Seagrave Apparatus Through 1929

[Box 2565]

Redding, California
1911 Seagrave
Chemical & Hose
#5369
Image from eBay.

[Box 2565]

Lorain, Ohio
1911 Seagrave
Chemical & Hose
#6179
Joe Claus was the driver of this beautiful machine.  The three views give an excellent portrayal of what it was like to drive a fire engine in the old days.  First is the scene that we are most familiar with; a scenic portrait of the new motor machine with the proud crew.  The second photo provides a much better insight into driving conditions in 1911 America.  Mud and more mud clog the roads after every cloud burst.  Considering the number of firefighters on board it is genuinely amazing that the new Seagrave is even moving down the road.  If the mud wasn't bad enough then you can see how much fun it was to be out in the snow.  More than likely the street would not be cleared - you just had to fight your way through all of the white stuff.  Another danger is starting the fire engine.  Here Joe is turning the crank in wintertime Ohio.  Lets hope he made it back to quarters quickly!  My thanks to Ron Claus for sending these outstanding photos.
Photo credit: Claus Family Estate.

[paulromano]

Nice Photos Steve!  The middle photo is used for a colorized postcard on page 1 of this thread.  Nice to see where it came from!

The photo below is a real photo postcard of a year unknown but likely mid-teens Seagrave city service ladder/two tank chemical of the Fleet Wing Hook and Ladder Co. # 3 of the Lambertville, NJ Fire Department. 

They have had some trick apparatus over the years, going back to a green Model A Ahrens-Fox dual dome piston pumper.

[Box 2565]

Nice Photos Steve!  The middle photo is used for a colorized postcard on page 1 of this thread.  Nice to see where it came from!

The photo below is a real photo postcard of a year unknown but likely mid-teens Seagrave city service ladder/two tank chemical of the Fleet Wing Hook and Ladder Co. # 3 of the Lambertville, NJ Fire Department. 

They have had some trick apparatus over the years, going back to a green Model A Ahrens-Fox dual dome piston pumper.

Gorgeous rig!  The Seagrave paint shop log shows this as a 1913 delivery with serial #9289.  This one was painted red.

[Box 2565]

Santa Ana, California
1921 Seagrave
1000 GPM
#28332

[boardmansteve]

Hollis, OK still has this 1928 model - #55290 - that they bought new.  Here are some quick cell phone shots I took of it last week.

It is having an amatuer local restoration done, but at least it's being preserved.  The good part is that there is nothing missing...all of the original mounting brackets, headlights, tools, siren, spotlight, bell, etc., and so forth are in place.  There are at least a dozen of these - Suburbanites as well as the bigger jobs - in Oklahoma fire stations.

[X Chief 1]

For those of you not familiar with old apparatus, you would be amazed at how little difference there is between the 1928 moldel Seagrave of Hollis F. D. and the 1932 model Seagrave we have in our station.  The pump controls are identical, for example.   In those days manufacturers operated under the old standard: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"  They stayed with thing that worked.  It would be interesting if additional information would be provided such as the motor size and make (probably a Hercules straight 6, dual ignition)
and probably a 500 gallon per minute single-stage pump.  It probably had an 80 gallon booster tank - - hope to see more about this
beautiful rig.
X Chief 1