←
Samuel Phillips of Blackfriers Bridge, London, was a renowned maker of fire engines from 1760 – 1797. His fire engines were similar in design to those of Richard Newsham, also from London. Both Phillips and Newsham lived at a time when fires were extremely dangerous, with blazes spreading from house to house and destroying entire towns and cities because of a lack of preparation and preventative measures.
This particular Samuel Phillips engine has twin single-acting pumps that drew water either from the wooden reservoir tank (fueled by a bucket brigade) or from an external supply via a hose connection. Multiple men would work the cross handles, driving the piston and producing pressure to spray water through a gooseneck nozzle attached to the top of the apparatus.
Vintage Vehicle Restoration of Harleysville, Pennsylvania, sold this manual fire engine to the Koorsen Museum, where it joined the collection in August 2020.
