|
Price |
|
15,000 marks |
Production |
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-- |
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Engine |
-- |
Weight |
-- |
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Aspiration |
-- |
Torque |
-- |
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HP |
40
hp |
HP/Weight |
-- |
|
HP/Liter |
-- |
1/4 mile |
-- |
|
0-62 mph |
-- |
Top Speed |
-- |
(from Daimler Press
Release) Pioneering development by SAG in Gaggenau.
Output of up to 40 horsepower
One hundred years ago,
the world’s first fire-fighting pump powered by a gasoline engine
was supplied to the customer and put into operation in the Grunewald
suburb of Berlin on December 1, 1906. It was a three-tonner with
four-cylinder engine, built by Süddeutsche Automobilfabrik Gaggenau
(SAG, South German Automobile Factory), a company which was
integrated in Benz & Cie. a little later.
A brochure published by
Benz & Cie. on the occasion of a hygiene exhibition in Stuttgart in
1914 had this to say in retrospect: “The Benz factory in Gaggenau
was the first to supply a fire-fighting vehicle powered by an
explosion engine, and it still occupies first place not only with
respect to the number of vehicles supplied but also in terms of
operational safety and vehicle performance.” At that point in time,
a lot had happened ever since the fire-fighting pump’s arrival in
Berlin on December 1, 1906. SAG, founded in 1905, got into
difficulties as early as 1907 and, from January 1, 1911, officially
operated under the name Benz-Werke Gaggenau GmbH. Where
self-propelled fire-fighting vehicles were concerned, the gasoline
engine had slowly but steadily prevailed against the electric motor
and the steam engine.
Strong competition from electric
drive
In 1906, the situation
had still been completely different. The first self-propelled
fire-fighting combination, consisting of two electrically driven
vehicles and a steam-powered pump, had gone into operation in
Hanover as late as 1902. The Chief Fire Officer responsible,
Maximilian Reichel, had meanwhile changed from Hanover to Berlin and
taken an interest in the novel wheel-hub motors of the Lohner-Porsche
type offered by Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft from 1906. The Lohner-Porsche
system had been invented by young Ferdinand Porsche who had been
working for Jacob Lohner in Vienna from 1899 and for Austro-Daimler
from 1905.
It was certainly no
coincidence that the voluntary fire brigade of Grunewald was the
first in Germany to take an interest in gasoline engines – quite a
few of the well-to-do inhabitants of the posh suburb were proud
owners of automobiles. These were approached by Fire Brigade
Commander Ratig with a request for donations for the acquisition of
a gasoline-powered fire-fighting pump. The voluntary fire brigade
had acquired a motorized three-wheeler as early as 1901 and a
passenger car with equipment trailer in 1905. Süddeutsche
Automobilfabrik, in its turn, was not totally unknown in Berlin.
Just one year earlier, it had supplied a large-capacity bus for 52
passengers to the capital.
Good relations between Gaggenau
and Berlin
The fire-fighting pump
marketed by SAG as the “Grunewald Type” from 1907 weighed in at 2.43
tons. It accommodated six fire-fighters on two longitudinally
arranged back-to-back benches behind the driver’s seat. Behind the
benches, there was space for the tank for the gas pump, several hose
drums and other equipment. The vehicle was available with engines
developing 22, 32 and 40 hp and cost 14,000, 14,500 and 15,000
marks, respectively. Engine power was transmitted to the twin
solid-rubber rear wheels by means of a chain. The front wheels were
fitted with pneumatic tires in size 850 x 125 millimeters. According
to the manufacturer, the fire-fighting pump reached a top speed of
35 km/h and was capable of climbing 16-percent gradients.
“The development of
self-propelled fire-fighting pumps was spurred on by the fact that
neither the horse-drawn steam-powered pumps nor the electrically
powered pumps had an adequate operating range. In a neighboring
city, they were reported to have failed on the third assignment
after having answered two fire alarms on one and the same day,
requiring recourse to the manger and the electricity recharging
station, respectively,” wrote SAG three years later in a brochure
specially printed after a major fire in Karlsruhe, where the steam
pump proved its effectiveness in a case of emergency for the first
time. “We succeeded in easily accommodating three functions in our
vehicle. The latter can be used firstly as a gas pump, secondly as a
crew and equipment carrier and thirdly as a steam pump.”
Up to 50-meter-high jet
The brochure also refers
to a report in the evening edition of “Badische Presse” of December
15, 1909: “In fighting this fire, the new self-propelled
fire-fighting pump performed outstandingly well. Thanks to its high
speed in reaching the scene of a fire and the speed at which it goes
into action, it is predestined for being the first to arrive at the
scene of a fire and start extinguishing work straightaway until the
other pumps have arrived and been put into operation. The
self-propelled fire-fighting pump powered by an engine from Gaggenau
operated uninterruptedly from 10.45 p.m. yesterday until 4.45 a.m.
this morning, spraying water through four mighty hoses at a pressure
of six to seven bar into the raging fire, up to a height of some 40
to 50 meters.”
