Chicago Fire Department

[GA_Dave]

The American La France company purchased the "Snorkel" name and rights from the old "Snorkel" ex Pitman corporation sometime in the 90's

Actually, it was 1973. I have heard a rumor that a major player is negotiating the purchase of the Snorkel line.

What happened to Simon Snorkel in England? Was this part of the LTI fiasco as well? I've never understood the ownership of Simon-Duplex LTI.

I can't answer the first part of that, but I can explain the rest. I believe that Simon Snorkels date back farther than LTI did. In 1986, Simon purchased LTI from the Zimmerman family. In 1993, the Zimmermans started Aerial Innovations (AI), which became part of American LaFrance in 1997.



There is no such thing as "Simon-Duplex LTI". It was two separate companies under the same corporate ownership. In 1988, Simon purchased Duplex Trucks, creating Simon-Duplex. A Simon-Duplex/LTI is a rig built, in part, by both companies.



Simon sold LTI to AI in 1998, leading to it eventually becoming the Aerial Division of American LaFrance. They could not find a buyer for the Simon-Duplex operation and closed it down.