Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 47.djvu/496

482 With the exception of the buckets made in New York in 1657-'59 by Remout Reinoutzen and Adrian Van Lair, no mention is made of the makers of the different equipments provided. In 1729 Salem again took steps toward protection from fire by ordering buckets, hooks, poles and ladders to be kept in the Town



House, but the records fail to state where and by whom the buckets, etc., were made. It is most probable, however, that the ladders, hooks, poles, and swabs were made by artisans in the different towns, but many of the buckets were undoubtedly manufactured in Europe. Later records are more specific. In 1730, Philadelphia, besides buying some buckets in England, made a bargain with a townsman, Thomas Oldman, for one hundred leather buckets.

New York had no fire engine until 1731, when two were bought of Mr. Newsham, the celebrated London maker. These engines were box affairs, with small wheels and axles solidly set. They could not turn corners, but had to be lifted bodily around. The first engine of home manufacture was built in New York in I 737. In the New York Gazette, of May 9th of that year, the following advertisement appeared:

"A Fire-engine that will deliver two hogsheads of water in a minute, in a continual stream, is to be sold by William Lindsay, the maker thereof. Enquire at Fighting Cocks, next door to the Exchange Coffee-house, New York."

Whether or not this engine was successful is unknown, but it