This is on display at Fort Henry in Kingston. William Perry patented his "Direct Action Fire Engine" in Canada in 1852:
Below, all I can find on the firm, from Montreal in 1856: a sketch for the celebration of the opening of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada:
George was William's father. In the 1860's, he and his father built one of the largest hand pumping fire engines for the City of Toronto. It was worked by 50 men! The pump was the same one that won the medal at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London. In those days, cities had volunteer fire brigades whose members were summoned by the call of a bugle. The men would have to physically push the huge pumps to the fire, using whatever local water sources they could find. If lucky, they might commandeer some horses to help. William, a hydraulic engineer by training, kept on improving his devices and in 1874 received a patent for a "combined chemical and water fire engine" (Pompe a feu hydro-chimique.)
6 comments:
Is there any records / years of when George Perry went to Boston, ma. and work for Hunneman & Co. For a while and then came back to Canada / Montreal Thanks
Sorry, but the only information I have been able to glean is published in the post. Perhaps another visitor will be able to respond to your query.
Ok! What about obituaries for either men. Thanks!
Again, all the info I have is already in the blog post. There ain't no more.
Do you know whether this engine lives at Fort Henry permanently or was it just there for an event or temporary exhibit?
As far as I know, it's there on permanent exhibit. From what I could see, it doesn't attract much interest, other than cigarette butts tossed underneath it. (Smokers who visit the Fort toss their awful butts everywhere!)
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