hed to and
carried on a four-wheeled engine.

In order that the men may work more easily at the handles, and suffer
less fatigue, the engine is not higher than to enable them to have the
levers easily under their command. The shafts of the levers are of
lancewood, being best calculated to bear the strain to which they are
exposed when the engine is at work, and they are made to fold up at
each end for convenience in travelling.

The air-vessel should be placed clear of any other part of the engine,
excepting only the point where it is attached.

The fore-carriage of the engine is fitted with a pole, and is made to
suit the harness of coach-horses, these being, in large towns, more
easily procured than other draught cattle; this can be altered,
however, to suit such harness as can most readily be obtained. Where
horses are seldom used to move the engines, a drag-handle is attached,
by which one or two men are able easily to direct the progress of the
engine.

Two drag-ropes, each twenty-five feet long, of three-inch rope, with
ten loops to each, are attached, one to each end of the splinter-bar,
by means of which the engines are dragged; and to prevent the loops
collapsing on the hand, they are partly lined with sheet-copper.

The whole of the brass work of an engine should be of the best
gun-metal, composed of copper and tin only. Yellow brass should never
be used; even at first it is far inferior to gun-metal, and after
being used for some time it gets brittle. The whole of the materials
used in the construction of a fire-engine should be of the best
description.

In London for some years past a hand-pump has been carried with each
engine. They have been found of the greatest service in keeping doors,
windows, &c., cool. They throw from six to eight gallons per minute,
to a height of from thirty to forty feet, and can be used in any
position. The idea of the hand-pumps I took from the old-fashioned
squirt, or "hand-engine."

When fire-engines are unserviceable it arises more frequently from
want of care in keeping in order than from any damage they may have
received in actual service or by the wearing out of the materials; so
it is quite plain that this important part of the duty has not
generally had that degree of attention paid to it which it deserves.

Although an engine were to be absolutely perfect in its construction,
if carelessly thrown aside after being brought home from a fire, and
allowed to rema