Hathaway fire pump
The photograph is courtesy of the family of George Dey. George took many photographs in his forestry career and some are now shown on this web site. Check under ‘Groups’ and George Dey Collection.
Along with the birch fire beaters the Hathaway pump was the mainstay of protection equipment against forest fires. That was the theory anyway. In actual fact the fires were often some distance from roads, from water and so fast moving that it was most often very difficult to use the pumps effectively. They were used infrequently and many of the pumps on the forests must have been 30- 40 years old. The pumps consisted of a Villiers four stroke engine coupled directly to a Hathaway centrifugal pump. The large D handle is attached to the pump priming plunger and pulls the water up into the pump through the black intake hose. The round cap next to it is the water delivery opening and closing valve. This picture shows a double branch fixed to the outlet with hose attached to one. This machine has a FC Number S2143 (assume S could be fore Scotland) and therefore could have been purchased quite early on in say the late 40s?
Although not used much for fires they proved very useful around the forests for cleaning vehicles (and tractors which had been bogged), pumping water from dams, from around bogged vehicles and even keeping coffer dams dry when pouring concrete for forest road bridge footings.
Do you have any stories or experiences in using these pumps?
Download Large Version (538kB)
Groups: George Dey Forestry Collection, Other Vehicles and Machines