Hotchkiss Pumper
The members of the Fire Services Museum will be supporting the runners along the way.
Cylinders |
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History in the MFB
The Metropolitan Fire Brigade (Melbourne) commenced purchasing 1913 and 1914 cars consisting of chassis, running gear, radiator, bonnet with the choice of wire wheels or wooden spoke wheels. After an evaluation period of two years, it was decided to replace horse drawn fire engines with the relatively new motor car. Commercial vehicles or light trucks were not available, so it was decided to purchase a motor car that was extremely fast and could carry a considerable weight. The French car Hotchkiss was purchased for £250.00, consisting of chassis, running gear radiator and bonnet and with wire or wooden spoke wheels. In all, 35 cars were purchased from 1913-1923 and they were called hose carriages.
After 1920, a 30 foot extension ladder was mounted on a bracket front and rear with 3.5" suction hose resting on the ladder. A 150 gallon per minute rotary pump designed, manufactured and fitted by the MFB work shops were fitted. All design and construction work was carried out by firefighters in the workshops who were employed as tradesmen until the alarm sounded. They then donned their uniform and became firemen.
The gear box was a four speed and one reverse and was called a crash gear box. It had no synchromesh on any of the gears and it was quite difficult to drive it without crashing the gears. It also had no self-starter, so it had to be cranked by hand or push started. When the original gas headlights and tail lights were replaced by electric lights, a battery was carried in a box on the running board. Because there was no generator on the engine, the battery had to be kept on charge when the vehicle was at the fire station.Braking was very poor with the foot brake on the tailshaft and only good enough to gradually slow down. The main brake was the hand brake on the right of the driver which operated rods connected to the internal rear brake shoes. The fuel was transferred from the tank at the rear through pipes connected to the carburetor by a pressurized hand pump. Whilst in motion, this pump had to be periodically worked to maintain the pressure. This was eventually replaced with a vacuum tank in the early twenties.When starting from cold, the petrol was turned on at the tank and also on at the vacuum tank. The priming cops which held about a teaspoon of liquid and situated next to the spark plugs were filled with petrol. With the throttle set to fast idle (which flooded the carburetor with petrol), and the spark set to retard, the firemen would crank the handle at the front of the engine until it started.
These vehicles gave outstanding service considering the men were used to horses and had to be taught how to drive a motor car.These were eventually replaced in 1938 by a more modern Morris commercial, but either by accident, or someone with a considerable amount of foresight; they were not sold, but were kept in storage until 1939 and were used as Air Raid Personnel (ARP) fire engines. These ARP men met once a week at their local fire station and were taught the rudiments of fire fighting.
All Hotchkiss fire engines were sold in 1947. At the present time (2006), of the 35 fire engines used in the MFB, there are approximately eight accounted for; four of these are in England, and three have been converted back to cars.
