Historical Inventions and Innovations
Before the modern fire hydrant, a primitive fire suppression system was to bury a wooden water pipe (often no more than a hollowed out log) along the streets.
In the event of a fire, teams would dig down to the buried wooden water main and auger a hole in the pipe, and out would come the water to fill buckets. Then a bucket brigade would be started to extinguish the fire. When the teams were finished, they would need to hammer a wooden plug into the log to stop the flow of water. Hence the origin of the term “fire plug.”
Read more about this topic: Fire Hydrant
Famous quotes containing the words historical, inventions and/or innovations:
“Some minds are as little logical or argumentative as nature; they can offer no reason or “guess,” but they exhibit the solemn and incontrovertible fact. If a historical question arises, they cause the tombs to be opened. Their silent and practical logic convinces the reason and the understanding at the same time. Of such sort is always the only pertinent question and the only satisfactory reply.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Of all the inventions of man I doubt whether any was more easily accomplished than that of a Heaven.”
—G.C. (Georg Christoph)
“By such innovations are languages enriched, when the words are adopted by the multitude, and naturalized by custom.”
—Miguel De Cervantes (1547–1616)