Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Globe sizes

Does anyone know what diameter the old globes were on visable pumps? I've found reproduction globes in two sizes,13 1/2" and 15". Also with frosted globe whats the best watt bulb to use?

The diameter of the globe depends on the oil company and the year in question. Generally speaking 15" globes were used on visable pumps, so were one piece glass, 13 1/2" glass, plastic bodied globes, 16 1/2" metal body, and 12 1/2" glass. Visables were made into the 50's I think. Let me know the company you want to do and an approxamate era, and I'll see what I can find out.
Bob

As Bob mentioned , about the globes he left out a couple things, if your restoreing a pump and the companys from the left side, all the company globes were 15", except. some of the earlier globes were 16" but they were not all used on pumps, and most of the 16" were flat glass, so to answer your question , I use 25watt bulbs in my globes, behind my add glass 15watt, others may use larger wattages , but anything bigger than a 25 watt gits real hot, if you leave it on to long. good luck and we hope we answered your question,

This kind of goes along with Bob's question and it is kind of dumb but I thought I would ask anyway. Is it possible and to take 13.5" faces out of a capco body and mount them on a glass body? If so, what type of glass body should I be looking for?

S Hardy, You can do it but don't tighten the screws down very hard. The glass body lenes had deeper notches and sometime the lens are even thicker. If you are doing it for a pump that is inside then i say sure. If it's going outside then just use the capco. My Tokheim 39 has Skychief capco lens on a glass body. Bob, did i forget anything do you want to add to this?

Lenses meant for glass USUALLY have deeper notches. Some, but not all lenses meant for capco will fit on glass. The problem isn't so much about how tight the screws are but the angle in which the screws go through the notches. The steeper angle makes the screws rub against the back inside edge of the notch. This can cause flaking of the inside of the lens or even cause the lens to crack.

Best thing is to place the lens on the body and see if the screws will pass through the slots into the body without dragging on the inside of the notches. Theres nothing in the world wrong with using a capco body if your lenses won't fit on glass.
Bob