Casgliadau Arlein

Fire Engine A two or more person operated piston pump mounted in a wooden box (body) on wheels. The wheels are wood with iron tyres. The woodwork is painted red and blue and the iron work black. There is a folding iron handle at the front for manouvering the fire engine. The pump is operated by raising and lowering poles, fixed to a rocker arm, on either side of the body. The pump is made of cast iron with brass cylinders and is enclosed by a wooden housing. The front panel of this housing has the letters JW in gold and a crown with a ?pheasants head above it and the back panel has HADLEY SIMPKIN AND LOTT, Long Acre, LONDON in gold painted on it. At both ends of the body are brass couplings for attaching hose pipes. Between the pump and the coupling at the front is a copper air vessel and a length of copper pipe, the joints between the copper and brass parts are secured with large amounts of lead/lead alloy. Hose Pipe The hose is made of a strip of leather folded over on itself and riveted down its length with copper rivets. There are brass couplings at both ends to which the pipe is bound with copper wire. Inside the couplings are leather washers. The label associated with this object in the Material Culture Gallery read: 'MANUAL FIRE ENGINE used from 1786 at Ruthin, Denbighshire, and made by Hadle, Simkin and Lott, Long Acre, London. Richard Newsham of London in 1721 - 5 patented an engine of which this is a development. It has two single-acting pump barrels and a cylindrical air vessel to provide a continuous flow of water. The engine has a suction inlet to which a hose can be fitted; leather hose was patented in 1676. The pumps were worked by men at the long cross handles on either side.' ' DEPOSITED BY: The National Fire Service No.8 (Wales) Region'