Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Showcase and Stories, Petroliana Company Of The Month for June 2004

Company Of The Month for June 2004 is Sinclair.


When I first started collecting petroliana in 1995 my main focus was Standard Oil Company (Ind). My boys were excited about the hobby too. Darrel, my younger son collected Shell. He had an impressive collection going until he lost interest in his teen years. Jeff, my older son collected Sinclair. I'd have to say Jeff was more serious about collecting than Darrel was. As most of you know, Jeff passed away after a swimming accident just after his 15th birthday in June of 1997. My main focus is collecting globes, but I add items to Jeff's collection when I can.

I'm dedicating this month's feature on Sinclair to my son,
Jeff Drake, 6-6-82 to 6-27-97.

During the month I'll post some history of Sinclair and post pictures of what Jeff collected and what I've added to it.

If you have any pictures you'd like to add please do so on the 27th, 28th, or 29th.

I'll wrap things up with a few special items on the 30th.

Harry Ford Sinclair got started in the oil business as a speculator buying and selling oil leases. It wasn't long before he had attracted a group of investors. Sinclair was always the man in control. They built up quite a bit of working capital, and borrowed even more money so they could buy crude oil from the producers before the pipelines reached the oil fields. They made a tremendous amount of money. Harry wasn't satisfied. In 1916 Sinclair and his investors started Sinclair Oil and Refining Company. Sinclair had done his homework. He started off with crude production, storage, pipeline, refining, and marketing. Within a month Sinclair was amoung the ten biggest oil companies! Before the year was out Sinclair was marketing from Denver to New York. They eventually marketed from coast to coast.

Law Of Lubrication booklets from 1925 and 30.

Early Pressure System Grease.

30's and 40's maps.

NYCmaps.

[This message has been edited by Lastgas15 (edited 06-01-2004).]

Early Household Oiler

Law Of Lubrication, 1934.

1934 map.

1934 map.

wow bob that is the 1st time ihave seen that house hold oil can, awesome. cheese

Sinclair was an innovator. He had a private telegraph system installed along the pipeline from the wells to the refineries. It also extended to sales offices and to his main office in New York.

A coal haulers strike had stut down the Chicago public schools. Sinclair ordered his employees to convert all the school boilers from coal burners to oil burners. He created alot of good will and opened up a new market for fuel oil at the same time.

Sinclair was expanding rapidly. He bought up pipelines, refineries, and even some filling stations. By 1920 the company had quadrupled in size. Much of the expansion was done using borrowed money. Debt was a problem that plagued Sinclair for many years.

PD (Pest Destroyer) sprayer.


Early Polish can.


Premium Plan booklet.


Back of Premium Plan booklet.

Postcards reminding customers to Sinclair-ize their cars. Circa 1937.




Postcard from the 1933-34 Chicago Word's Fair.


[This message has been edited by Lastgas15 (edited 06-02-2004).]

Bob, great photos and info. I was raised in Wyo. and there is a town there named "Sinclair" my uncle used to live there, and worked for the refinery. I decided to see if the towns name was derived from the Oil Co. While doing so, I found this website that has some great Sinclair history and photographs. Photos of oil oil tanker trucks, gas stations, pumps, and tons of info. Too much to read at one sitting. Did you know that Sinclair developed the first "tamper-proof" can? With your permission, I'd like to share the link to this history.
http://www.sinclairoil.com/history/history_intro.htm

Oh, I did learn that the town of Sinclair was a company name. Previously called Parco, Wy. but changed in the 1940's to reflect the importance of Sinclair Oil to this small town.


------------------
Don "oltoydoc" Sherwood
Vintage Gas

Thanks for the link to that site Doc. I'll continue to cover some of the history as we go along. I've got alot of pictures to post along the way too. I've made them a little smaller than normal so they load faster. I hope thats working OK.
Bob

In the early days there were no standards for auto maintenace. In 1920 that changed when Sinclair published the first Law Of Lubrication booklet. This publication specified lubricants for each make of car, truck, and tractor.

In the earky 20's Sinclair opened its first service station. They had previously just had filling stations. This allowed them to enter the T.B.A. (tires, batteries, and accessories) market.

Early Stock Spray can. Very rare.


Extremely rare Wax Oil can.


1933 World's Fair "newspaper" advertising Sinclair. 1st edition.

1933 World's Fair "newspaper" advertising Sinclair. 2nd edition.

Matches from various years.


Hard to find Pennant globe with flag touching pole. Circa 1930-33.


3pc. glass Sinclair Gasoline globe. Circa 1930-37.

Pennant globe. This is the more common version where the flag is away from the pole. Circa 1930-33.

Its a long an involved story, but Harry Sinclair was implicated in the Teapot Dome Scandal. He was aquitted, but was sentanced with contempt of court for hiring private detectives to spy on the jurors. Sinclair's troubles weren't over. He served six months in prison for contempt of the senate for refusing to answer questions during senate hearings.

U.S. Motor Specifications globe. Circa 1933-35.

U.S. Motor Specifications globe. Circa 1935-38.

H-C glass globe. Circa 1930-54.

Ethyl globe. Circa 1937-46.

[This message has been edited by Lastgas15 (edited 06-03-2004).]