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Monday 2 February 2015

Fire Extinguisher

The first fire extinguisher was patented in England in 1723 by Ambrose Godfrey, a celebrated chemist at that time. It used gunpowder to release the fire-extinguishing liquid.


German physician Herr Fuchs designed the world’s first household fire extinguisher in 1734. It consisted of glass balls filled with a saline solution which were intended to be thrown on flames.

The modern fire extinguisher, the Extincteur, was invented by British Captain George William Manby in 1818. He developed it after observing firemen struggling to put out a blaze on the top floors of a house fire in Edinburgh. His solution was a portable copper cask containing three gallons of potassium carbonate, which dispersed by compressed air via a stopcock.


The invention of the post- or pillar-type fire hydrant is generally credited to Frederick Graff, Sr., chief engineer of the Philadelphia Water Works around the year 1801. However this cannot be verified as the patent records were destroyed in a fire.

There is a gold fire hydrant in San Francisco that is said to have been the only functioning hydrant and is credited with saving the historic Mission District neighborhood during the 1906 earthquake. It is painted with a fresh coat of gold paint each April 18th.

A fire engine can hold 400 to 500 gallons of water.

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