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| Born | 28 November 1765 Denver |
| Died | 18 November 1854 | Age 88 Great Yarmouth |
George William Manby 1813
Captain George William Manby was born 28 November 1765 in Denver, Norfolk. In 1813 Manby invented and patented the "Extincteur", the first portable pressurised fire extinguisher.
Design
Manby witnessed firemen struggling to put out a blaze on the top floors of a house fire in Edinburgh.
It consisted of a copper vessel of 3 gallons (13.6 litres) of pearl ash (potassium carbonate) solution contained within compressed air.
Earlier
The first fire extinguisher, of a sort, was patented in 1723 by Ambrose Godfrey from England. His idea was more of a 'sledge hammer' approach.
It consisted of a cask of fire-extinguishing liquid containing a pewter chamber of gunpowder. This was connected with a system of fuses which were ignited, exploding the gunpowder and scattering the solution. The idea of the device was to a limit the extent of the fire.
