I assume the glass oil bottles you saw at service stations were just to make it easy to display, measure, and dispense the oil into customers cars. How were those bottles filled? Did the station have a 5 or maybe even 55 gallon drum in the back with a hand pump and when the attendants didn't have customers they would keep the bottles filled? Or was there an 'oil man' that drove around a tanker truck and filled the glass bottles?
When did the industry move from those glass bottles to metal cans? Then the metal top cardboard body cans I remember in the 70's before the plastic bottles came in?
Was it just motor oil that was done that way? How about if you needed oil for your rear or transmission? Where there different weights of oils or was it just what ever the brand happened to sell? I never wondered before but did you put the same oil in a Pacakard as a Model T?
Way back when ALL oil was handled in a bulk type format. The tank truck driver would fill up one of these.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/antique-oil-pump-tank-Lubester-Hand-crank-Bennett-306-/152655541848
The attendants then pumped the oil into the glass bottles and set them on their decorative rack on the service island and (if necessary) poured one into you car.
The clear glass allowed the buyer to check for color and purity. (back then standards were not always high)
The delivered bulk oil was poured into the covered round hole in the top of the 'box'.
The bottle was placed under the end of the dispensing pipe.
The (spring loaded) curved goose neck tube swung to the side (you will note the flat/curved plate that fits against the bottle) The crank pumped the oil from the tank into the bottle.
The curved goose neck tube allowed the drippings to run back into the tank.
You will also note the dip stick to gauge how much oil was left in the tank.
Heavier oils for transmissions or rear ends must be pumped into the car while it is on the rack These dispensers were located back in the service bay or "lube rack".
Manufactures (Ford or Packard) would recommended using a "quality" oil of a specific weight or designation. (which have changed radically over the years) There were no synthetic or other choices, it was all 'just oil'.
Personal preference was a major part of the brand someone would use. Which it still is today.
Did all the gas companies have their own line of lubricants too? So if you sold Standard Oil gas you also presumably sold Standard Oil lubricants?
Yup. It was a major marketing item.
It must be remembered that before the 1970s lubrication was a HUGE part of automobile ownership and maintenance.
Dates and devices varied between manufactures but . . . . Air filters did not exist before about 1930. Even after that they were commonly just a screen, copper mesh or even a propeller type 'spinner' that threw off the dirt (1920s-30s Lincoln)
Oil 'filters' were commonly just screen type strainers. If there were oil filters at all they were 'by pass' which meant that not all the oil was filtered all the time. Full flow filters did not become common until the mid 1950s
Oil changes were recommended every 1000-2000 miles. Chassis Lubrication every 300-500 miles. (Zerk or Alimite fittings) Oil in the air filters themselves needed changing. (oil bath type)
During a cross county drive you would plan to do at least one oil change and major lube during the trip before you got home.
Cars before 1930s routinely came with a factory oil can under the hood so you could add a few drops to the generator and distributor at each fill up.
Cars needed A LOT of oil and lubrication products the oil industry was happy to provide it.
And to add to you comment about containers.
This 'old man' recently noticed that the local auto stores have all but eliminated the 1 quart oil containers. All they sell are a 5-6 quart jug that is for dong a complete change(!) How do you 'add a quart' of oil anymore? I guess that modern cars no longer burn or leak any between changes?
But this change does make it harder for me when my cars DO need to have oil added 1 quart at a time. >:(
I have now begin saving the 1 quart bottles and have to fill them from the 5 quart jug :(
100 years of progress has come full circle. 8)
Oh, the good old days. How soon they went.
The big killer of the Service Stations and their bottles of different oils came with the Self-service Stations, and the increase in mileage between services as quality of both oils and vehicle manufacture allowed longer intervals. This meant that nobody was employed to do any maintenance to customers, just sell petrol, and the drivers had to learn how to operate the pumps.
I used to purchase oil in the 60 Litre Drums and decant into the glass containers, and oil this way was really cheap. But, took up room. Now, I purchase my oil in 4 or 5 Litre Plastic containers, four at a time in cardboard boxes. And if I need to top up an engine, I decant the contents into one of my getting fewer glass bottles, and then pour the contents into the engine. At least the spout means that I don't spill any.
But, I still purchase my Transmission, and Diff oils in the 20 Litre drums as I have a tap on the bottom, and they sit on a rack in my garage.
I have gotten rid of my pumps, as I don't do that much these days, and soon it will be easier for me to handle the smaller containers, as the large ones are getting heavier, or I am getting weaker.
A funny thing happened the other day. I sold off a couple of my bottles and was surprised what the purchaser wanted to pay for them. And he is only going to put them on show.
Bruce. >:D
Yep, I remember those days. I was pumping oil into a metal qt. can with a flexible spout. Do you remember the metal qt. cans with the verry messy push in spout. I don't miss them.
Great stories. Glad to read them. Thanks.
Memories. Yes. And I recall the old gasoline pumps where a mechanical handle pumped the gas into a clear glass reservoir atop the pump, which was marked off in gallons. One chose the amount of fuel....pumped it into the reservoir and then drained it by gravity into ones gas tank. These old pumps are still a common sight among antique collections.
Good lord...I am getting old.
Bob
Even though it was before my time, the Petrol Station I used to frequent (the only one in my Suburb) has a picture of it with the hydraulic centre-post hoist which was outside in the weather. It was there for a few years before they built a roof over it. Oh to be a mechanic back in those days.
Bruce. >:D
I have four of those antique oil pump tanks. Two “small†and two “largeâ€. I have not used them but got them because the owner wanted to scrap them.
But here is my understanding of how these work, m-mman got the main points:
The pump piston is on a rack and pinon type of arrangement. Before you pump any oil you crank the handle back and forth. This fills the pump chamber and the oil that is pumped this way goes it right back into the tank. Once the chamber is filled then the return tube is pushed aside and a container placed under the spout. The pump is calibrated to pump exactly one quart per rotation on the handle. By counting the number of times the handle is cranked you know how much oil you will be putting in the engine.
Generally those glass containers were for "bulk" oil. They were filled from a drum in the back with a hand pump. I used to do that. I think it was 50 cents/qt and gas was 34 cents/gal then.
The branded stuff was in steel cans and you had a special spout that pierced the can and acted as a spout. No plastic bottles yet.
There were earlier steel bulk oil cans, I have one from my grandfather. Has volume markings and the spout is flexible steel and fed from the bottom with a stopper rod.
My recollection is that the glass oil containers were used for re-refined oil. Anyone else have a similar recollection/
At the gas station I worked at part-time as a teenager in the 50s, some oil was sold in cans we opened with a spout/can opener combination and some was sold from glass bottles as mentioned in previous postings. Supposedly the canned oil was of a higher quality.
Besides bulk delivery of the oil in the glass bottles, another source was the small amount remaining in the cans after having poured 99% of it into motors. The gas station had a rack we'd put the almost empty cans on and over the course of several hours a small amount would drip into a glass bottle. Since cars used (or "burned" as we called it) more oil in those days compared to today, the station sold lots of cans of oil. At the end of the day we filled several more bottles with the "dregs" from the cans. Kind of sneaky on the part of the station owner I thought even as a dumb teenager.
Quote from: D.Yaros on August 16, 2017, 03:04:53 PM
My recollection is that the glass oil containers were used for re-refined oil. Anyone else have a similar recollection/
Down here, there was no such thing as oil in cans that required a spout to pierce into the top.
And no such thing as re-refined oil as well.
Bulk oil in 44 Gallon Drums, and you stuck a drum pump into the top, and simply filled up the bottles as necessary.
Back in those days, each Garage/Service Station was a one-brand affair, and probably only 3 different grades of engine oil. 2 grades of Diff and Transmission oil, and one type of Brake Fluid. Life was simpler back then. Cars were cheaper, and wrecking yards were everywhere.
Bruce. >:D
Back in the 60's when I worked for Gulf Oil here in Pittsburgh, PA here is how we
operated.
We had the old style "paper type" oil cans and had a metal spout that opened
the can and enabled you to add 1 quart at a time. We were "pushed" to check oil
levels at every full up. That was for customers that only needed a "top-up"
For all other services (differential oil, flushing oil, complete oil changes) we
pumped the fluids out of 30 or 55 gallon drums into a measured metal dispenser
with a spout.
Some of you are likely wondering "what is flushing oil"? If we encountered a
car with especially dirty oil that was obviously neglected, we recommended a "flush".
That was a light oil, 10W type mixed with kerosene, that we filled the crankcase with
after draining the old oil. We let it run for about 15 minutes, drained it, and then
filled the crankcase with fresh oil of the type recommended.
The good old days.
Mike
Quote from: Mike Josephic CLC #3877 on August 18, 2017, 01:56:10 AM
Some of you are likely wondering "what is flushing oil"?
The good old days.
Mike
Not as young as you think Mike :D I remember using flushing oil many times.
Boy, I couldn't see the necessary for wasting any money of Flushing Oil. I just warmed the engine up, dropped the old oil, and refilled with new stuff.
Never had any problems doing it that way, but I do remember seeing all the advertising for such extra-cost options, along with special Upper Cylinder Lubricants you squirted into the tank when filling up. A bit of oil did the same thing.
Bruce. >:D
So the paper oil cans were around in the 60's? I presume at some point they were all metal? The paper ones with the metal tops is what I remember first dealing with but by the time I was buying it myself most of it was in bottles.
It seems to depend on the store what sizes are available. There are some things I can only find in quarts but others that only come in gallons. Lately I have been buying 2 gallon jugs and overall its worked well. I have a 2 quart pitcher like thing with a spout that I use to meter it out from the 2 gallon jugs. Its handy for when I only need a half quart.