No person shall propel any traction engine or other engine or machine of like nature across, over or along any graded or improved street unless the person in charge thereof applies to the Superintendent of Streets to have a route designed for the same to travel, and if it is not possible to designate a route to reach the desired destination without passing over such streets, then such traction engine or other engine or machine of like nature must have its wheels and other parts so protected or removed that the streets will not be injured by its passage thereon. The Superintendent of Streets shall designate the hours within which such traction engine or other engine or machine may be in motion along the designated route, and if for any reason it is necessary for such traction engine or other engine or machinery to remain upon any public street while not in motion during any or all of the hours between sunset and sunrise, the same shall be by the person in charge thereof protected by a satisfactory red light both in front and behind and on the sides thereof, if in view of an intersecting street.
(`78 Code, § 12.20.040.)