A fire extinguisher is a portable device used to put out a small fire by discharging an extinguishing agent, such as water, foam, dry chemical powder or carbon dioxide, under pressure. British Captain George William Manby is credited with patenting an early fire extinguisher in 1818, a copper vessel containing pressurized water that could be carried to a fire and discharged through a nozzle. Later designs added different chemical agents suited to different classes of fire, and the portable fire extinguisher became standard safety equipment in factories, ships, vehicles and buildings.
Facts
Partially Attested
Patent or First-Use DateDate is for one of the first fire extinguisher patents (Alanson Crane, Virginia), not the earliest recorded; a patent of 1723 by Ambrose Godfrey is also recorded and the source dates Manby's demonstration to 1816. SignificanceHandheld device used to extinguish or control small fires in emergencies. 1 FAQs
Who invented the fire extinguisher?
No single inventor: early 1700s explosive-charge devices came first, and George Manby introduced the handheld pressurized design in 1817.
No single person is named as the inventor, because the device grew out of several earlier designs. Britannica traces fire-fighting devices back to antiquity and says that in the early 1700s the English chemist Ambrose Godfrey and a French chemist, C. Hoppfer, independently created devices that used explosive charges to disperse fire-suppressing solutions. It credits the English inventor Captain George Manby with introducing a handheld fire extinguisher in 1817, a three-gallon tank holding a pressurized solution of potassium carbonate, and says modern extinguishers using a variety of chemical solutions are essentially modifications of his design.
Connections
Invented By
Source George William Manby (Wikipedia article)
Sources
1. Fire extinguisher - Wikipedia
Intro, sentence 1
used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergencies
History, Alanson Crane paragraph
One of the first fire extinguisher patents was issued to Alanson Crane of Virginia on Feb. 10, 1863.
History section
The first fire extinguisher of which there is any record was patented in England in 1723 by Ambrose Godfrey, a celebrated chemist at that time.
In Group: Workplace Safety Equipment, Introduction
A fire extinguisher is a handheld active fire protection device filled with extinguishing agents such as dry chemical powder, CO2, water, etc. used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergencies.
View the SourceGeorge William Manby (Wikipedia article)
Invented By: George William Manby, Life-saving inventionQuote, Invented By: George William Manby, Life-saving invention
In 1813, Manby invented the 'Extincteur', the first portable pressurised fire extinguisher.
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