The Hon. Elisha Dyer, in a paper devoted to the Providence Fire Department, states that the first successful suction engine made in the United States was manufactured by Sellers & Pennock, of Philadelphia, in 1822, for the town of Providence. It was named Hydraulion No. 1. At about this date all the engines of the New York department were provided with suctions. Probably
Fig. 5.—First Suction Hand Engine. (From a Sketch and Reminiscences of the Providence Fire Department.)
at that time many of the old engines, in different parts of the country, were changed to suction engines, while the first new one built was Hydraulion No. 1, of Providence. With the introduction of suctions the general efficiency of the engines was greatly increased. Every pond, brook, and bucketless well was at the service of the firemen, and a new impetus was given to the manufacture of fire apparatus.
In 1834, Button & Company, of Waterford, New York, entered the field. They continued building hand engines until the introduction of steam, when they followed the example of Hunneman & Company, of Boston, and began the building of steam engines. Their successors lately consolidated with the American Fire Engine Company, who, as the successors of Hunneman & Company have discontinued the manufacture of fire engines, now form the oldest house of the kind in the country. The Button hand engines are still placed upon the market for the use of small country departments.
In 1848, William Jeffers, of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in connection with two or three other mechanics, altered over the pumps of a hand engine. He met with such good success that
