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Pumper
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PUMPERS
are the backbone of every fire department. They
supply the water so essential for extinguishing
fires. Pumpers evolved over the years from manpower
to gasoline power and greatly reduced the men
needed with an engine company. It took many
volunteers to pull an apparatus to a fire, and even
more volunteers to pump the water. After the
discovery of oil, gasoline powered both the engine
and pump of the apparatus.
Force
Pump. Houston's first fire apparatus was a
small force pump mounted on a wagon frame in 1847.
It is believed the pump was built by members of
Protection No. 1 bucket brigade.
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The
pump had a suction hose that was dropped
into a cistern. Water from the pump
refilled the leather buckets that were
passed in a line to a fire by the bucket
brigade. The origin of the force pump is
unclear because historic references are in
conflict.
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Most of the
men would dash for the wagon when the fire bell
rang. It was a novelty, and they wanted to be with
the force pump rather than in the bucket line. One
eyewitness said he saw as many as 200 men pushing
and pulling the wagon to a fire.
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Hand
Pumper. The first hand pumper was
a Hunneman hand tub purchased by Liberty
No. 2 in 1852.
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Liberty
was a fire company of local merchants and
professional people, including William
Marsh Rice, benefactor of Rice University.
The Hunneman pump cost $2,000 and was
manufactured by William Hunneman &
Company of Roxbury, Mass. (Hunneman was a
coppersmith who apprenticed at the factory
of Paul Revere.)
Six
to eight men manned the brakes on each
side of the engine, while others formed
the bucket brigade. (Brakes were the pump
handles protruding from an engine that
were rapidly moved up and down to pump the
water.) Water was poured into a
copper-lined tub and drained into two
end-stroke cylinders which forced the
water to a discharge on the side of the
pumper.
Manning
the brakes was a hard task and would
exhaust a firefighter after about 10
minutes of pumping at the normal speed of
60 strokes per minute. Firefighters had to
continually rotate at the brakes
throughout a fire. One reference mentioned
the ladies worked side by side with the
men manning the brakes of the
Hunneman.
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Bolton
Hand Pumper. Stonewall
No. 3 purchased a Bolton hand
pumper in 1873.
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It
was similar in operation to the Hunneman
hand tub pumper. Cost of the pumper is
unknown.
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First
Steamer. The first steamer in the
department was a Silsby steamer in 1866.
It was purchased by Liberty No. 2 for
$4,500.
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Each
engine company had a hose wagon to supply
the hose lines for the steam engines. The
pipemen rode the hose wagon. Only a
driver, stoker (when one was assigned) and
the engineer rode the steamer.
LaFrance
Steamers. After the fire
department went fully paid in 1895, the
department bought LaFrance Metropolitan
steamers. There were eight fire stations
with steamers.
All
steamers were LaFrance Metropolitan
steamers. However, it was later discovered
that two steamers were purchased from
Ahren Fox American Fire Engine
Company.
One
of the steamers went to Fire Station No.
10 in 1908. It was an Ahrens-Fox
Continental steamer, registration No.144,
according to Ed Haas of Elk Grove, CA and
historian of Arhen-Fox apparatus The
steamer was a 1st size Double Crane Neck
Continental, horse drawn, wood wheels. It
had a radial water tube boiler,
two-cylinder piston pump, 900 GPM, 9" x 8"
steam cylinders. Length 14'1" (24'6" with
pole). Height 9'6". 62" track. The steamer
weighed 8,800 pounds and had 2-1/2" Prunty
relief valve.
A
second Ahren-Fox steamer went to Houston
during the same period, according to Ken
Menke, President of the Ahrens-Fox Fire
Engine Co, Webster Groves, MO. It was a
First Size Double Pump, Crane neck pumper.
The registration number was number 2798.
There was no mention of which fire station
got the steamer.
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Pictured
is an Ahrens-Fox steamer similar
to the two steamers mentioned
above. It is on display at the
Fire Museum, 2403 Milam Street.
The trip is worth seeing the fire
apparatus.
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Motorized
Steamers. During the 1910s, the
fire department began to phase out the
horses. Gasoline tractors were purchased
and hooked to the front of a steamer,
replacing the front wheels.
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The
tractors were manufactured by Federal
Company. By 1921, all of the horses had
been replaced.
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Combination
Pumper. Combination pumpers were developed
near the end of the 1920s. A combination pumper
merged a steamer and hose cart into a single unit.
It had a pump, hose (up to 1,500 feet of 2-1/2-inch
hose) and a small tank of water.
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Houston
settled mostly on American LaFrance
combination pumpers. Pictured is a 1923
American LaFrance pumper.
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Seagrave
Pumper. A few Seagrave pumpers
were purchased through the early
years.
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They were
similarly equipped as the American LaFrance
pumpers. Both Seagrave and LaFrance had a
73-horsepower engine and was driven from the
right-hand side They were chain-driven, and had
two-wheel brakes. Both apparatus had one 12-foot
roof ladder, a 20-foot extension ladder and two
3-gallon fire extinguishers.
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1930s
LaFrance. LaFrance improved the
pumper in the following decade.
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The driver
was switched to the left side, the engine was much
more powerful and hydraulics assisted in applying
the brakes. Houston began to replace the older
models with the "modern" American
LaFrance.
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Mack.
The department switched to Mack pumpers in
1939. Mack was a hit with some of the
firefighters. They loved the "bulldog"
Mack.
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Some felt it
was the cream of Fire apparatus. The Mack was more
expensive than the other pumpers.
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More
Macks. More Macks were purchased
as the country entered World War II. The
pumpers had been made for another fire
department that did not accept
delivery.
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Houston
bought the three pumpers. They were unique in
design for department. They had a fully enclosed
cab. A split hose bed provided an isle for
firefighters riding the tailboard to get into the
cab during inclement weather.
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The
new Macks were the high bidder, and an
editor had problems with the purchase. A
letter in 1940 from the fire commissioner
to the editor of the Houston Press
defended the awarding of bids to Mack. The
commissioner had an elaborate layout
detailing the bids. Each bidder was listed
with full specifications and price, which
ranged from $8,000 to $11,000 per pumper.
Mack topped the list in price. Evidently,
the fire commissioner satisfied the
editor, because there was no more mention
in the paper.
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1944
LaFrance. Near the end of the war,
Houston returned to the old familiar
manufacturers. American LaFrance pumpers
(top) were purchased in 1944, and
Seagraves (bottom) were ordered in
1948.
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The semi-cab of the other pumpers was retained in
the new Macks. The enclosed cab was
gone.
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HOUSTON
stuck with three manufacturers for the
purchase of pumpers during the first half
of the twentieth century. All of that
changed during the balance of the century.
A variety of manufacturers were used, but
those pumpers are beyond the era covered
by this chronicle.
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