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What is a
Handtub?
Fire was a constant threat in colonial America
and fire protection was an important community
responsibility. While bucket brigades provided an adequate
water supply to fight fires, their effectiveness was limited
by the distance a bucket of water could be tossed. Early
fire engines (or enjines as they were often called) were
designed as a means to spray the water onto the fire with
more force and accuracy, yet they had no means of drafting
or sucking water. Bucket brigades would continuously supply
the engine's “tub” (water reservoir), while a
simple hand-operated piston pump would be used to force it
out through a nozzle and on to the fire.
These primitive hand-operated firefighting tubs --
handtubs -- evolved over the next hundred years. By the mid
1800s, most fire engines had the capability to draft water
from nearby rivers or ponds, thus making the need to fill a
tub with water obsolete, but the name “handtub”
stuck.
Working the "Brakes" -- How Handtubs
Operate
Hand-pumped fire engines have long bars running
parallel to the body which operated the pump. Theses bars
(called brakes or pumping arms) when pushed up and down
operated a set of pistons in the engine which alternately
suck water out of the tub, and force it into a pressure
chamber. The air trapped in this chamber creates a constant
pressure, and evens out the "spurts" as the water sprays out
of the hose. A full up and down motion of the brakes is
called a stroke. These engines were normally operated at
more than 60 strokes per minute. At this rate a man could
only last "working on the brakes" for a few minutes.
Types of Hand Operated Fire
Engines
Crane Necks, Double-Deckers, Piano-Boxes,
Sidewinders, Coffee Grinders, Man-Killers, New York and
Philadelphia Styles -- hand-operated fire engines come in
many shapes, sizes, and styles. Two distinct styles of hand
pumper designs emerged. One developed and favored in New
York City, had a flat box with the air chamber at one end
and the brakes running horizontal to the sides of the
engine. The other developed and favored in Philadelphia was
a bit larger and had the air chamber in the middle of the
engine and the brakes parallel to each end. The Philadelphia
truck was a bit larger and had two "decks" with which to
operate each set of brakes, one group of members would stand
on the ground, the other on a platform on the engine.
What some engines lost in power they gained in speed and
maneuverability. Many New England communities favored
end-stroke engines which were much smaller and could easily
negotiate narrow streets. These engines also had an arched
("crane neck") frame which would allow the front wheels to
turn 90° to the body. Aurora's Young America No. 2
engine, is a side-stroke style -- where the brakes run
parallel to the side of the engine. Its larger and longer
size allowed more men to operate a larger size pump making
it a a more powerful engine.
Aurora's Young America No. 2
hand engine,
a “Class A” size, side-stroke hand engine made in
the 1850s.
For tournament purposes, hand operated fire engines come
in five sizes or classes. Class “A” engines have a
piston size greater than 7 inches in diameter, Class
“B” engines have pistons between 4.5 and 7 inches,
and Class “C” tubs have pistons less than 4.5
inches. Their are also special classes for rotary gear
engines, and handtubs with only a single piston.
Visiting Firemen
The term "visiting firemen" is said to have been coined
after a group of volunteer firemen from Philadelphia,
hand-pulled their engine all night through a blizzard to
help fight New York's great fire of 1835. Upon arriving in
New York after two laborious days of travel, they found the
fire had been extinguished, (but had it not been, they would
have been too exhausted to be of much use). Despite the fact
that the “brave Philadelphia fire lads” didn't
actually help fight the fire, they were treated as heroes by
the residents and firemen of New York. Mr. J. B. Harrison, a
Philadelphia firemen who made the legendary journey is
quoted as saying, “When we got ready to go home, the
New York firemen pulled our engine to the wharf, the mayor
appointed a committee to escort us home, and after that the
firemen got to visiting from one city to the
other.”
What's a Fire “Enjine” Muster
?
In the book, The Firemen's Muster, America's
Sport, Stan Dixon writes, “MUSTER, according to
Webster, is to assemble or gather. For the past one hundred
and fifty years, firemen have been engaged in the practice
of gathering to compete for personal pride and for the sheer
enjoyment of straining to prove that their company was the
best of all assembled.”
Hand pumped fire engines, (often called
“handtubs,” or “enjines” in the olden
days), required many people to operate. They were
hand-pulled to fires and hand-pumped at the scene. Great
pride was taken in one's fire company, and in the abilities
of their engine to perform at a fire. Often rivalries
between fire companies developed and competitions were held
to prove their water-pumping prowess.
The first recorded fireman's muster was held in 1849 in
Bath, Maine where five engines vied to pump water the
furthest. Firemen's musters soon blossomed throughout New
England. An average of nineteen musters a year &endash; with
an average of ten engines competing at each &endash; were
held in the 1850s. The muster phenomenon also spread west
outside of New England, with tournaments being held in
California, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, New
York, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Virginia, Wisconsin, and even Canada.
As volunteer firefighters were replaced by paid, municipal
departments and horse-drawn steam powered fire engines, many
formed retired or "veteran" firemen's associations that
preserved the old hand-pumped fire engines as well as the
tradition of the fireman's competitions.
Teams continue to “muster” for the same reasons
they did a century and a half ago. “Company pride,
personal achievement by each crew, and the honor of parading
down Main Street, with brooms held high signifying a clean
sweep over all competitors is still what it's all
about,” writes Stan Dixon.
According to the New England rules, handtubs compete by
shooting a stream of water down a 300 ft long course covered
with paper. Each team has an allotted time (usually fifteen
minutes) to pump their best stream. The furthest drop of
water hitting the paper the size of a dime is used as the
official score. The size of the engine, number of crew
pumping, and wind conditions, all influence the length of an
engine's stream. With favorable conditions, many handtubs
are capable of throwing a stream of water well over 200
feet!
In June of 2001, a group from the Aurora Regional Fire
Museum traveled to Waltham Massachusetts to witness (and
participate) in a traditional New England handtub muster.
See pictures, and read about our experiences...
ARFM's
Great New England Road Trip of
2001
See a short movie clip of
this engine pumping - Walth1.mov (60k)
Read More about...
The
“Young America Fire Co.” and the ARFM's
“Young America No. 2”
The Aurora Regional Fire Museum has recently completed
the restoration of our hand-pumped fire engine, and as a nod
to the past, it has been christened, "Young America No.
2."
Restoring
our hand pumper
Follow the engine's restoration in this step-by-step photo
article.
Memorial
Day, 2002
In its inaugural appearance, members of the Aurora Fire
Department pulled the Young America No. 2 engine, alongside
a group of Naperville firefighters and their 1870s era "Joe
Naper" hand-engine.
The Aurora Regional Fire Museum and Handtub
Junction thank all who attended
the Great Midwestern Handtub Exposition and Competition, and
we invite you
to see some pictures of the day in our Handtub
Expo Photo Galleries.
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