The Horses Start to Disappear

Wednesday, December 3, 2014
Overcast, drizzling, and warm

The Horses Start to Disappear

   With the invention of the internal combustion engine,later followed by the truck and car, the horse  would eventually  diminish as the major mode of work and hauling in the cities and countryside. One example  that best illustrated this was the change from the horse-puiled fire wagon to the motorized "transitional" fire wagon.  Basically, the larger horse-drawn equipment that had been used to fight fires was  somewhat the same. What changed though was the replacement of horses with a motorized truck. This was principally developed by the Christie company.

Please click here to visit this fine American auction company

There were 2 main fire wagons before the transitional motor cabs (trucks) took over. One was the ladder wagon that pulled very long ladders to the fire. The other was the pumper.

Below are  two examples of horse drawn fire ladder wagons. Judging from the relative size of the horses and the men, these ladders must have been approximately 30 feet (9.144 M)

Unlike today's modern fire trucks, the early fire wagons (horse driven and truck cab) were items of beauty. They had nicely crafted designs, and the occasional ornament such as the American eagle that would adorn  the sides of ladder wagons or the top parts of fire water pumpers.  

The water tower below is still titled with the word "transitional". This must have been very hard on horses considering the heavy additional weight needed to be pulled. 

Below are the water pumpers. At the time, these were powered by ironically of all things - fire!

Coal  would be used to heat up the boiler to create pressure, thus allowing the water to be pumped quite a high or far distance .

The Hubley toy below has the front cab that was modelled after the real cab 

made by the Christie Company. Even without horses, these fire engines or wagons were still beautiful to see.

What's noteworthy below is the front metal part attached to the hose.  This is a filter that would be used in the event that the firemen had to input wagger from a local river or lake. You didn't want dirt, weeds, fish or minnows clogging and messing up the pump!

I'm sure when these "transitional" engines first came out, people would have visited the local fire station to check them out.  I'm also sure that many people still liked the horses and might have been sad to see them replaced with these motorized vehicle trucks.

In time, like everything else, people gradually got used to the "newfangled" machines, and the horse I'm quite sure were quite happy to be send to pasture to have a nice rest.

Thank for dropping by, and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com

The Fabulous Pratt & Letchworth Fire Wagons

Monday, September 22, 2014
  Overcast, very windy, unseasonably cold
                         Fall Equinox

The Fabulous Pratt & Letchworth

Fire Wagons

   I like to revisit topics or companies that I have written about to see how I can expand on them in the future. I had been to Liveauctioneers and saw some very nice late 19th century fire wagons. The manufacturer was the company Pratt & Letchworth. In the late 1800's and for the first 15 years of the both century, horse pulled "fire wagons". These were long metal and wooden wagons that had

wooden ladders and fire equipment (e.g. axes), as will as boilers for pumping water. It must have been terrifying for pedestrians to have to get out of the way of these wagons as teams of two or four horses bolted along streets to the fire. 

Please click here to visit this fine American toy auction company

Please click here to visit my original post on Pratt & Letchworth

 Slight variations would be created when selling toys. The two fire wagons with nickel-plated boilers help to illustrate this point.  In this case, the team of horses varied from either a pair of white horses, or a pair of horses, one black and one brown. The colour combinations for the horses collars and reins were also painted in different colour themes.  The firemen in both wagons are also painted differently and have different hats.

Finally, the last wagon below is the massive  wagon or "truck". The rear fireman would turn the large wheel in order to drive the wagon around corners. You wouldn't want to have the rear of the wagon start to tilt to much to the side and turn over.

The driver in the front is missing the reins that would have attached to the horses. THis type of toy is also called a "pull toy". A piece of rope or cord would be attached to the small red loop at the front of the toy with the red  bar at the front, and then "pull along" by children on the street, or the "rare" sidewalk. 

These toys were certainly beautiful at the time and they still are. When you go looking to buy such toys, you have to be careful to make sure that you are buying an authentic antique and not a reproduction.  Many of these have been "reproduced" over the years.

Thanks for dropping by to visit,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com

Time Motorizes On (Time Marches On)

Saturday, August 9, 2014
                 Sunny and hot

Time Motorizes On

(Time Marches On)

   Theres an old expression - "Time Marches On", bit for today, I transformed the expression into 

"Times Motorizes On". With the successful development of Henry Ford's Model "T" assembly line, and fast-moving development off the automobile and the truck, the "writing was on the wall". That expression basically means that you can plainly see how the future will be changing). And so, the master steed who had laboured and toiled for centuries would be given his well-desrved retirement. The truck and engine were to replace the horse.

  Of course, the transition was slow, but in the end, machines would inevitably replace the horse for pulling the big boilers and ladders on a wood-based and wheeled vehicle. Eventually there would even be factories to manufacture an al-n-one fire truck.  

  Initially, the change was slow, and thus old horse-drawn wagons could be adapted with engined trucks. That's how the term "transitional" came into use to describe the newly-modified vehicles.

Please click here to visit this fine American auction company

THe vehicle below is a small one for smaller-sized fires.

You can easily see how the horse drawn pumper above, 

changed into the motorized from cab below.

It must have been very hard for the three horse team to move such a large-sized fire wagon.

I've seen cast iron fire wagons that are even bigger and much longer, and pulled by 6 horses. 

Can you imagine the loud noises that 6 horses and the wagon and bells made as they went form the fire station to the fire!

 Once again, you can see how easily it was for the motorized engine and cab could be adapted to the previous team of horses. I would have hoped that the horses got a well-earned retirement. However, just as the retirement, I'm sure some of the horses missed the action even though the retirement was much easier on them. 

And I'm sure, the firemen, missed their companions as well!

Thanks for dropping by to visit,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com