Posted 7 years ago
hotairfan
(388 items)
Photos #1,#2, are of 18th Century bed wrenches. Photo #4 is of three 19th Century bed wrenches.
So.... why are they called firemen's wrenches? Most firemen of the 18th Century carried these hand forged bed wrenches with them when they were called to a fire. Why? The reason being is that most fires of the time, more often than not resulted in the house or building burning to the ground. getting to the fire took a lot more time than today, there was only buckets to douse the flames with water, and the houses were primarily built of wood resulting in total burn down. Not to mention the fact that , in cities, fire companies used to fight over who would get to put out the fire, even sending the other station to the wrong address so they could get the fire call.
The reason for the firemen's wrench was...... The first thing that the firefighters did when they came to a burning house, was to take apart the home owner's bed and get it out of the building. The bed could be re assembled in the barn and at least the home owner had a place to sleep
Pretty serious weapons for the companies to fight each other with while the buildings burned down. LOL
hotairfan, i have said it before and will say it again, YOU come up with some of the Most Interesting pieces, that i never new existed, and always with a history write up too boot! Thanks for Sharing these!
Thank you, Izenglish, for your nice comments
Thank you for the post hotairfan, I never would've thunk it! :^)