



In the excitement of the men at the pole one end of 

 it was jerked up, and with it the rocking supporting 



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