The Somerville Journal, 21 September 1872
| The new steamer hose carriage was received Thursday, and duly inspected and installed in the steamer house yesterday. It is a very beautiful and substantial vehicle, and judging from the workmanship to be seen is well worth the contract price, $900, paid by the city. It has new patent iron hub with wood facing, so constructed that it is impossible for mud or sand to work into the axle. Instead of a whipple-tree the traces are hitched to springs which it is claimed will expedite hitching up, and give a steadier motion to the draft. One thousand feet of hose can be carried on its single reel, and it is rigged to be used with shafts or pole, using one or two horses as may be desirable. Its weight is 1900 lbs., which is increased to 2850 when loaded with hose ready for use. The painting of the vehicle is very elaborate and alone cost nearly two hundred dollars. On the dasher is inscribed the motto of the old Somerville Hand Engine No.1, "Faithful and True." A portrait of John Runey, formerly Chief of the Fire Department, under the old town government, is painted on one side of the drivers seat, and one of Alderman Chase, the present Chairman of the City Committee on Fire Department, on the other; thus representing the old town and the new city. The carriage was built by messrs. Dole & Osgood of Peabody, Mass., and appears to be in every respect a credit to the makers. |
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