The Steam FIRE ENGINE
and the old-time fire bell
The steam fire engine on display in Carillon Park represents the third, and perhaps most colorful, phase of man’s long battle against fire. During the time of the bucket brigade, fire-fighting was carried on without the help of machinery. A great step forward occurred with development of hand-operated pumping machines in the early 18th Century. Later, the steam fire engine replaced human muscle in the operation of the pumps. The modern era of fire-fighting began with use of the internal combustion engine for both motive and pumping power.
Various photographs and drawings in this booklet were reproduced through the courtesy of the following: The H. V. Smith Museum of The Home Insurance Company granted permission to reproduce drawings and pictures appearing on Pages [3], [6], [7], [9], [11], [14] and [15]; The Dayton Daily News, the Dayton Journal-Herald and the American-LaFrance-Foamite Corporation also contributed photographs.
The steam fire engine—like the Conestoga wagon, the Concord coach and the canal boat—has faded from the American scene. But as long as man thrills to the battle against fire, as long as he is intrigued by intricate machinery and stirred by bold actions, this wondrous vehicle is not likely to be forgotten.
This booklet summarizes the story of the steam fire engine—its birth amid derision, its growth in utility and popularity, its golden era of service and its final decline in the face of relentless technical progress.
Humor and pathos, heroics and rowdyism, brilliant inventiveness and indomitable Yankee spirit comprise the bright pattern of steam fire engine history. These gaudy machines are perhaps as symbolic of life in America during the latter half of the 19th Century as any other mechanical memento left behind by preceding generations.
England deserves the credit for invention of the steam fire engine, but to America goes the distinction of having perfected it. Nowhere was the steam fire engine more widely used than in the United States, with its preponderance of highly inflammable wooden buildings. Certainly nowhere else were the caretakers of the glittering engines so zealous in exhibiting their machines’ amazing qualities at every opportunity.
Most of those who knew and admired the steam fire engine during its heyday have departed, and few of the machines themselves have escaped the final oblivion of the scrap heap. Those engines that have been preserved, however, attest to the craftsmanship of their makers. In symmetry of design, sound construction and elegant finish they constitute a classic example of fine American manufacture.
The cities and hamlets of America will not witness again the drama of plunging horses speeding to a fire with a heavy, smoke-belching engine clattering behind; the piercing alarm of the steam fire whistle has been stilled. The era to which these things belonged lives now only in memory, pictures and words.
This booklet has been prepared to help recapture for present-day readers at least a segment of that vanished world.