Talk:William Fisher (Royal Navy officer)

Fire-Engine Hoses

Captain William Fisher, R.N. about 1827, invented a system of watering ships by using a pump and hoses, replacing the earlier practice of manhandling barrels of water. This system has, ever since, been universally used by fire-engines.

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Naval_Biographical_Dictionary/Fisher,_William

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=faM-AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA41&lpg=RA1-PA41&dq=%22Watering%20of%20Ships%22&source=bl&ots=zMZ5570QSw&sig=q2fLcrtC0NxXGHrZteYaahddREE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjPn-6kg6vZAhUGXMAKHcLGBEYQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q=%22Watering%20of%20Ships%22&f=false

The Annual Register, or, A View of the History, Politics, and Literature of the Year 1827 ..., Volume 46; Volume 69
London : Printed for Baldwin and Cradock ; C. & J. Rivington .{1827, Original page 41)

Captain William Fisher's, R.N. invention for watering ships, does not require that the water casks should be removed from out of the boats, but by means of which they may be filled at the rate of a ton of water in four minutes. According to the Hampshire Telegraph, the apparatus consists simply of a forcing pump, with a five inch cylinder, which may be carried by two men in a hand barrow to a well, river, pond, or any reservoir of fresh water, and the water is then forced through some newly invented hoses to any distance. The chief merit of the plan lies in the hoses, which, are manufactured under Captain Fisher's directions, and, were the result of a long, expensive, and arduous application to the subject. They are made of canvas, in fifty feet lengths, fastened to each other by brass nozzles, which are secured by a moving screw collar; therefore in screwing them together, the hoses need not be turned over. The hoses are made without seams, and are perfectly air and water tight, capable even of holding gas and ardent spirits, and besides being made of canvas, are thoroughly saturated with a composition of which catechu, or common Indian rubber, is the principal or sole ingredient.— They are rolled to the size required over a cylinder, and by a peculiar press and slight heat, are rendered into a compact pliable tube, incapable of injury, not liable to wear, proof against the effect of rot arising from damp, resisting the attacks of all vermin, and requiring no oil nor cleaning. The experiment has been tried at the Dock-yard, and a report of its usefulness has been sent to the Admiralty. These hoses are particularly useful in breweries and mines, and most particularly for fire engines. The invention is secured to Captain Fisher by a patent. 78.147.75.28 (talk) 00:07, 16 February 2018 (UTC) 78.147.39.201 (talk) 18:21, 16 February 2018 (UTC)