Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion What are these holes used for?

Restoring a Fry Speedboy 71. The internal drainback system was mostly junk and a lot of pieces missing. The larger hole in the lower left was probably for the regulator handle, but what were the 4 slots for? A locking mechanism? Any help or pictures would be appreciated. Thanks, Richard.

That hole on the bottom left of the door IS for the regulator handle. Almost exactly like the Mae West Frys but nickel plated.

As for the other holes I have had 3 of these pumps and they all were the same but they were from the same station.

They did had a spring loaded "wanting to stay down and open" cover that flopped down using a pivot system with a locking rod at the top - like an antique condom machine "Harmon" brand - the bars sticking out were about 1/4 inch thick flat stock bent 90 degrees to fit into these slots and about 1" wide/tall and they were held in the pump with the regulator gage 1-10 gallon system and allowed you to unlock a padlock at the top, pull a round rod with a hole on one end for the padlock and a rivet rounded head on the other, drop the door "hinged at the bottom" down, then you would put the rod back in the dropped door and re-padlock. The dropped door would flap down from the top "spring assisted" and it laid against the pump allowing you to keep the MAIN regulator door open. The bottom of this door had another rod/hinge pin that was rivet rounded on both sides so it could not be removed without a grinder.

I could never tell if it was home made or original - but it was very cool. It would be real easy to make because the cover was only 1/8 steel that was flanged to the inside to hide the gap between the doors. This door had 1/4 inch flat stock on the front of it that was also bent 90 degrees to allow the pins to go through the doors flat stock to the pumps flat stock. The drop doors flat stock was spot welded to the dropping door.

Sorry no pics...

And you need to thank Dick Bennett for emailing me about your question - I am too busy trying to finish up two Fry 73 speedboys this week to look over the forum much.


Travis
Topeka, Kansas

Thanks Dick Bennett for contacting Travis to help me out. Travis I read your reply several times, I even checked out a couple of old Harmon condom machines. I've got a pretty good idea of what your talking about. Was the regulator assembly similar to a Mae West? Was any of this mechanism exposed when the door was closed? Since all the guts are missing, I'm not to concerned what was inside, but if you could see some of it from the outside when the door was closed I would love to fabricate something to put there. Thanks for the effort. Richard