PIRSCH

Peter Pirsch & Sons Co. (1926-1987)
Kenosha, Wisconsin 

This is a Pirsch radiator emblem (1926-c1956)   mjs
Size: 103mm wide 49mm high   MM: Unknown

Peter Pirsch was the son of a Wisconsin wagon builder who patented a trussed extension ladder in 1899 and went on to make human- and horse-drawn ladder trucks. His first motorized ladder truck was on a Rambler chassis and this was followed by ladder trucks using chassis built by other companies. 

The first complete Pirsch fire engines appeared in 1926. These were 150 to 175 gpm pumpers, chemical trucks and hose trucks powered six-cylinder engines. In 1928, Pirsch built the first American pumper with a fully-enclosed cab. In 1938, the first long aluminium alloy closed lattice aerial ladder truck appeared and is still in use today.

Pirsch continued to develop new designs of conventional fire engines and custom-built specialist fire fighting vehicles on their own chassis and other chassis, such as General Motors, Ford and Mack. Few conventional fire engines were built after 1970 and production ceased in the early 1980's with the last Pirsch fire truck delivered in 1987.

Emblems

Early Pirsch advertisements, see example shown below, show the Pirsch logo, which was used as the radiator emblem.

Pirsch ad showing logo (1928) fire engineering

The first Pirsch fire engine radiator emblem was finished in blue and white enamel and continued in use until the mid 1950's, see examples shown below:

Pirsch radiator emblem (1926)   glazier

Pirsch radiator emblem (1928)    pinimg

This is the blue and white enamel Pirsch radiator emblem shown above at the top of this post and again below. This Pirsch radiator emblem is scarce.

This is a Pirsch radiator emblem (1926-c1956)   mjs
Size: 103mm wide 49mm high    MM: Unknown

There was a change in the Pirsch fire truck hood design about 1940 to a rounded hood and radiator shell, which required the Pirsch radiator emblem to be mounted on a thick, wedge-shaped metal backing plate on the nose of the hood above the radiator grille. In some models the Pirsch emblem was mounted on a cast chrome hood ornament, see examples shown below:

Pirsch ladder truck tractor with emblem mounted on the hood above the radiator (1940)   chief miller

Pirsch emblem on hood ornament casting (1945)  moroz

Pirsch hood emblem on wedge baking plate (1948)  barnfinds

Pirsch radiator and hood emblem (1951)    pinimg

In the mid to late 1950's, the enamel Pirsch hood emblem was replaced by a paint finished emblem, see example shown below:

Painted Pirsch hood emblem (1958)    flickr

This is the blue and white painted Pirsch hood emblem shown here. This Pirsch hood emblem is scarce.

This is a Pirsch hood emblem (c1956-c1965)    mjs
Size: 103mm wide 49mm high   MM: Unknown

These Pirsch emblems continued in use on conventional fire truck models until the Pirsch cab-over-engine models appeared in the mid-1960's