Remarkable original antique 8x10 glossy photograph depicting an early fire engine by Peter Pirsch with USN lettering.
Would look very nice in a frame hanging on the wall.
Very good clarity.
RARE item from the personal collection of a long time collector.
Blue watermarks are just a digital creation and not on the actual item.
Any questions just ask. Will ship with extra care. Happy to combine shipping (will be listing more like items).
Seller Inventory: B5.
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Peter Pirsch & Sons was a firefighting apparatus manufacturer in
Kenosha, Wisconsin, United States, between 1900 and 1984. It was claimed
to be the first producer of modern, motorized fire engines in the
United States.
In 1899, while working at his father's carriage
manufacturing business and volunteering for the Kenosha, Wisconsin fire
department, Peter Pirsch received the patent for the trussed extension
ladder, a marked improvement upon the older, solid ladders that firemen
had been using up to that point. With patent in hand, he founded Peter
Pirsch & Sons in 1900.
The first motorized ladder truck was
on a Rambler chassis, and this was followed by others based on Couple
Gear, White, Duplex, Nash and Dodge. The 1926 engine came 150 to 750 gpm
pumpers, chemical and hose trucks powered by 6-cylinder Waukesha
engines. In 1928 came a pumper with fully enclosed cab, the first of its
kind from a major US manufacturer, and in 1931 a one-man operation
hydro-mechanical aerial ladder hoist used on an 85 ft articulated ladder
truck. By this time Pirsch were building mostly on their own chassis,
although others occasionally used were Sterling (1933), International
(1936) and Diamond T (1937). Cabs were bought from General Motors for
many years. In 1938 came the first 100 ft aluminum alloy closed lattice
aerial ladder which became a Peter Pirsch specialty and is still used
today.
Throughout the 1930s and 1940s a wide range of fire
engines, including articulated ladder trucks were made, with power
coming mostly from Hercules or Waukesha engines. Pirsch first introduced
aerial ladders in the 1930s, including the first fully powered 100-foot
aerial ladder device in the United States in 1935.
The first cab
forward model came in 1961 with a flat-fronted cab which is still used
today. Conventionals and cab-forwards were made through the 1960s with
little change, and Pirsch were also offering their specialties on other
chassis such as Ford and Mack CF. Very few conventionals were made after
1970, and current production centers on rigid and articulated
cab-forward units, mostly with diesel engines.
Pirsch's company
was very successful from the 1920s through the 1980s. The Memphis,
Tennessee Fire Department and the Washington DC Fire Department were
both particularly loyal customers of Pirsch fire trucks. By the late
1980s, the company built around 100 trucks a year and conducted around
$10 million a year in business.
Pirsch and Sons supplied many of
the fire trucks sold throughout the State of Georgia from 1950 until
1980, with their first regional distributor being the Harold Hancock
Company of Atlanta, followed by the Charles L. McLarty Company of
Decatur, GA. Atlanta Georgia, and surrounding cities and towns bought
dozens of Pirsch trucks supplied by these two local businesses.
Pirsch
and Sons discontinued production of their trucks in the early 1980s
after reorganization of the company due to rising costs and increased
competition in the narrow fire truck market. The last truck coming off
the line in 1987. At the time of its closure, Peter Pirsch & Sons
was the oldest privately owned fire truck manufacturer in the United
States.] The last custom Fire Engine built under the Pirsch name was
delivered to, and is currently owned by the Osceola, AR VFD (1987).