The 1882 Remington Fire EngineIntroductionThis is a print from a piece of art, which was done in colored pencil, by Mark Jenca. The copy of the 1890 Harper's Bazaar page seems to indicate that his model was the flyer used by Mr. Howe, patentee, to advertise his new Fire Engine. Mark Jenca, now deceased, was from Flint, Michigan. I am very appreciative to Mark's mother, Mrs. Ardie Jenca, for granting me permission to include this piece of art in the website. --Paul T. McLaughlin, Village of Ilion Editor |
In June of 2002 I received an inquiry from a gentleman in Pennsylvania requesting info about the Remington Agricultural Works. He is Allen W. Clark, 1st Assistant Fire Chief with The Fellows Club Volunteer Fire Department and Ambulance Service in Conneautville, PA that owns an 1882 Remington Fire Engine. As the result of that and further correspondnece, he has provided the following treatise on the history of their fire engine. His authorization to post this info follows. You can learn more about Conneautville at Conneaut Valley Area Historical Society I want to express my gratitude to Allen Clark and the entire membership of the Fellows Club Volunteer Fired Department and Ambluance Service in Conneautville, for their involvement in making this story possible for posterity to enjoy. --Paul T. McLaughlin, Village of Ilion Editor
"Here is the information on the Remington. Please let me know when and where you can post or publish this information. Thanks for all your help!" --Allen W. Clark The 1882 Remington Fire EngineBy Allen W. Clark, 1st Assistant Fire Chief
The Fellows Club Volunteer Fire Department and Ambulance Service in
Conneautville, Pennsylvania owns a rare fire engine that fought many fires
in the Borough of Conneautville for several years. The 1882 Remington
Horse Operated Circular Pump Fire Engine was built by the famous Remington
gun makers in 1882 at the Ilion, New York Remington Agricultural Works.
There are now only two known fire engines left in the United States.
The second one being kept on display in Phoenix, Arizona at the Hall of
Flames Museum. [Editor's note: this second fire engine is also one based on the Howe patent
Patent, however, it was built by the Rumsey Manufacturing Co. of St. Louis (see the
Hall of Flame Fire Fighting Museum site for more info). Thus the fire engine owned
by the Fellows Club Volunteer Fire Department and Ambulance Service in Conneautville is the only Remington built fire engine
that is known to exist today.]
This fire engine has a Howe patented three piston sweep pump which can be operated by one or two teams of horses or 24 men walking in circles around it. The pump is operated when the teams of horses hitched to two long poles which is then attached to the turn table on the pump, walks around the fire engine making the pistons operate. The three pistons together make for a smoother flow of water through the hose with less vibration. Mr. Howe built this type of fire engine with a fifth wheel which was great for factories and cities that had narrow passageways and streets allowing the fire engine turn on its own radius. The concept, according to records, never caught on due to the expense of having horses and was quickly replaced by steam powered technology. The fire engine weighs about 3,000 pounds and is constructed of iron except for inside the pistons which are made out of leather. This was one of the newer inventions in fighting fires. During this era, most apparatus was horse pulled and man operated. Mr. Howe himself came to Conneautville to demonstrate the usefulness and to train the firemen on the use of the fire engine. On one trial of the fire engine, water was pushed from a 3 ½ inch suction hose in a pond through 350 feet of 2 ½ inch hose forcing a stream of water reaching 80 feet over the flag staff on one of the buildings on Main Street. Borough Council requested that it never be taken more than a mile from the fire station, however, in December 1898, the L.C. Graves Company in Springboro, three miles north of Conneautville, caught fire with $20,000 dollars in losses. The fire engine responded to the fire on an awaiting work train at the Conneautville Depot. The train made the three mile trip to Springboro in three minutes and ten seconds according to newspaper articles. The 1882 Remington Fire Engine was used up unto a motorized fire engine was purchased in the mid 1920’s by the Fellows Club, a men’s social club, who was asked by Conneautville Borough Council to fund and operate the fire department. It was kept in several different places in storage until November of 1981, when the fire engine was taken to the Firefighter’s Historical Museum in Erie, Pennsylvania for restoration and to be placed on loan as an exhibit of firefighting equipment of years gone by which can still be seen today. Mr. Richard Robb, the museum curator and president, has done a tremendous effort in restoring the fire to its original condition. The fire engine has rarely been seen by residents of the community during
parades over the past years. It was pulled during the 1964 Sesquicentennial
Celebration and parade of the Borough of Conneautville, once in 1981 in
a parade in Erie, and then recently on July 13, 2002 through firefighter’s
efforts, it was brought home from the museum and was pulled in the Conneaut
Valley Homecoming Parade by a pair of Belgian horses owned by David Nicolls
of Conneautville.
Following are copies of the: Minutes of the Meeting held by the Borough Council during which approval was voted to purchase the fire engine, The New Fire Engine newspaper article, July 22, 1882. Howe Patent Advertisement Flyer. The Remington's First Big Fire newspaper article, 1886. Homecoming of the Fire Engine newspaper article, July 2002. Conneaut Valley Homecoming Parade Summary with several photos, July 2002.
Back to Herkimer/Montgomery Counties GenWeb Established: 6 Mar 2003 Updated: 18 Dec 2005 Digital Image Copyright © 2003 Paul McLaughlin Original Artwork Copyright © 2003 Mark Jenca (deceased)/ Mrs. Ardie Jenca (the artist's mother) Copyright © 2003 Allen Clark and the Fellows Club Volunteer Fire Department and Ambulance Service in Conneautville Copyright © 2003 Paul McLaughlin/ Lisa K. Slaski/ Martha S. Magill |