- Birdsill Holly
Birdsill Holly (
November 8 ,1820 -April 27 1894 ) was aninventor . Holly was born inAuburn, New York . He spent his early years in Seneca Falls, New York, a major center of water powered industries. His firstpatent ed invention was a rotarywater pump .He left Seneca Falls in 1851 for Lockport, New York, where he established a Holly Manufacturing. Birdsill's factory employed over 500 men. It was one of the largest manufacturing plants in the Northeast at the time. He is known for inventing the
rotary pump anddistrict heating . Birdsill Holly had over a 150 patents when he died second only to Thomas Edison in the U.S. He was also a key person in the invention of the Sybill Steam Engine, which became the first non man powered fire engine.Birdsill Holly passed away April 27, 1894 at 7pm. He had suffered from a long illness and the cause of death was listed as
heart failure . It is saidWho|date=July 2008 that on the day he died, the nearby town ofGasport, New York burned to the ground.Fact|date=July 2008 There were only two cities that didn't incorporate his fire hydrant system in those days.Fact|date=July 2008 One was GasportFact|date=July 2008 and the other wasChicago, Illinois . Major fires occurred in both of these places.Fact|date=July 2008External links
* [http://www.firehydrant.org/pictures/holly.html Holly's patent fire hydrant]
* [http://www.lockportcave.com/lockport_eriecanal_birdsill_holly.html Lockport Cave's bio of Birdsill Holly]
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