The once common Snorkel long ago became
the fire service “Xerox” of articulating platforms. If it bent in the middle, that’s what it was
called. One normally thinks of design, particularly
of something as complex as aerial fire apparatus, as a long process involving
engineering calculations and the development of sophisticated plans. Didn’t happen that way…
Back in 1958, Chicago Fire Commissioner
Robert Quinn borrowed a tree trimming truck with a 50 ft. articulating boom and
platform and attached a monitor nozzle to the basket. A three inch hose line was strapped to the
booms to feed it, and a new piece of firefighting apparatus was born. Load and stability testing was done on the
tree trimmer, and when found to work, the rig was painted red and placed in
service. Known in the “Windy City” as
“Quinn’s Snorkel,” reputedly because the firefighter’s got so wet in the bucket
and thought it resembled the diving device—I don’t see the resemblance
myself—the name stuck.
The original tree trimming truck was
built by the Missouri based Pitman Manufacturing Company. In 1959, a stockholder by the name of Art
Moore acquired the Snorkel product line and established the Snorkel Fire
Equipment Company.
The first Snorkel was retired in
1968, and subsequently acquired by the Snorkel Company and restored at their
St. Joseph, Missouri manufacturing facility.
While less common elsewhere, snorkel type apparatus remains in service
in Chicago to this day.
The author "flying" a circa 1970 American LaFrance "Aero-Chief" articulating platform in the early 1980s.
A great look back at the original.
