Captain George William Manby FRS was an English author and inventor. He designed an apparatus for saving life from shipwrecks and also the "Pelican Gun", the first modern form of fire extinguisher.
George William Manby, portrait by John Philip Davis
Stipple engraving by T. Blood (1813)
A fire extinguisher is a handheld active fire protection device usually filled with a dry or wet chemical used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergencies. It is not intended for use on an out-of-control fire, such as one which has reached the ceiling, endangers the user, or otherwise requires the equipment, personnel, resources or expertise of a fire brigade. Typically, a fire extinguisher consists of a hand-held cylindrical pressure vessel containing an agent that can be discharged to extinguish a fire. Fire extinguishers manufactured with non-cylindrical pressure vessels also exist but are less common.
A stored-pressure fire extinguisher made by Amerex
Wheeled fire extinguisher and a sign inside a parking lot
Fire extinguishers in a museum storeroom, cut to display their inner workings
A glass grenade-style extinguisher, to be thrown into a fire