print;
broadside;
advertisement
- Museum number
- G,10.76
- Title
- Object: The new sucking worm fire engine. | A new draught and description of the fire engine
- Description
-
Design showing the operation of John Lofting's invention of a fire engine which could carry water over distances through long leather pipes, in a variety of scenes annotated with letters, with key below; at centre, a cross-section of a tall building with men fighting the flames at the different levels; two engines manned by several men in the foreground to either side, behind to left, the pipes reaching high enough to carry water over the Royal Exchange and to an adjacent garret window, to right, the pipes reaching over the top of the Monument to commemorate the Great Fire of London, with a team of men extinguishing flames in the surrounding buildings; at bottom, to left, the engine placed in a boat to put out fires on ships; at centre, a fire in a distillery; to right, watering a formal garden; at far right, a medallion portrait of John Lofting.
Etching with letterpress explanation
- Production date
- 1714-1727
- Dimensions
-
Height: 465 millimetres (sheet)
-
Width: 538 millimetres (shhet)
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- For a note on Crowle's extra-illustrated Pennant, see G.1.1.
Lofting's Fire engine was patented in 1691 (information from Dr Margaret J-M Sonmez, April 2015). A date for the print of 1714-27 is given on the basis of the dedication to "George, King of Great Britain".
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1811
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- G,10.76
