Experiment With a Tractor.

Experiment With a Tractor.

An experiment which will be watched with interest by fire departments throughout the country is being conducted by the Knox Automobile Company of Springfield, Mass. A hook and ladder truck built in 1801—fifty years ago, was borrowed from the fire department of Bridgeport, Conn., by the Knox Company for the twofold purpose of demonstrating the possibilities of the Martin Tractor to fire departments and of showing that the ordinary horse-drawn apparatus with steel tires can be safely drawn at high speed just as well as the more modern rubber-tired vehicles. The ladder truck is of the medium size, weighing 5,500 pounds, and is the oldest the Knox Company could find. It is in good condition, considering its age, although obsolete in design. However. it is serving its purpose of showing whether or not the iron tired vehicle which does such good work when drawn by horses will stand the strain of high speed. A single-wheeled Martin Tractor which has been attached to the front axle dr.iws it over the road at thirty miles an hour, and slams it over rough places and cobble pavements at twenty miles an hour. Thus far no weakness has developed, although it has covered more miles already at high speed than the average piece of fire apparatus covers in a year in the line of duty, which is abundant proof that our grandfathers could build good vehicles and that all good things are not the development of the present generation.

An experiment which will be watched with interest by fire departments throughout the country is being conducted by the Knox Automobile Company of Springfield, Mass. A hook and ladder truck built in 1801—fifty years ago, was borrowed from the fire department of Bridgeport, Conn., by the Knox Company for the twofold purpose of demonstrating the possibilities of the Martin Tractor to fire departments and of showing that the ordinary horse-drawn apparatus with steel tires can be safely drawn at high speed just as well as the more modern rubber-tired vehicles. The ladder truck is of the medium size, weighing 5,500 pounds, and is the oldest the Knox Company could find. It is in good condition, considering its age, although obsolete in design. However. it is serving its purpose of showing whether or not the iron tired vehicle which does such good work when drawn by horses will stand the strain of high speed. A single-wheeled Martin Tractor which has been attached to the front axle dr.iws it over the road at thirty miles an hour, and slams it over rough places and cobble pavements at twenty miles an hour. Thus far no weakness has developed, although it has covered more miles already at high speed than the average piece of fire apparatus covers in a year in the line of duty, which is abundant proof that our grandfathers could build good vehicles and that all good things are not the development of the present generation.