strecher info & parts?

Rocky Fluegge

PCS Member
I have been trying to find a stretcher for my 56 olds coach. One of my glasses customers, family has owned a funeral home in this town for many years. So i asked him if they had anything laying around, and he said that he saw some in the dumpster a couple of weeks prior that his son threw out.:pat: Now a couple of weeks has passed and he said he found one under the bench at his farm and if i wanted it to come over and see it. So i bought it from him for not alot. But i had to scratch my head it it for a while. I knew some parts are missing from it. The back that raises is gone, and im not sure about the other end? So what im curious is the vintage, If any one has one like it that i could see a picture of a complete one. And if any one has some of the parts that it is missing so i can rebuild it. The size of it is 66"long- 20" wide-13" tall. The tag on it reads Manufactered by Washington Mortuary Supply Co, Washington c11 Ohio But any info or parts would be much appreciated.
 

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The vintage looks correct, but I doubt that you will ever find the missing parts, unless they are attached to one that is whole. Old gurneys usually don't sell for very much, and the one item that is the hardest to find is the correct mattress. I would keep an eye on ebay and you will probably find one there. Only problem with ebay gurneys is that they are always located far away from you. I also suggest that you canvas the other funeral homes in the surrounding towns, and you will probably find more than you want. Older homes seem to be a treasure trove of unwanted items, except to the collectors of this "junk"...
Here is the history of Ferno - Washington
 
you don't want this on I can use it in my 53. the foot rest is missing but a piece of plywood covered in vinyl to match the mattress you can get on ebay for 67 bucks. would work. there are a number of pictures around so you can see. these one level washington cots were nothing to brag about but they are correct for a 50s car with either the brown or the blue mattress on. like I said you don't want it grab it I'll take it for mine. now to be correct it would have had the striped cotton tuck jail cell mattress and pillow. but the other one would have ben a replacment latter on.
 
gurney info

That gurney info saying Washington c11 is probably scratched enough with age that it is hard to read. It should say Washington Court House, Ohio.
Mike
 
What is the deal with the section that would be by your feet? I understand that there should be a pad there but what about that long u shaped wire does that flip down to support you feet, or is that just a handle to pull it around. also the straps that go around the outside support tube, is that just un screwed of is there something missing there also.
 
The "U" shaped part at the foot is the handle to pull it from one place to another.. If I understand your question correctly, the part in the middle is what holds the mattress, and it is partially unsupported presently. This should be easy to put some nuts and bolts into it to re-secure it to the outside framework.
 
If you look at this pic of our gurney in the car, you will see the footrest part that you are missing....looks like the exact same gurney you have there.
 

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that old gurney of mine looks good in there. how did you put in the front bar mount?
but what is missing on this other one is a set of rivets just fallow on up the mattress holder and you will see how it was bent around the frame and riveted back to it's self. if you not going to using it for any people a pop rivet will hold it till you find a aluminium one. the foot rest would be just like that one in the ford, the carriage bolt go thew the wood hold it to the upright which is not supposed to swing it should be tight enough to stand up right and as it only stays at ground lever you need the handle to pull it around. one man on either end to keep it from swinging. they were never any fun to use and the multi level one #30 was a nice addition in spit of the extra weight.
 

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Thankyou for the info and pics guys, That is what i was hoping that some of you may have. And that answers the questions of the unknown on that one. It looks like it would not be too tough to make what is missing, even if it was made with lighter gauge conduit being its not going in service.:thumb::thankyou2:
 
Rocky, I went down in the crawl space of the funeral home and dodged some wicked spiders to look at mine. I have four of the low boy stretchers, and two that are consistent with this era. One looks like the Ed has pictured, and the other has a black plastic foot rest and also features a pull bar at the head end. Sorry, I don't have a working camera at the moment, but Ed's photo does the trick.
Different funeral homes gave me all of these low boy stretchers, as they aren't worth much to a funeral home now, some of the two man stretchers occasionally see some use, but not these...
 
if your not going to but it back in service one would not need the raised head end. the matterss would cover everything any way.
 
That was kind of what i was thinking, that even if i made the top out of conduit and covered it in the car no one would probably be the wiser. Also Kent thanks for risking your like fighting those monster spiders.
 
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