[ 23^ 1 



XL. On the Ant'iqjtlfy and Invention of Fire Engines, Bjf 

 ProfeJJbr Beckmann. 



Ai 



.N examination of the invention of forcing plirtips I 

 fliall leave to thofe who may be clifpoied to write a hiftory of 

 hych-aulics; I fliall however obferve, that, on the teftimony 

 or Vitruvius *, they are generally afcribcd to Ctefibius; that 

 on this account they are ufually called machine Ctcjihiccc ; and 

 that Ctelibius lived at Alexandria about the time ofPtolemv 

 Philadelphus and Ptolemy Eucro;etes I. ; cotii'equently, about 

 two hundred years before the Chriltian sera. My objeft here 

 is to lav before the reader what information I have been able 

 to colleft rcfpcding the queftion, At what time did thefe ma- 

 chines begin to be employed for extinguiihing fires? 



To render ihcm tit for this purpofe, it was neceflary that 

 fome alteration ihould be made in their conftrurtion, as at 

 iird thev were emplovcd only in the railing of water. To. 

 render thenn fit for exlinguifhino; fires, it was necefliirv that 

 the water Ihould be forced through the upper aperture to as 

 great a height as pofiible ; whereas, for the former purpofe, it 

 is enough if it flows from the upper aperture in fufiicicnt 

 quantity into the rcforvoir, from which it is to be- conveyed 

 to the place of its deltination. In this cafe, the apparatus 

 required for a machine to be ufed as a fire engine would be 

 adefecl; as the power which communicates to the water 

 its velocity might be employed with more advantage to raife 

 a larger (quantity. 



In my opinion^ it is highly probable that Ctefibius had art 

 idea of converting his forcing pump into a fire engine; for 

 his fcholar Hero of Alexandria fpeaks exprefslv of this ap- 

 plication, and defcribes the method of conflrufting a kind 

 of engine with two cylinders f; but it is doubtful whether 



this 



"• Lib. X. c. i:. p. 347. compare alfo lib. ix, c. g. p. 341, 

 f In ihat work ciititled n.£t,attTixa, or Spirilalia. It may be found with 

 a Latia tranQdiion in the Veurum Malhcmaiicortim Oj-evn, Pavifiis, 1693. 

 folio. !n p. it;o, the folio'viiisj pallagc occurs : '0( h <r:4'iVE,-, 01; yrjjxrrdi 

 tK ■tiKii^'rr^r.try.iii^, x«.Taj-/.?i-a.^ovrai cut-xc. Siphoncs, quibiis utuntur ad in~ 

 cendias, lioc modo conitruuntur. The annexed drawing reprtftnts an 

 engine with two cyiindcri. RLfpcfting the otiier editions of this work 

 fee Fubrl'.ii BibL-othccaCr.cra, vol. ii. p. 593, where the Latin rranllaticn 

 which I h:ivc in my pofltirMn is omitted. It is entitled Hcronis Alex- 

 andrini Si'>irilalium Liber. A FiJcrii Cammandiv.o Urbinate fX Graco JUiper 

 in Latiniim coriffrfus. Pniiiiis apud Aeg. Goibinum, 15SV 4to. This 

 edition ends with the words cl magis rontinnata (ror.'vtrfio fiat, wliich iji 

 the Paiia edition Hand in p. 130. It wants alfo the end of the Piiiis edi- 

 tion from the words, SluctunJo animal di-v:.iaiio ;i bibat, to tt tunc oblat-^. 



foe It h 



