Richard Newsham (died 1743) was an English inventor. In 1721 he took out a patent on the first American fire engine pump. The engine had two single-acting pumps and an air vessel placed in a tank which formed the frame of the machine. The pumps were worked by two men at the long cross handles. At the front of the engine, protected by a sheet of horn and a door, were directions for keeping the machine in order.[1] The cistern could hold about 170 US gallons (640 L) of water pumping up to 100 US gallons (380 L) a minute.[2] New York City imported its first two fire engines from Newsham in 1731.[3] In 1737 Newsham made a manual fire pump for the Parish of Bray in Berkshire.