THE FIRST STEAM FIRE ENGINE.

It is commonly believed, and the Columbus, Oh in, Press-Post voices and indorses the belief, that the first steam fire engine dates no farther back than March 10, 1852, when the machine illustrated herewith was built by A. B. Latta, of Cincinnati, to whom (it claims) the citizens of the United States and Europe are indebted for the success of the machine which revolutionised firefighting throughout the world. The purpo of constructing such an engine was to put an end to the brawls that took place at fires. Owing tO the rivalry existing between the large number of men required to handle the apparatus at fires, and to lcssen tin loss of time and. consequently, of resulting from that cause. A. U. Latta then received an appropriation to build a steamer that could raise steam in ve minutes and throw vater viiottgh to put out a tire. The steam cvlinder vas eight inches in diameter, with a twentyh )n r~ inch t roke. lie pun ip was taken ofT a Farnham build of hand-engine, with a diameter of f~ nir iuches and a stroke of twenty-four. `l’he boiler was made of gaspipe bent in coils, one alx)ye the other, starting with three-quarter-inch pip and gradii ally inCrea~iflg to one and me-half inche’. The coils were incased in a sheet iron jacket. This completed the boiler An abandoned hook and ladder was used as the carriage. On In iiig tested at Cincinnati. it threw water in forty-two minutes after the fire was lit. The greatest distance reached was 170 feet. The success of this hastily constructed test-engine prompted the city council to order a complete one. It had two cylinders of ten-inch diameter and twenty-four-inch stroke. This engine was very bulky and weighed ten tons. An engineer, fireman and driver were required to draw it; but, after a sufficient head of steam had been raised to propel it, the animals had nothing to do but to guide it. T he engine was mounted on three wheels, so that it could he turned round inside its own length. T he large tank over the front wheel contained seventy gallons of water, enough to propel the engine for thirty minutes. When it was tested, four lines of hose were laid, 500 feet in length, and the engine threw steady streams over fivestory buildings, a distance of 200 feet. Six streams were played through seven-eighth nozzles to a height of 175 feet. The engine showed that it could climb hills, and a few weeks later did valuable service at a big fire. It was not, however. the first steam fire engine built in the United States. Two makers of such machines certainly preceded Latta. One was Paid Rapsey I lodge, C. E., of New York city, who in 1840-41 constructed a self-propeller, the first ever constructed (for those built in London by Braithwaite and Ericsson in 1829 were not of that type). It was equipped with horizontal cylinders and pumps, a locomotive boiler, somewhat similar to the boiler invented by Edward Bury for locomotives, the slab, or plate framing to which the cylinder and pumps were attached, afterwards used in locomotives, and wrought iron wheels, specially manufactured by the Matteawan company. Its capacity was 6.000 pounds of water per minute, thrown to a height of 120 feet. The surface of the boiler was very large in proportion to its weight—1.600 pounds net. There were two continuous wrought frames on each side of the boiler, to which were attached the two steam cylinders and two double-acting water pumps. 1 he diameter of the cylinders was nine and onehalf inches; the stroke was fourteen inches, the same as that of the pumps, whose diameter was eight and one-quarter inches. The same piston rod worked through both and engines and pumps direct. When the pumping engine was so elevated that the driving wheels served as flywheels. An arrangement for a four, three, two, or one jet was in front of the beamplate. The larger single jet was through a two and one-fourth nozzle; if two were thrown one and one-half inch each; if four, one and one-eighth inch each. At the test the height of the stream thrown was 166 feet—10,824 pounds through a two and one-eighth inch nozzle —a much larger quantity than had been contracted for. The engine drew water through four lengths of suction from a depth of twelve feet. Another self-propelled engine preceding Latta’s, was that designed by W. S. Lay, of Philadelphia, who in 1851 built one with a rotary pump. The propelling power till steam was raised was carbonic acid gas. A fan or blower was to urge the fire, and, when at work, the engine was to be raised off the ground, as in the Hodge engine, so that the driving-wheels should act as flywheels when the engine was pumping. Its capacity was to be 300 or 400 gallons of water per minute. Tt was equipped with a hose reel, steering apparatus, etc., and was estimated to weigh a ton and a half. Chief John J. Waters, of the Newport, Ky.. fire department, has written to FIRE AND WATER ENGINEERING, inclosing a photograph of one engine built in 1865 by Lane & Bodley, of Cincinnati. It was a self-propeller of the same type as that built by A. B. Latta, and was shipped to Memphis, Tenn. It is erroneously claimed as “the first’’ of its kind, as it was easily antedated by those alreadv described.