Fighting a fire with a water pump and hose, 17th century illustration. This machine, designed to help put out house fires, is illustrated in New invention to lift water higher than its source, with some machinery moving by means of water . This work, a discourse on hydraulics, was originally published in French in 1644 by the landscape architect Isaac de Caus (1590-1648), and was itself based on an earlier work of 1615 by Salomon de Caus, his brother.