IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE. FIRE AND GARDEN ENGINES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Burnet Robins, of Harborne, in the County
of Stafford, Actuary, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE.
FIRE AND GARDEN ENGINES."
Sealed the 11th March 1864, and dated the 21st September 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Burnet Robins
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition; on the
21st September 1863.
I, WILLIAM BURNET ROBINS, of Harborne, in the County of Stafford, Actuary,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PORTABLE FIRE AND GARDEN ENGINES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in portable
fire engines, or fire engines which are intended to be kept in houses and other
premises for the purpose of extinguishing fires or subduing fires until further
aid can be procured, which said improvements are also applicable to garden
engines. I will describe my Invention in connection with a fire engine.
I construct the reservoir of the fire engine of a flexible water-tight bag, the
said bag being made by preference of india-rubber cloth. The said reservoir.
is oblong or pear-shaped, and is provided at one end with a handle, by which
it may be drawn about. In order to prevent the tearing of or injury to the
material of which the reservoir is made, when the said reservoir is 'moved, I
secure an external layer of another and stronger fabric on the under side of
the reservoir, which last-mentioned fabric is alone exposed to injury or wear

page_text: by the drawing about of the fire engine. The reservoir may be made
sufficiently large to hold five or six buckets full of water. At the end of the
reservoir opposite to that at which the handle is fixed is a pump of the con-
struction herein-after described, and in the upper side of the reservoir, and
near the end where the pump is fixed, is an opening into which a flexible pipe
or hose may be fixed, by which the reservoir may be filled, or through which
the pump may draw water from a bucket or other vessel, after the water
contained in the reservoir has been exhausted. The pump is not rigidly fixed
to the end of the reservoir, but is capable of being made to slide into and out
of the reservoir through a water-tight stuffing box made at the end of the
reservoir.
pump
The is constructed and works as follows:-The said pump consists
essentially of two hollow cylinders, the larger one constituting the body of the
pump, and the other or smaller one carrying the valve usually carried by the
piston of a pump. To the bottom of the body of the pump, and within the
reservoir a cross piece of wood is fixed; this cross piece is nearly. semi-
cylindrical in figure, the curved side being downwards, and serves as a stop to
prevent the pump from being wholly drawn out of the reservoir, and also as a
support for the foot to hold down the pump during the working of the said
pump, the foot pressing upon the said cross piece through the flexible material
of the reservoir. The bottom valve of the pump may either be fixed in the
said cross piece or in the lower end of the body of the pump. Near the top
of the smaller or piston cylinder of the pump a cross handle is fixed by means
of which both hands may be applied to the working of the pump while it.is
held down by the foot. At the top of the piston cylinder a curved jet is fixed.
By working the cross handle of the pump up and down a stream of water is
delivered from the jet, and may be directed upon the fire to be extinguished.
Instead of making the. jet of water issue from the top of the moveable piston
cylinder it may be made to issue, from a jet fixed on the body of the pump, and
instead of making the pump capable of sliding into the reservoir it may be
made incapable of sliding into the reservoir.
Although I prefer to use a pump of the kind described, yet I do not limit
myself, thereto, as the construction of the pump may be varied without
departing from the nature of my Invention, the essence of my Invention con-
sisting in the combination of a portable flexible bag or reservoir for containing
the water with a pump for delivering and directing the water.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Burnet Robins in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 17th March 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BURNET ROBINS, of Harborne, in the County of Stafford, Actuary, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Burnet Robins, Her special licence that I, the said
William Burnet Robins, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Burnet Robins, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE FIRE AND GARDEN ENGINES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Burnet Robins, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause
the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Burnet Robins, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and. in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in
portable fire engines, or fire engines which are intended to be kept in houses
and other premises for the purpose of extinguishing fires or subduing fires
until further aid can be procured, which-said improvements are also applicable
to garden engines.
I will describe my Invention in connection with a fire engine.
I construct the reservoir of the fire engine of a flexible water-tight bag, the
said bag being made by preference of india-rubber cloth. The said reservoir
is oblong or pear-shaped, and is provided at one end with a handle, by which
it may be drawn about. In order to prevent the tearing of or injury to-the

page_text: material of which the reservoir is made, when the said reservoir is moved, I
secure an external layer of another and stronger fabric on the under side of the
reservoir, which last-mentioned fabric is alone exposed to injury or wear by
the drawing about of the fire engine. The reservoir may be made sufficiently
large to hold five or six buckets full of water. At the end of the reservoir at
which the handle is fixed is a pump of the construction herein-after described,
and in the upper side of the reservoir, and near the end where the pump is
fixed, is an opening into which a flexible pipe or hose may be fixed, by which
the reservoir may be filled, or through which the pump may draw water from
a bucket or other vessel for originally filling or refilling after the water con-
tained in the reservoir has been exhausted. The pump is not rigidly fixed
to the end of the reservoir, but is capable of being made to slide into and out
of the reservoir through a water-tight stuffing box made at the end of the
reservoir. The pump is constructed and works as follows:-The said pump
consists essentially of two hollow cylinders, the larger one constituting the
body of the pump, and the other or smaller one carrying a piston and valve.
To the bottom of the body of the pump and within the reservoir a cross piece
of wood is fixed. This cross piece is nearly semi-cylindrical in figure, tho
curved side being downwards, and serves as a stop to prevent the pump from
being wholly drawn out of the reservoir, and also as a support for the foot
to hold down the pump during the working of the said pump, the foot pressing
upon the said cross piece, through the flexible material of the reservoir. The
bottom valve of the pump may either be fixed in the said cross piece or in the
lower end of the body of the pump. At or near the top of the smaller or
piston cylinder of the pump a cross handle is fixed by means of which both
hands may be applied to the working of the pump while it is held down by
the foot. At the top of the piston cylinder a valve and jet pipe are situated.
By working the cross handle of the pump up and down a stream of water is
delivered from the jet, and may be directed upon the fire to be extinguished.
Instead of making the jet of water issue from the top of the moveable piston
may be made to issue from a jet fixed on the body of the pump, and instead
of making the pump capable of sliding into the reservoir it may be made
incapable of sliding into the reservoir.
it
Although I prefer to use a pump of the kind described, yet I do not limit
myself thereto, as the construction of the pump may be varied without departing
from the nature of my Invention, the essence of my Invention consisting in
the combination of a portable bag or reservoir for containing the water with a
pump for delivering and directing the water.
Having explained the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to describe,

page_text: with reference to the accompanying Drawing, the manner in which the same
is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in front elevation a portable fire or garden engine
constructed according to my Invention; Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical
section of the same; and Figure 3 is an end elevation of the same. In
Figures 1 and 2 the reservoir of the engine is represented in a vertical position,
and in Figure 8 in a horizontal position; the same letters of reference indicate
the same parts in each Figure.
a is the reservoir of the engine, consisting of a flexible water-tight bag, the
said bag being made, by preference, of india-rubber cloth and the bottom of a
double fabric to prevent tearing, as berein-before described. The said reservoir a
may either have the oblong figure represented or it may be of a pear shape,
or of any other convenient figure, and the said reservoir may be made suffi-
ciently large to hold four or six buckets full of water; but I do not limit
myself to any particular size, so long as the reservoir when filled can be con-
veniently removed from place to place by the aid of one or two persons. To
the end piece a³ of the reservoir a a handle 6 is connected in the manner
represented, by which handle the reservoir may be drawn about. At the end
of the reservoir a, where the handle 6 is situated, is a pump c, d, and in the
upper side of the reservoir, and near the pump c, d, is an opening e, into which
opening a flexible pipe or hose f is fixed by screwing, as represented in
Figure 2. By means of the flexible pipe or hose of the reservoir a may be
filled with water, or through the said pipe or hose of the pump c, d, may draw
water from a bucket or other vessel for originally filling or refilling after the
water contained in the reservoir has been exhausted. The pump c, d, is not
rigidly connected to the end of the reservoir, but is capable of being made to
slide into and out of the reservoir through a water-tight stuffing box g made
at the end of the reservoir.
In Figures 1 and 2 the pump is represented wholly within the reservoir,
but in Figure 3 it is represented partly withdrawn from the reservoir. At
the bottom of the pump a cross piece of wood h is fixed; the said cross piece h
serves both as a stop to prevent the pump from being wholly drawn out of
the reservoir, and as a support for the foot to hold down the pump during
the working of the said pump, the foot pressing upon the cross piece h through
the material of the reservoir. The under side of the cross piece / has a
nearly semi-cylindrical figure, as represented in Figure 2. The pump consists
of two hollow cylinders c, d, the outer one c, constituting the body of the
pump, and the inner one, d, the piston rod of the pump; the said cylinders c, d,
are open at bottom, and the space between the inner and outer cylinders is

page_text: closed at top by the screw cap i and washer . The bottom of the piston
cylinder d is provided with a piston or packing k to make it work tightly in
the cylinder c, and in the upper part of the said piston cylinder is a valve d³
opening upwards. The bottom of the outer cylinder c carries the valve
opening upwards. At or near the top of the piston cylinder d is a cross
handle m, by means of which both hands may be applied to the working of
the pump while it is held down by the foot pressing upon the cross piece h.
At the top of the piston cylinder d.is a curved jet n; the said piston cylinder
is capable of rotation in the larger cylinder c, so that the jet n can be placed
in the direction in which the stream of water is required to be projected
without altering the position of the body of the pump, as indicated in dotted
lines in Figure 3. When the engine is to be used for extinguishing fires or
subduing fires, the reservoir a is filled with water through the flexible pipe or
hose fin any convenient manner; the engine is then stored in any convenient
place ready for use. When about to be used, the reservoir may either be laid
flat, and the pump drawn out of the reservoir, as represented in Figure 3, or
the reservoir remaining in its vertical position, the pump may be worked
wholly within the reservoir. In the former case, the foot being placed on the
cross piece h, the cross handle m of the pump is worked up and down, and a
.stream of water is delivered from the jet n, and may be directed upon the fire
to be extinguished. In the latter case, the handle being worked 'as before,
the weight of the water in the reservoir vertically placed holds down the
pump, and a greater readiness of use is attained. When the engine is used
as a garden engine, the jet n may be made smaller, or a rose or sprinkling
tube may be fixed upon the end of the piston cylinder d. Instead of making
the jet of water issue from the top of the piston cylinder d, it may be made to
issue from a jet fixed on the body c of the pump; in this case the bottom of
the piston cylinder d is closed, and valves are placed in the packing k between
the two cylinders. The pump may be fixed rigidly to the reservoir a, so as to
make it incapable of sliding into or being withdrawn from the reservoir, but I
prefer to construct it in the manner already described and represented in the
Drawing.
'I do not limit myself to the construction of the pump described and repre-
sented, as pumps of other constructions may be used with the same or nearly
the same effect.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and represented, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I

page_text: claim, as my Invention, the improvements in portable fire and garden
engines, herein-before described and represented in the accompanying Drawing,
that is to say, combining a portable flexible bag or reservoir for containing the
water with a pump for delivering and directing the water, substantially as herein
described and represented.
of
In witness whereof, I, the said William Burnet Robins, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of March, in the year
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
WILLIAM BURNET ROBINS. (L.s.)
o Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.