Details of Cars

Sutphen: American fire apparatus from Amlin, Ohio

SUTPHEN

Sutphen aerial ladder of the Akron Fire Department
Sutphen aerial ladder in service with the Akron Fire Department. Photo by Raymond Wambsgans from Akron Ohio, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Sutphen is an American manufacturer of emergency services vehicles based in Amlin, Ohio. Founded in 1890 by C.H. Sutphen, the company builds fire engines, aerial ladders, tower ladders and heavy rescues, mostly on its own chassis.

Sutphen at a glance

Sutphen key facts
Founded 1890, by C.H. Sutphen
Headquarters Amlin, Ohio
Plants Amlin, Dublin, Hilliard and Springfield, Ohio; Lake Ariel, Pennsylvania
Products engines, aerial ladders, aerial platforms, heavy rescues
First tower ladder 1964, on a Ford C chassis
Boom sections three at 65, 75 and 85 ft; four at 100 ft; five at 110 ft
Aerial construction aluminium alloys fastened with Huck bolts
Rear-mount aerial SLR 75, shown in 2016; 108 ft model in 2017
Tillers built in the 1990s; returned with the SLTDA 105 in 2021–2022
Custom chassis Ambassador, Imperial, Monarch and S Series
Engines offered Cummins, Caterpillar and Detroit Diesel
Pumps Hale and Waterous

Based on the English Wikipedia article on the manufacturer; the four original records on this site showed a ladder, an engine, a pumper and other Sutphen apparatus.

History of the Sutphen

A family firm from Ohio

Sutphen was founded in 1890 by C.H. Sutphen and remains based in Amlin, Ohio. The company now works from five manufacturing plants: four in Ohio, at Amlin, Dublin, Hilliard and Springfield, and one in Lake Ariel, Pennsylvania. It produces all types of fire-related vehicles on its own chassis — the usual engines, ladders and rescues — and also supplies bodies for commercial chassis applications.

Sutphen ladder truck of the Akron Fire Department
Another view of the Akron Fire Department Sutphen ladder. Photo by Raymond Wambsgans from Akron Ohio, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

The tower ladder

Sutphen introduced its tower ladder in 1964, mounted on a Ford C chassis; production models later used larger chassis including Duplex and GMC. The early models were 65, 75 or 85 feet tall and used three boom sections. Ground ladders were stored at the rear of the vehicle, with additional ladders on one or both sides of the body above the compartments. A later 100-foot (30 m) model used four boom sections, and the Magnum 110-foot model used five. The SPH-100 of 2004 was first built on the short-lived Imperial chassis and then on the Monarch chassis; its five boom sections reduce overall length and raise a much larger bucket above the chassis body.

Aerials and platforms

Sutphen produces mid-mount aerials either as a tower ladder platform, with a bucket or basket, or in ladder tower form without a bucket, plus industrial application aerials. On 21 April 2016, at FDIC International, the company showed its first rear-mount aerial, the Sutphen SLR 75, and the following year it previewed a 108-foot (33 m) model. All Sutphen aerials are made of aluminium alloys and fastened with Huck bolts, and the hydraulics are designed and built in-house. In the 1990s the company also built tillers, including a tiller-tower concept in which the bucket of the tiller aerial also served as the tillerman’s cab; the idea never reached production.

Engines, rescues and chassis

For many years Sutphen offered two pumper lines, the Guardian and the Shield, which have since been consolidated into a custom pumper on the Monarch chassis with a proprietary Monarch cab. Heavy rescue trucks carry generators, air tanks, lighting, ladders, pike poles, crowbars and dive equipment, and can serve as a HazMat vehicle, an urban search and rescue unit or a mobile command centre. The heavy-duty chassis series comprises the Ambassador, Imperial, Monarch and S Series, with Cummins, Caterpillar and Detroit Diesel engines, Allison transmissions and Hale or Waterous pumps.

Return to tillers

On 25 February 2021 Sutphen announced that it would return to manufacturing tractor-drawn aerials, or tillers. The aerial device is the same as that of the SL models. A preview video followed on 25 March 2022, saying that the first new tractor-drawn aerial would appear at FDIC International, and an announcement video for the SLTDA 105 was released on 28 April 2022.

Design and features

  • Own chassis: Sutphen builds fire apparatus on its own Ambassador, Imperial, Monarch and S Series chassis rather than only on commercial truck chassis.
  • Aluminium aerials: every aerial is made of aluminium alloys fastened with Huck bolts, with hydraulics designed and built by the company.
  • Platform or ladder: mid-mount aerials come either as a tower ladder with a bucket or as a ladder tower without one.
  • Heavy rescue range: trucks are equipped for HazMat, urban search and rescue and mobile command work.

Sutphen versions

  • Aerial platforms: SP70, SP95, SP100, SPI112, SPH100 and SPH112, the last built for NASA and also bought by Westmere, New York.
  • Aerial ladders: SL models with open framework booms for climbing, SA models with the enclosed box boom of the platforms, and the rear-mounted SLR 75 and SLR 108.
  • SLTDA 105: the tractor-drawn aerial announced in 2021, using the same aerial device as the SL models.
  • Pumpers: the Guardian and Shield series, now consolidated into a custom pumper on the Monarch chassis, in aluminium, stainless steel and Shield body styles.
  • Heavy rescue: a six- to ten-man truck for rescue, HazMat and command duties.

More American fire apparatus is collected in the Sutphen category.

Sources