Page 97 - Experience Magazine Spring 2022

FILL ’ER UP

VINTAGE GAS PUMPS

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It seems fitting with the rise of suction pump, operated by hand-
electric vehicles that we take a stroke lever action. In 1905, the
moment to savor what we love same year the first filling station was
about combustion-powered cars. constructed, Bowser added a hose
The whiff of fuel when you crank attachment and a nozzle to allow
the engine, the way it makes your gasoline to be dispensed directly
car sound, we love it all. That’s into the automobile fuel tank.
right — gasoline.
At the time, filling clerks would
It can be challenging to picture a count the number of cranks — or
moment in time when gas stations pumps — made with the handle
weren’t on just about every corner. to determine how much gas had
The first gas stations, also known been delivered into a customer’s
as filling stations, were very tank, with one crank equating to
different from the convenience one gallon. The clerk would put
stores we know today. Nostalgic an ear up to the vehicle’s tank and
pumps have become items many listen for gas filling; some even
love to collect. looked down the pipe to see if the
So, what makes gas pumps tank was full.
collectible in the first place? For In 1915, the demand for a more
some, it’s the brand, color, or era precise way to measure what was
— for others, it is all of the above. being purchased led to the design
of towering creations known
At the onset of the automobile
boom, motorists purchased as visible gas pumps, standing
gasoline from grocery stores, upwards of 10 feet tall.
hardware stores, machine shops, “Filling a gas tank was still a novel
and even pharmacies that offered idea at the time,” says Barrett-
it by the gallon. Jackson Automobilia Director
Sylvanus Freelove Bowser, an Rory Brinkman. “Motorists were
American inventor, designed worried about unscrupulous gas
the first kerosene pump to station owners shorting them on
safely dispense kerosene and the product.”
other “burning fluid and the Thus, a transparent cylinder
light combustible products of typically held 5 or 10 gallons at
petroleum.” Bowser’s pumps held the top of each visible pump,
up to 42 gallons, and he patented marked like a measuring cup.
his invention in October 1887.
“By having the cylinder visibly
The first version of the Bowser filled, the motorist could watch the
pump consisted of a square metal amount go down as it was pumped
tank with a wooden cabinet and a into their tanks, thereby reassuring

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