They were used well into the 20th Century. I vaguely recall seeing a silent movie once – could have been a Buster Keeton classic – which showed one of these with two men either end of a piston boom. It was the precursor for other variants on his fire pump using oscillating pistons to force water out of a container under pressure.

In this series of articles, we present information about the various types of portable fire extinguisher, classes of fire and extinguisher selection.įirewize can assist property owners select, install and maintain portable fire extinguishers for all types of applications and risks.In about 200 BC, the Roman Ctesibius of Alexandria is credited with inventing a hand operated fire pump able to deliver a stream of water to a fire. The vapour and combustion by-products were highly toxic and deaths did occur from using these extinguishers in confined spaces. This extinguisher was suitable for liquid and electrical fires and was popular in motor vehicles for the next 60 years. The CTC vapourised and extinguished the flames by chemical reaction. The pressurized water was forced from the canister through a nozzle or short length of hose.Īround 1912 Pyrene pioneered the carbon tetrachloride or CTC extinguisher, where the liquid was expelled from a brass or chrome container by hand pump, usually of 1 imperial quart (1.1 L) or 1 imperial pint (0.6 L) capacity but also made in up to 2 imperial gallon (9 L) size, onto a fire. Once the acid was mixed with the bicarbonate solution, carbon dioxide gas would be expelled and this would in turn pressurize the water. One means involved the use of a plunger that broke the acid vial, while the second involved the release of a lead bung that held the vial closed. The vial of acid was broken by one of two means depending on the type of extinguisher. Suspended in the cylinder was a vial containing concentrated sulphuric acid. The late 19th century saw the invention of the Soda-Acid extinguisher, where a cylinder contains 1 or 2 gallons of water that had sodium bicarbonate mixed in it. The first version of the modern fire extinguisher was invented in the United Kingdom by Captain George William Manby in 1816, consisting of a copper vessel of 3 gallons (13.6 litres) of pearl ash (potassium carbonate) solution under compressed air pressure.

Pyrene fire extinguisher history