Participation packet Must be received by July 21st!In the event there is an issue getting your form to us, call us at 843-740-5555 and we will make arrangements! We want you to have a good time!

SEE pumping demonstrations using hand-operated fire engines dating from the 1800s WATCH handtub fire engines compete in a national tournament WITNESS the "friendly" challenge competitions between local fire departments and other civic organization PARTICIPATE in an old fashioned "Bucket Brigade" TRY our hands-on educational activities for kids TOUR the North Charleston and American LaFrance Fire Museum JOIN us for an evening Southern BBQ and awards banquet EXPERIENCE community pride, good sportsmanship, and firefighter camaraderie

The North Charleston and American LaFrance Fire Museum in partnership with Handtub Junction USA and the American Class "C" Muster Association would like to invite you to participate in the "All American Fire Muster and Fire Engine Exposition"!

It is a one day event to be held on August 23rd, 2008 from 10am until 5pm. Plan on arriving on August 22nd to be prepared for the next day.

What's a Fire “Enjine” Muster ?
In the book, The Firemen's Muster, America's Sport, Stan Dixon writes, “MUSTER, according to Webster, is to assemble or gather. For the past one hundred and fifty years, firemen have been engaged in the practice of gathering to compete for personal pride and for the sheer enjoyment of straining to prove that their company was the best of all assembled.”

Hand pumped fire engines, (often called “handtubs,” or “enjines” in the olden days), required many people to operate. They were hand-pulled to fires and hand-pumped at the scene. Great pride was taken in one's fire company, and in the abilities of their engine to perform at a fire. Often rivalries between fire companies developed and competitions were held to prove their water-pumping prowess.

The first recorded fireman's muster was held in 1849 in Bath, Maine where five engines vied to pump water the furthest. Firemen's musters soon blossomed throughout New England. An average of nineteen musters a year with an average of ten engines competing at each were held in the 1850s. The muster phenomenon also spread west outside of New England, with tournaments being held in California, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Wisconsin, and even Canada.

As volunteer firefighters were replaced by paid, municipal departments and horse-drawn steam powered fire engines, many formed retired or "veteran" firemen's associations that preserved the old hand-pumped fire engines as well as the tradition of the fireman's competitions.

Teams continue to “muster” for the same reasons they did a century and a half ago. “Company pride, personal achievement by each crew, and the honor of parading down Main Street, with brooms held high signifying a clean sweep over all competitors is still what it's all about,” writes Stan Dixon.

According to the New England rules, handtubs compete by shooting a stream of water down a 300 ft long course covered with paper. Each team has an allotted time (usually fifteen minutes) to pump their best stream. The furthest drop of water hitting the paper the size of a dime is used as the official score. The size of the engine, number of crew pumping, and wind conditions, all influence the length of an engine's stream. With favorable conditions, many handtubs are capable of throwing a stream of water well over 200 feet!

What is a Handtub?
Fire was a constant threat in colonial America and fire protection was an important community responsibility. While bucket brigades provided an adequate water supply to fight fires, their effectiveness was limited by the distance a bucket of water could be tossed. Early fire engines (or enjines as they were often called) were designed as a means to spray the water onto the fire with more force and accuracy, yet they had no means of drafting or sucking water. Bucket brigades would continuously supply the engine's “tub” (water reservoir), while a simple hand-operated piston pump would be used to force it out through a nozzle and on to the fire.

These primitive hand-operated firefighting tubs -- handtubs -- evolved over the next hundred years. By the mid 1800s, most fire engines had the capability to draft water from nearby rivers or ponds, thus making the need to fill a tub with water obsolete, but the name “handtub” stuck.

Working the "Brakes" -- How Handtubs Operate
Hand-pumped fire engines have long bars running parallel to the body which operated the pump. Theses bars (called brakes or pumping arms) when pushed up and down operated a set of pistons in the engine which alternately suck water out of the tub, and force it into a pressure chamber. The air trapped in this chamber creates a constant pressure, and evens out the "spurts" as the water sprays out of the hose. A full up and down motion of the brakes is called a stroke. These engines were normally operated at more than 60 strokes per minute. At this rate a man could only last "working on the brakes" for a few minutes.
 

Types of Hand Operated Fire Engines
Crane Necks, Double-Deckers, Piano-Boxes, Sidewinders, Coffee Grinders, Man-Killers, New York and Philadelphia Styles -- hand-operated fire engines come in many shapes, sizes, and styles. Two distinct styles of hand pumper designs emerged. One developed and favored in New York City, had a flat box with the air chamber at one end and the brakes running horizontal to the sides of the engine. The other developed and favored in Philadelphia was a bit larger and had the air chamber in the middle of the engine and the brakes parallel to each end. The Philadelphia truck was a bit larger and had two "decks" with which to operate each set of brakes, one group of members would stand on the ground, the other on a platform on the engine.

New York Style, side-stroke engine with a goose-neck discharge   End-stroke style hand engine with a crane-neck   “Shanghi” Style engine with alternating brake action   Philadelphila or Double-Deck” Style of end-stroke engine   A“Cider-Mill” Style, also known as a Windlass or Rotary Style engine “Coffee-Grinder” or Crank-Style engine