Pierce Apparatus

[GA_Dave]

I wasn't trying to catch you on a technicality GA Dave...

Hey, no harm, no foul. I think we were both trying to explain the same thing.

Up until the early to mid 90's, Smeal was the exclusive builder for Pierce aerials. Once the patent expired, Pierce built their own and then Smeal started producing actual apparatus.

Well, sort of. The relationship between Smeal and Pierce lasted from 1984 to 1993. Before that, Pierce used aerial units from LTI. Smeal built their first aerial ladder in 1963. Pierce offered three sizes of Smeal aerial ladders, 105', 75', and 55'. Smeal continued to build aerials for Smeal apparatus as they had retained exclusive rights to sales in their "home territory", the States of South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Iowa. Pierce platforms were built by Structural Fabrications, Inc (SFI) in Pennsylvania, a company they purchased in 1988. A few years later, the operation was relocated to Kewaunee Engineering in Wisconsin. Shortly after that, the Smeal/Pierce agreement ended and Kewaunee began to construct the aerial ladder sections for Pierce. This agreement between Pierce and Kewaunee gave Pierce strict control over the operation. Oaskosh purchased Pierce in 1996 and Kewaunee Engineering in 1999, changing the name to Kewaunee Fabrications.



After severing ties with Pierce in 1992, Smeal began to market their products across the Country.