An early device used to squirt water onto a fire was known as a "squirt" or "fire syringe". Hand squirts and hand pumps are noted before Ctesibius of Alexandria invented the first fire pump around the 2nd century B.C., and an example of a force-pump possibly used for a fire-engine is mentioned by Heron of Alexandria. A book of 1655 inventions mentions a steam engine (called a "fire engine") pump used to "raise a column of water ", but there was no mention of whether it was portable.