Fire extinguishers are hand held protection devices that are used to control small fires as well as extinguish them. Ambrose Godfrey a popular chemist invented the first fire extinguisher in 1723 in England. This extinguisher constituted of a liquid that extinguished fire, and a pewter chamber filled with gunpowder. To use this extinguisher the pewter chamber had to be connected with ignited fuses that in turn caused the gunpowder to explode and scatter the fire extinguishing solution thus extinguishing the fire.
However it was the British captain George William Manby who invented the modern day fire extinguisher in the year 1818. Following these inventions, the fire extinguishers underwent a number of changes and modifications over the years. Francois Carlier from France patented the soda acid extinguisher in 1866 and following which Read and Campbell of England invented the cartridge-operated fire extinguisher in 1881 which used water or other water based solutions. The chemical foam fire extinguisher was invented in 1905 by Alexander Laurant from Russia. There were a number of other inventions that followed.
Fire extinguishers are used in buildings and are very often found in cinema halls, municipal buildings, aircrafts, watercrafts, motor vehicles and other places susceptible to fire. These extinguishers need to be maintained well for effective use. They have to be inspected annually and their correct weight and pressure needs to be checked regularly. Over hauling and internal maintenance also needs to be done once in 3 years.
