This was one of the many vehicles of the Welbasch Street Lighting Maintenance Company. Welbasch has been known well back to the mid-1800s for gas lighting installations.

In some larger cities street light maintenence was done by private companies (opposed to by electric utilities). This was especially the case whereby the city owned the pole, fixture and lamps. This tradition continues in New York City. The City owns the lights and either has their own (or contracted) crews maintain them. From there Consolidated Edison receives energy-use payment for all lights within the system; billing calculated depending upon wattages of all luminaires for a determined number of operating hours per billing cycle. In other large cities such as Los Angeles, the LA Bureau of Street Lighting exclusively maintains their own fixtures.

Please refer to [id=215534453] for the 1913 version of a similar street lighting platform vehicle.