Fire Bucket, "H.1.L"
date: label: date made
content: 19th Century
name: label: maker
content: unknown
notes: label: Description
content: This mid-nineteenth century bucket is marked “H 1 L,” suggesting that it may have belonged to Hook and Ladder Company #1 in its town of origin. Hook and ladder companies, which were comprised of about twenty men, carried a variety of tools to the scene of a fire: ladders, hooks for pulling down chimney-tops and burning roofs, and axes for chopping holes to ventilate smoke from buildings. Sometimes ladders and hooks were carried on a hand-drawn cart, as they were extremely heavy. In the first half of the nineteenth century, hook and ladder companies did not receive a great deal of attention relative to engine and hose companies, but they became increasingly important as buildings grew taller and urban fire departments needed to use ladders with greater frequency. The first prototype aerial truck, which used mechanical means to raise, lower, and extend ladders, was completed in 1870; by 1900 the typical aerial truck carried a variety of equipment, including buckets, ropes, and extra hose.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: classified
content: Fire Fighting
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Fire Fighting and Law Enforcement
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of CIGNA Museum and Art Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2005.0233.0243
label: accession number
content: 2005.0233
label: catalog number
content: 2005.0233.0243
objectType: label: Object Name
content: bucket, fire
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: leather (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 12 3/4 in; 32.385 cm