Before There Were OnSpots....

[x635 4,066]

Yesterday, LAGRANGEFF40 pointed out something neat to me on one of the classics while touring that fire apparatus collection pictured in my 12-11-06 photo hunt.

[attachmentid=1741]

These tubes dumped sand in front of the tires as needed for wintertime traction. Does anyone know more about how this worked? Did the driver have a control from a hopper, or did the backstepmen have to pour sand in somewhere?

I never knew about that technology! Pretty cool!!

Edited December 12, 2006 by x635

[DOC22 1]

Yeah That was the big thing before the advent of onspots. They were on a lot of fuel oil trucks.

[ja3kfd 34]

Seth usually a hopper full of sand or sppedy dry for traction controlled by a switch in cab. As Doc said also seen on Oil and Propane trucks still today.

[xfirefighter484x 234]

Did the driver have a control from a hopper, or did the backstepmen have to pour sand in somewhere?

I never knew about that technology!  Pretty cool!!

←

Yea, the driver had a switch on the control panel for the rigs, and when flipped, it would open up a gate, releasing the sand (or even speedi-dry was used) and it could be shut off with a flip of the switch to the off position.

The rigs (at least in the rigs I have seen this feature in) had a hopper in the compartment above the tubes. The rigs I had seen this in had the hopper in the front most compartments on both sides of the truck.

[msm232 69]

Thornwood had a 1963 Mack (Old Engine 89) that had that feature.....When I was breaking in as MPO, the head driver told me there were 2 things in the cab NOT to touch.....the WET/DRY ROAD switch (we all know about that one) and the sand/traction device. If I remember correctly, there were jerry can like containers in the compartments above the wheel wells that contained the sand.

They were always clogged and we still had to put the chains on!

Those were the days.....

Stay safe.

Edited December 13, 2006 by msm232

[Arrowxt 8]

As you have heard , these dumps are still used. Look at dairy trucks that deliver to grocery stores. Some of the older stores have ramped delivery docks so they need the sand for traction on the way out. Nothing works better than a set of chained tires though. We still do it the old school way, and I put the chains on, even the rigs we have with "On-Spots" . They only work in so much snow!

Arrow

[firecapt32 282]

god im getting old but i do remember them!! seems to me they didnt work very well for fire apparatus or was it just the driver useing them too much. I do remember Chief Park telling me" do yo know how much that shi- costs?" so of course as the fisty firefighter that i was i used more what did i care it wasent my money... my how times have changed!!!!

[IzzyEng4 427]

The wet / dry switch, thank god they took that out before I became a driver on my old '81 pumper. Everyone told my they were nothing but trouble.

[SEC92 0]

We had two 1956 B Macks that had this feature. One was a ladder and the other was a pumper. It was a great idea but was never used. I was a driver on the pumper for several years before we retired it and was always told to not bother with it.

[Grumpy 1]

In Mohegan the material used was not sand or speedy-dry but a type of crushed stone grit. It worked okay but chains were the norm on storm days. The grit was great for scooping out of the hopper and spreading on the ice formed at working jobs and it never clogged the drop chutes.