AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 127 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON FIRE ENGINE MANHATTAN. 



The special committee, appointed to examine the steam fire engine Manhattan, 

 now on exhibition at the Thirty-first Annual Fair of the American Institute, 

 respectfully report : 



That the said engine originated from the desire of fire company No. 8, of this 

 city, to avail themselves of the known capacities of the steam fire engines, as 

 hitherto constructed, but at the same time to have a machine which should be as 

 readily moved and worked as the ordinary first class hand engines. The Manhat- 

 tan embodies, in an especial manner, as your committee think, the requisites for 

 the service required, viz., lightness, as compared with that of hand engines capable 

 of throwing a stream to an equal distance; the ability to be run rapidly over the 

 irregular pavements of our streets, without deranging the working parts, and by a 

 company of men not greater than is usually attached to a first class hand engine, 

 together with the ability to generate steam enough to maintain the stroke through 

 any desired length of time. To attain these points, many of the ari'angements 

 recognized as absolutely necessary for the successful and economical working of a 

 stationary pumping engine have to be sacrificed, and indeed others adopted, which, 

 at the first glance, appear to be inconsistent with correct principles in mechanics. 

 The present engine was built after the plans and designs of Messrs. Lee & Larned, 

 of this city, who are already known as the builders of some of the most successful 

 of the self-propelling steam fire engines. It has a vertical boiler of the kind known 

 as " annular," a horizontal reciprocating steam cylinder of nine inches bore and 

 eight and a half stroke, without cut-off, which drives a "Gary's rotary pump," 

 having a fly-wheel of small diameter but heavy rim to ensure the passing of the 

 centers. The builders claim that by this arrangement they are enabled to reduce 

 very considerably the weight requii-ed in the use of a reciprocating pump, as well 

 as to dispense with all pump valves, while the packing of the rotary is as easily 

 kept in order as that of a reciprocating piston. Theoretically, the air vessel may 

 also be dispensed with, but a small one is employed, which perhaps steadies the 

 stream a little. At a trial of this engine, on the 28th instant, in presence of your 

 committee, steam was raised to ten pounds per square inch in eight and a half 

 minutes after the fire was lighted, and the engine was then started to play through 

 a one inch nozzle. In ten minutes more, the steam had run up to 140 lbs., and 

 the engine was making 296 revolutions per minute, the stream reaching to the 

 distance horizontally of 261 feet from the pipe. This was kept up as long as was 

 desired by your committee, satisfying them fully of its ability to maintain the 

 same, if requisite, for hours at a time. 



The committee express confidently the opinion that this engine exhibits the best 

 application of steam power to the extinguishing of fires in cities, which has yet 

 been made. It is certainly a very ornamental addition to the fire department of 

 New York, in which it has been successfully used for six months past, and your 

 committee consider that its designers are eminently deserving of the commendation 

 of the American Institute for their taste, ingenuity, and skill. 



Dated New Yokk, October 29, 1859. 



SAMUEL H. MAYNARD, ) 



W. B. LEONARD, } Judgea. 



JAMES RENWICK, ) 



