June 3, 2010

The gradual development of the fire department during the 19th century was clearly seen in toys designed on the same lines as the trucks and vehicles used by the early volunteer fire fighting companies. Like the full-size versions, the first miniatures were rather rough. Fallow’s manufactured a toy fire truck pumper of stenciled tinplate that was just than two barrels joined at right angles — highly simple and rudimentary. Early fire fighting toys by Brown and Ives were equally crude. However, in the 1880s more classy forged iron fire-fighting trucks and equipment were relased. Complete sets of fire fighting equipment were also released into the market by Ives. They included , hose carriage, hook and ladder truck, fire patrol, and chief’s wagon. Other major producers of fire-fighting toys were Carpenter, Hubley, and Pratt & Letchworth. Horse-drawn fire-fighting toys continued to be manufactured well after 1900, although by then most communities had converted to collectible automotive vehicles.

 

The most diverse types of antique toy fire trucks come from a line of forged iron toys vehicles. Thousands of types of makers existed, yet these were the last cast iron playthings to to be released into the market. The so called “fire wagons” or the antique quality cast iron versions ceased being made in the the first part of 1900s.

Also common were such highly specialized vehicles as antique fire engines and police cars, trolleys, motorcycles, racing cars, and even collectible sprinkler trucks from the city streets.

The pumper was advertised as Fire Engine in a Hubley catalogue of 1922, when full-size pumpers were drawn by motor vehicles rather than horses. Hubley and other toy manufacturers also produced toys that combined a classic 19th-century-style fire truck pumper or other piece of fire-fighting equipment with a truck body, a combination that look almost like vehicles actually used by fire fighters of those day. Till date these are considered to be highly prized vinatage collectibles.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the fire patrol wagon carried members of the company and equipment like buckets to the scene of a fire. The fire wagons carried firemen on rounds, implementing fire laws in their district where no emergency threatened.

Given below are some of the noted Manufacturers of Collectible Fire Trucks and Toys

Dent Hardware Co. — Henry H. Dent formed the Company in 1895, and made his first cast iron toys in 1898. The firm initially made horse-drawn fire wagons (fire trucks to you and me), then followed them up with many versions of other vehicles. Die-cast toys slowly replaced the forged iron ones in the early 1900′s.

Hubley Company — Established by John Hubley in about 1894, the Hubley Company produced cast iron toys. Its initial products were trains and trolleys powered by live steam, electricity, or spring mechanisms, but they later also added horse-drawn fire trucks and wagons in the 1920s. By 1940 Hubley had transformed into the world’s biggest manufacturer of cast-iron toys. Hubley slowly switched to die-cast toys made of a zinc alloy owing to escalating freight costs and overseas competition.

Kenton Lock Manufacturing Co. — Kenton Lock Manufacturing Co. was founded in the the first part of 1800′s and in 1894 became the Kenton Hardware and started manufacturing forged iron toys. The company was well known for its horse-drawn vehicles, fire engines, nodding toys, and comic strip characters. “Kentontoys” was a trade name that the company sometimes used.

At VintageToyTrucks.org, you will find tons of information about vintage toy fire truck, vintage tonka toy trucks, and vintage fire trucks.