page_title: Electric fire engine
section_title: Schuyler Wheeler invention
hierarchical_section_title: Electric fire engine / Schuyler Wheeler invention
caption_attribution_description: English: Wheeler electric fire engine invention
context_page_description: The electric fire engine is a fire engine with a water pump, used to distribute water to put out a fire, operated by an electric motor. Electric fire engines were first proposed in the 19th century to replace the steam pumpers used for firefighting. The electric motor was claimed to be simpler, cleaner, and faster in operation, would save money, and require less maintenance than the steam fire engine. Contemporary battery-operated models also exist.
context_section_description: American inventor Schuyler Wheeler patented an electric fire engine system in the United States in 1885. He filed his invention in 1882 and the patent was issued in 1885. The system included electrical infrastructure, with electric motor driven water pumps, on a horse-drawn vehicle. The fire-engine vehicle was designed with the same general equipment as a regular steam fire engine of the time, but used electrically operated equipment instead of steam power. It was designed with an electrical regulator, and a switch for the main electric motor that drove the water pump, that pushed water through the fire-hoses used to put out the fire.
  The electric motor was equipped with several hundred feet of cable carried on a reel. The cable attached to a specially designed electrical outlet box that was nearest to the fire. The box would be located next to the water plugs throughout the city districts in the manner previously mentioned. When the engine was tested, it gave very good results, and is now in use at the factory of the Crocker-Wheeler Electric Company, in Ampere, New Jersey. The company claimed that an electric fire engine of the same capacity as a steam fire engine would be more efficient.
caption: Wheeler 1885 fire engine invention
exif: {}