Invention of Fire Engines. 249 



/pouting engines*. The defcriplion even of the leather pipe, 

 or hofe, is very ftiort and defedive ; probably with a view- 

 to render it difficult to be imitated : it is only laid that it was 

 made in a peculiar maniuer of leather; fo that it was not 

 onlv thick, but could withUand the force of the water f. 



The conveyer or bringcr was invented alfo in Holland 

 about the fame time. This name is given at prefent to a 

 box which has on one fide a fucking pump, and on the other 

 a forcins pump. The fonner ferves to raife the water from 

 a ftreanr, well, or other refervoir, by means of a ftifl' hofe, 

 the extremity of which is furniOied with a metal drainer to 

 prevent dirt from entering it, and which is kept fr.fpended 

 above the mud bv means of a piece of cork. The forcing 

 pump forces the water thus drawn up, through another hofe, 

 into the enjrine, and thus renders unneccihiry the labour of 

 fupplving it with water by means of buckets. 



At firli, indeed, this machine was very fimple. It confifled 

 of a leather hofe fcrewed upon the engine, the end of which 

 widened into a kind of bag fupported near the refervoir, and 

 kept open by means of a frame; and the labourers poured 

 water into it from buckets. The Van der Heides, however, 

 had for this purpofe employed a pump which they called a 

 fn..ke pump, and by which they could raife the water upwards 

 of a thoufand feet. But how it was conltruded i no where 

 find mentioned: from the figure, I ftould almoll conjcfture 

 that they ufed only a cylinder vi'ith a lever. They fometimcs 

 alfo placed a portable pump in the water, and thus raifed 

 water into the annexed hofe, which conveyed it to the en- 

 gine. Every leather pipe employed for cc-nduCtiug water they 

 called a water fnakr; and thefe were not ir.ade, as the hole 

 of the fire engine, of leather, but of fail-cloth : they however 

 fay, that for this purpofe the fail cloth required a peculiar 

 preparation J, which confifted in making it water proof by 

 applying to it a certain kind of cement. The hofe alfo through 

 which the water is conveyed mutt be ftilTened, and diiiended 

 by metal rings ; otherwil'e the external air on the firft ftroke 

 of the pump'woulil comprcfs the hole fo that it could admit 



* Slang-Brand-Spuyten, bcftaande in een geduiiig ftralendc }3r;ind- 

 Spuit, met ctn buygLlijkc Ijuys daar a:\ii, c>ui haar eedaantc ctn Slnng 

 genaamd, die men kan veilanj^en naareylch ende wclgevallen. 



t Paj;c 6. Slang, of Spuit-SIapgcn van leer gemaakt, dat op cen by- 

 zoudcre wyze btreid tn zaanitn gcvoegt word cm dic!fr, btfk-ndig en re- 

 geii'c gcweld van't water btltand te zvn. In the French explanation of 

 (he plates thefe new engines arc tailed pomj'Ci a buyaux. 



X Page 5. Water- blang, zynHe een lange en bniggelyke buis, vai» 

 leker I'oort van dock, hier toe byzondcrlyk btreid, gctnaakc. 



into 



