Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 47.djvu/493

Rh change the direction from side to side, the entire machine, wheels and all, had to be moved.

Barring the gut of an ox mentioned at the beginning of this article, hose was not known until 1672. Mr. C. B. Robinson, in an address before the National Association of Fire Engineers, states that fire hose was invented by John and Nicholas Van-der-Heide (spelled by some Heyden) in 1672. These brothers were the inspectors of fire apparatus in the city of Amsterdam, and were probably led to make the invention by their experience in these matters. The hose was made of leather, of sail cloth, or of seamless fabric, in fifty-foot lengths, and coupled together with brass screws. This contradicts the popular impression that canvas hose was an exclusively modern invention. Although the leather hose made at that time was very defective, being sewed like a boot leg, it soon supplanted the sail-cloth and woven hose that became worn out so quickly, and up to a very recent date leather has been the only substance used in making hose.

The early settlers in America paid no attention toward protecting themselves against fire, and the different colonies had grown into fair-sized communities with several industries well established before any steps were taken in that direction. About the earliest mention of a definite method of fire protection was made at Salem, Mass., in 1644, when each inhabitant was ordered to be supplied with a ladder under penalty of a fine of five shillings. These ladders were undoubtedly made in Salem or in the immediate vicinity, and one might rightly say that here began an American industry that is now carried on so extensively in many places and under a multitude of different forms. In 1648 four fire wardens were appointed in New York city. These men passed a law to fine every one whose chimney became foul or whose house was burned by his own carelessness. The money so obtained was to be used in the purchase of ladders, hooks, and buckets. These were not provided, however, until some years later.

Boston also took steps in this direction, and on the first day of the twelfth month of 1653, or, by the modern method of computation, on February 1, 1654, the following entry is found in the town records:

"The select men have power and liberty hereby to agree with Joseph Jynks for Ingins to Carry water in Case of fire, if they see Cause soe to doe." Mr. James R. Newhall, in his history of Lynn, Mass., gives the following facts about this maker of fire engines: Joseph Jenks, or Jynks, came from Hammersmith, England, to Lynn as an operative in the iron works. He soon made himself known to the community and to the country at large by his ingenious inventions. In regard to the order