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Early fire engines have been designated as “hand-tub pumpers” or just “hand pumpers,” meaning water was collected by hand and bucket or an external hose and fed to the engine. Once the water was supplied, the handles on either side could be pumped up and down, driving the pistons and producing enough pressure to shoot water to astonishing heights.
This particular hand pumper was manufactured between1890 to 1915 by the Howe Fire Apparatus Company of Indianapolis, Indiana. The pumper has a double-action pump that could once deliver up to 100 gallons per minute of water. This pumper was also fitted with a fifty-gallon tank that allowed firefighters to spray water on fire immediately while connections were being made to a larger water source. The Howe Sherwood was purchased from Donald Herb and joined the collection at the Koorsen Museum in March 2019.
