Antiquity Of The Pump

Machines for raising water may be said to be as old as civilization itself, and their invention extends so far beyond written history that no one can say when the art of lifting and distributing water began. Egypt, the land of unfathomable antiquity, the oldest civilization of the orient, noted not only for her magnificence and power, but for knowledge, wisdom and engineering skill, understood and made practical use of such important hydraulic devices as the siphon and the syringe, the latter being a remarkable invention and the real parent of the modern pump. Whether or not syringes were ever fitted with inlet and outlet valves, thus making the single action pump, is not known. But bellows consisting of a leather bag set in a frame and worked by the feet, the operator standing with one foot on each bag, expelling the inclosed air, the exhaust bag being then lifted by a strong to refill it with air, implies the use of a valve opening inward, and it is difficult to conceive of a continuous operation without one.