Patrick Lyon (blacksmith) Inventions Information

Patrick Lyon (1769, Edinburgh, Scotland – April 15, 1829, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was a Scottish-born American blacksmith, mechanic and inventor. Following his wrongful imprisonment for a 1798 bank robbery, he wrote a narrative describing his mistreatment, won a large legal settlement, and became a working class hero. A self-made businessman, he invented and built hand-pumped fire engines.

Artist John Neagle's portrait of him, Pat Lyon at the Forge (1826–27), is an iconic work in American art.

Lyon and his parents moved to London when he was a child, and he worked in various factories, beginning at about age 10. He emigrated to Philadelphia in November 1793, where he worked as a journeyman, before opening his own business in May 1797.

Prior to 1798, the Bank of Pennsylvania conducted business from an office in Philadelphia's Masonic lodge. Following a robbery attempt at the lodge, the bank signed a lease with Carpenters' Hall, and hired contractor Samuel Robinson to prepare the hall for the bank's operations. Two previous banks had operated out of Carpenters' Hall, while their permanent buildings were under construction. Robinson hired Lyon to create new locks for the vault in the cellar of the hall, and brought the vault's iron doors to Lyon's shop on August 11. Lyon completed his work on August 13, and the doors were reinstalled that day.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania served as the temporary capital of the United States in the 1790s. One fifth of the city's population had died in the 1793 Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic, the disease reappeared in 1797, and was a growing threat in late-August 1798. President John Adams, Congress, and many of the inhabitants abandoned the city. On August 28, Lyon and his 19-year-old assistant Jamie fled Philadelphia by ship to Lewes, Delaware, but Jamie died of yellow fever within two days of their arrival.

On the night of August 31/September 1, while much of the city was deserted, the Bank of Pennsylvania's reserves of $162,821 in cash and Spanish gold were stolen from the vault in Carpenters' Hall. There was no sign of thieves having broken into the building, and Lyon's locks on the iron doors were undamaged. Weeks later, Lyon learned in Delaware that he was the prime suspect in the robbery, and returned to Philadelphia to clear his name. He met with officers of the bank and the mayor of Philadelphia, but they came away suspecting that Lyon had secretly made an extra set of keys to be used in the robbery. In the midst of the worsening yellow fever epidemic, he was arrested without evidence and thrown into Walnut Street Gaol: "Upon the presumption that his locks were so good nobody but himself could open them, he was thrown into prison and there kept for a long time."

The robbery turned out to be an inside job. Isaac Davis, a member of the Carpenters' Company, and Thomas Cunningham, the night watchman at Carpenters' Hall, were the only conspirators. Cunningham died of yellow fever within days of the robbery, and Davis was stupid enough to make major deposits into a number of Philadelphia banks, including the Bank of Pennsylvania, within weeks of the robbery. Davis confessed, and was granted a pardon from Pennsylvania's governor in exchange for returning the bank's money. Davis returned all but $2,000, disappeared from Philadelphia, and never served a day in jail.

Even with Davis's October 1798 confession, Philadelphia's high constable John Haines would not release Lyon, but reduced his bail from $150,000 to $2,000 (still, more than the blacksmith's net worth). A grand jury convened in January 1799 refused to indict Lyon, and he was released.

Lyon wrote a narrative about his imprisonment: The Narrative of Patrick Lyon, who suffered three Months severe Imprisonment in Philadelphia Gaol, on merely a vague Suspicion of being Concerned in the Robbery of the Bank of Pennsylvania: with his Remarks thereon. (1799). In its introduction, he pleaded for equal justice for rich and poor.

An engraved portrait by Philadelphia artist James Akin was the frontispiece of the work, and showed a 30-year-old Lyon in Walnut Street Prison, incongruously dressed as a gentlemen, seated on a Chippendale chair, and holding a technical drawing and calipers.

An 1800 British review of the Narrative was dismissive of Lyon's grammar and writing style, but concluded:

Lyon filed a civil lawsuit for malicious prosecution and false imprisonment against the bank president, the head cashier, a bank board member and high constable Haines. The case went to trial in July 1805. William Rawle, defense attorney for the bank, freely acknowledged that Lyon had been 150 mi (240 km) away at the time of the robbery, in southern Delaware. But Rawle also repeatedly stressed what an "ingenious" man Lyon was, implying that he had been the mastermind behind the crime. The jury didn't buy Rawle's argument, found that the bankers and constable had conspired to act with malice toward Lyon, and awarded him $12,000 in damages. The defendants appealed, but settled out of court with Lyon for $9,000 in March 1807, just as a second trial was about to begin.

"[Patrick Lyon] had a profound effect on the development of fire apparatus in the United States." Other "engine-builders were soon superseded by the famous locksmith, who invented a new and improved fire-engine, which he announced would throw more water than any other, and with a greater force." His design featured a surge tank encased in a square column at the center of the engine, vertical pump cylinders, double decks, and hinged lever bars at the ends. Lyon's patent for an "engine for throwing water" was approved on February 12, 1800. These came to be known as "Philadelphia-style hand pumpers," and he built engines for the Good Will and Philadelphia Fire Companies in 1803.

Philadelphia was one of the first American cities to build a gravity-fed municipal water system. In 1802, Frederick Graff "designed the first post-type hydrants in the shape of a 'T' with a drinking fountain on one side and a 4-1/2-inch water main on the other." Initially, these hydrants were used to fill buckets that were passed by a bucket brigade to fill a fire engine's reservoir. In 1804, Lyon invented the first hose wagon, which transported 600 ft (180 m) of copper-riveted leather hose to the hydrants. Its bed also could be used as an additional reservoir. The use of hoses eliminated the need for bucket brigades, and allowed 11 men to do the work of 100:

Lyon built engines for other Philadelphia fire companies – the Pennsylvania, United States, Hand-in-Hand, Good Intent and Washington companies – as well as for fire companies in cities and towns in Pennsylvania and other states.

Lyon's masterpiece was the 1820 engine Diligent, a double-decker, end-stroke hand pumper built for Philadelphia's Diligent Fire Company, and "one of the most powerful pumpers in the United States." Planks laid over the engine's reservoir created twin upper decks, where eight men pumped (four facing each end), and hinged lever bars that folded down allowed up to sixteen men (eight at each end) to pump from the ground. The fire company was so pleased with the engine that they made Lyon a lifetime member.

In a May 22, 1852 contest of man-versus-steam, the 32-year-old Diligent competed against the new steam-powered pumper Young America, made in Cincinnati and owned by a Baltimore fire company. Before a crowd of some 50,000, at 3rd and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia, Diligent and Young America shot streams of water against or over an early skyscraper, the 129 ft (39 m) Jayne Building.Diligent was triumphant in all three tasks—shooting a single stream of water to a height of 196.5 ft (59.9 m) using a 1-inch nozzle; shooting two simultaneous streams to a height of 155.75 ft (47.47 m) using 3/4-inch nozzles; and shooting four simultaneous streams to a height of 134 ft (41 m) using 1/2-inch nozzles.Diligent remained in service until after the Civil War.

It is estimated that Lyon built about fifty fire engines over the course of his career.

On November 4, 1825, Lyon commissioned painter John Neagle to paint his portrait:

Neagle measured everything in Lyon's shop, including the sitter: "five feet six inches and three quarters in his boots." At Lyon's request, Neagle introduced the Walnut Street Gaol into the portrait:

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