1923 REO Speed Wagon Chemical Engine

First Motorized Fire Truck of the Lionville Fire Company

This truck is a 1923 REO Speed Wagon Chemical Engine, Lionville's first motorized fire engine. This fire truck was a chemical engine, meaning no motors were needed to create pressure to fight fire, the same type of system used in Lionville's Hand-Pull fire engine.

Chemical fire engines used soda-acid chemical reactions to create pressure that would force water out of the tank through the hose. The systems consisted of a copper tank, water mixed with sodium bicarbonate, also known as baking soda, and a glass jar full of sulfuric acid sitting in a breaking device inside the tank. When it was time to pressurize the tank to fight fire, a lever was pulled to break the glass jar and mix with the soda water, reacting and creating carbon dioxide gas, pressuring the tank immediately to fight fire.

These engines were used from the 1880s through the 1930s, and quite safe at the time, but dangerous by today's standards. The pressure in the tank had to be released as soon as it was mixed, or the tank could explode, and sulfuric acid is extremely dangerous to handle.

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