Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Block off plates instead of globes??

Was it common for pumps that had globes at service stations to be sold with block off plates if being sold to individuals or governments etc. I'm guessing yes as the globes were advertisments but still curious.

Bought that Bennett from a university and I thought (looking at the photos) the globe was just missing. But now that I have it I see there is a block off plate over the hole.

if there was no globe used, there would be a need to keep water out of the cabinet.

You are overthinking the obvious...From my experiences, most pumps had the electrical piping below the closed off top plate. As Joe said, the plate kept the pumps dryer..It would have made good engineering sense to build all pumps this way and let the dealer decide if he wanted to use a globe or not? The guys that designed gaspumps had a lot of common sense, don't you think? Paul www.severngaspumps.com

Guess I am overthinking because I was wondering more if they usually came with globes for lighting around the pump or if they were just for advertising purposes--I know for instance with cars you had to have to special order without radios and heater delete--as most came with---again just new to this and curious.

Don't allow any smart alec answers offend you, your question is a legitimate one.

To answer your question my guess is that globe rings attached to the top of a pump was an option. Some came with them, some not. If you were a jobber that primarily supplied farm and other non comercial customers I suppose you could order a load of pumps without globe rings. The same can be said of sight glasses and in some cases even faces.

Also..you have to factor in that many pumps that found their way to farms and other non comercial settings were sometimes first used in a service station. When they were taken out of service and placed elsewhere the jobber would take the globe off and insert a plate to keep the pump dry.

And finally, most globes that I have seen were primarily for advertising purposes.

Thanks for your questions and keep posting here, there are a lot of guys with a wealth of knowledge around here.

Ahhh none taken--I dont think I was really clear with my thinking either.

Thanks for all the help I've gotten so far--sure before I'm done I'll have alot more questions--I might consider staying off here more--the more I look I understand I dont need one more sickness to add to my list lol---some of the pumps I've seen that members have here are beyond belief!! I never knew

According to my gas pump sales literature, most 30s pumps came with a globe holder, although on some it was an option. When pumps were ordered directly from the factory and they didn't want the globe adapter, the top usually didn't have a hole in it.

Where most of the block off plates came from is in the late 50s most of the oil companies were fading out the globes. If you did not own your station and leased it, you had no option on keeping or getting rid of the globes. I once met a old repair man who was just starting out in the equipment business when they were getting rid of the globes. His job was to remove the old globe, put on a blocking plate, then walk over to the dumpster. He said he would hit the globe with a hammer, but it took two swings to break the crowns.

Jack Sim

It was not my intention to answer with an offensive comment. Apparently it was taken as a slight by some? It was meant to simply show how the designers produced a product that needed very little change over the years to work well. You questions are certainly welcomed here. Paul www.severngaspumps.com

IMAGINE THAT ! IF THEY ONLY NEW THEN, WHAT GAS PUMP GLOBE'S WOULD BRING MONEY WISE!AND HOW COLLECTABLE THEY WOULD BECOME, MANN BEATEN EM' WITH A HAMMER! LOL

I have had lots of jobbers tell me they used to haul truckloads of globes to the dump and smash them.

Well that about made me lose my lunch

Over the years I have heard many guys say I should have kept that 19-- Chevy, look at how much it would have been worth today. There isn't enough garages out there to keep all those old cars and if they didn't smash all those globes in the 50s the ones remaining today wouldn't be worth anthing.

Who was it that destroyed all the Wayne 802, 804, 805 gas pumps. None of these have ever been found and my value of $12,000 each means nothing, I have had guys say they would pay three times that much for one of them. Supply and demand.

Jack