Horse Drawn Aerials

[MFDPhoto1]

FDNY - 1896

photo courtesy New York City Public Library

[Engine33Truck]

1903 Seagrave
75' Aerial
Tom Crowley photo taken at the 2006 SPAAMFAA Summer Convention in Columbus/Reynoldsburg.

Is that ladder supposed to be bowed like that or is it from age?  To me, it sort of looks like it's supposed to be like that but I know almost nothing about horse-drawn apparatus.

[Caveman]

F.D.N.Y. HQ in Brooklyn

[Caveman]

F.D.N.Y.

[magicitybill]

I do not think it is bowed. I think it is the angle.  In the bed that ladder slopes up from front to base to tip.  Older wooden aerials do get a distinct bow in them though. When they are tested with weight they deflect. When the weight is released they should return to within a certain distance of their original position.  If they did not the truss rods were tightend. Some of these trucks had turn buckles near the turntable of the ladder for this purpose.  As they aged and had their rods tightened the tip would begin to turn up and it is often enough to see.

I thought the lower rail or frame might have a swag in it? What do you think?  

[Engine33Truck]

I do not think it is bowed. I think it is the angle.  In the bed that ladder slopes up from front to base to tip.  Older wooden aerials do get a distinct bow in them though. After they are tested with weight they should return to within a certain distance of their original position.  If they do not the truss rods were tightend. Some of these trucks had turn buckles near the turntable of the ladder for this purpose.  As they aged and had their rods tightened the tip would begin to turn up and it is often enough to see.

I thought the lower rail or frame might have a swag in it? What do you think? 

Thank you for that information!  Yes, it does look like the lower frame might have a have a swag in it.

[daysleeper47]

Interesting thing about those two FDNY headquarters photos (and that is actually Brooklyn Fire Headquarters from 1892 to 1898, and never FDNY headquarters) is that the driver seems to be the same although the photos appear to have been taken at different times. There is a decent article on the building on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn_Fire_Headquarters

[wf33ret]

                                          The information on this photo identifies this as Ladder 2
                                  of Albany, N.Y. The ladder was built by American LaFrance and
                                  the photo was taken in 1910 .



                                               Photographer Unknown - Lloyd Collection

[MFDPhoto1]

Atlanta, GA
1885
Atlanta Fire Department's Hook & Ladder Company No. 1, including Henry Lewis (standing, far right), with the department's "first aerial type ladder truck" in front of the station on South Broad Street
Image courtesy Atlanta History Central