H68.262.65B

• california gold rush

Hand pumper model. Description: (in case) Grissiam & Bailey working model of an 1853 hand pumper; wheels wood with polished brass surfaces; water tank wood with floral designs; pumping equipment brass with plastic tubing for both hose, rubber hose connects water tank with brass pumper on top. Restoration not in good condition. In case: leather medallion, heart shaped, 23" silver painted metal numerals on medallion. History: The fire wagon was built in 1853 as a working salesman's sample by the company that built the full size pumper. It was taken from town to town and shown to the city officials from whom orders were taken. This is a very rare item according to the information received with the model. Dimensions: Case: 33" x 12 3/4. 16" high. model approx. 28 long x 7' wide. From the History Information Station: Object:Salesman's working scale model of a side-arm pumping fire engine, ca 1850's History: Before pumpers that were fueled by wood or coal, the pressure needed to pump water on a fire was supplied by human energy. When a side-arm pumper like this one arrived at the scene of the fire, everybody in the neighborhood would be put to work pumping the two side-arms. Twenty or thirty men would be needed to operate the pumper which would pump water out of a nearby cistern or well and force it under pressure through the firemen's hoses onto the fire. Working models were often used by travelling salesmen, called drummers in the nineteenth century, as they moved from town to city, drumming up business for their employers.

Used: fire fighting | Advertising