Did our last blog post about the restoration of our 1899 steam fire engine peak your curiosity about such infernal machines? Well, you are not alone. As we have been getting ready for the museum's annual Steam Show, I have done some research on early steam fire engines. Arguably, steam power was used to pump water before it was used for transportation. In 1698, Thomas Savery invented a pump that used a vacuum created by steam pressure to draw water up a channel. Although inte