Fire Extinguisher History – Find out who invented the fire extinguisher

The portable fire extinguisher is an essential gadget in every workplace these days, especially since governments that recognize their vital role in fire safety have made it illegal not to provide them. Have you ever wondered how long these nifty devices have been around or who invented them?

Who invented the first fire extinguisher?

The answer to this depends on what you mean by a fire extinguisher. The first example of something recognizable as a portable fire-fighting device can be found almost 200 years ago. George Manby made this breakthrough in England in 1813 with what he called an ‘Extinguisher’. It consisted of a copper container that contained three gallons of potassium carbonate solution and compressed air inside. This was the first example of the basic principle behind all fire extinguishers today, where a pressurized gas propels a fire extinguisher out of a container.

However, credit must be given to the chemist Ambrose Godfrey, who devised the first automatic fire-extinguishing device ninety years before Manby’s portable fire extinguisher. The Abrose Godfrey Fire Extinguisher was not designed to be portable, but rather to be left in place in a room for protection should a fire start. It could be seen as a precursor to modern sprinkler systems. Godfrey’s device had a series of fuses, which would ignite if a fire started in the area. These would then detonate a small explosive charge inside a liquid-filled container, which would then spread across the room, extinguishing the flames.

George Manby’s inventiveness did not end with this device, and he created several other inventions that depended on harnessing the power of small explosions. One of the best known was the Manby Mortar, which was used to help salvage ships in distress, by shooting ropes from land towards the stricken ships. His other ideas and inventions included a system for rescuing people who had fallen into the water through the ice and a mechanism for saving people trapped in burning buildings by allowing them to jump to safety. He was also the first person to suggest that there should be a national fire rescue service.

Who invented the sodium acid fire extinguisher

The sodium acid fire extinguisher works by mixing two substances that react to produce carbon dioxide gas, which is then used to propel a liquid from the extinguisher. The first example of a sodium acid fire extinguisher was in 1866 when Francois Carlier patented his in France. In this example, tartaric acid was mixed with a sodium bicarbonate solution to produce the gas.

In the US, the earliest example of a sodium acid fire extinguisher is that patented by Almon M Granger in 1881, who used concentrated sulfuric acid in his version of the fire extinguisher. All sodium acid extinguishers worked on the same basic principle, which was that the acid was contained within a small vial within the apparatus, and one of several systems could be used to release the acid into the sodium solution.

Typically, the trigger to release the acid and mix the chemicals would be a plunger or other device that causes the vial to break, or a lever system to release a stopper from one end of the vial. Either way, once the acid was released, the reaction produced carbon dioxide, which ejected liquid from the apparatus in a stream, which could be directed at the fire via a nozzle or hose.

The first known example of a chemical foam fire extinguisher was that invented in Russia by Alexander Laurant in 1905. The idea was very similar to the principles of the sodium acid extinguisher, but included a foam compound that caused some of the gas to will disperse get trapped in the liquid, producing a foam. Apparently the foam compound was often made from licorice root, and this would be contained in the soda solution. Fire extinguishers were usually activated by turning the apparatus over to mix the chemicals.

Also known as CTC fire extinguishers, the carbon tetrachloride extinguisher was originally invented by the Pyrene company around 1912. The extinguishers propelled liquid CTC onto the fire by means of a hand pump. The CTC evaporated and produced a thick, suffocating blanket over the flames, starving the fire of oxygen and preventing combustion. There was also a ‘bomb’ version of the CTC fire extinguisher in the form of a glass bottle that you threw on the fire.

The effectiveness of the CTC extinguisher on liquid and electrical fires made them very popular with the automotive industry for a long time, although the byproducts of the process could have very serious health consequences, particularly in confined spaces. Therefore, it was later replaced by fire extinguishers that use less toxic chemicals.

That same basic principle invented by George Manby, in which a gas is used to force a combustion arrester out of a container, is still the main mechanism behind all portable fire extinguishers today. Most modern fire extinguishers will work on one of two main systems. The compressed gas will either be stored within the main container itself, known as stored pressure type extinguishers, or in a small cartridge inside, known as gas cartridge type extinguishers.

Stored pressure is the most common type of fire extinguisher, the advantage of gas cartridges is that they are easier to recharge if used often enough. Carbon dioxide fire extinguishers are the only exception to this, as they simply contain liquid carbon dioxide under pressure.

The development and refinement of portable fire extinguishers has come a long way in the last two hundred years. The different types of fires have now been classified, and all modern fire extinguishers are given a rating that shows what types of fires they are safe on and how effective they are. These ratings and classifications are an important advance because tackling a fire with the wrong type of extinguisher can have very serious consequences, such as electrocution caused by using a water extinguisher on an electrical fire.