The buckle was the latch that opened the door.
Something looks wrong to me, the very small hole in the buckle was for the very small sight glass on the L-1, so which came first, the chicken or the egg? Why would they have a buckle on a 1939 pump that has a hole in it for a sight glass on a 1947 pump?
And what about the four pumps I show that were made by Neptune between these two models? Why don't they have the buckle?
Jack Sim
Well Jack I agree something is wrong. You have a great book and we are damn lucky to have it as part of our hobby. Nothing out there comes even close to what you have assembled and accomplished. NOT EVEN CLOSE. However it is not perfect. Even with your thousands of hours of research and thousands of pages of information, you can't cover every variable in this hobby.
So here is the story.
As I got it:
This pump spent it's life inside a Municipal Highway Department Garage. It was literally in a closet. It pumped diesel it's whole life I am told. When they needed to fill a truck, they pulled it up to the door, opened the door, pulled out the nozzle, pumped the fuel and when done closed the door. So I guess that is why the condition stayed so good. Also they stopped using it back in the 80's when they had to pull the tank. I guess it was out of the way, so they just left it in the closet.
It must have been some sort of commercial style pump that was built for a specific purpose. But it was NOT one of a kind. Why do I say that?
1. The computer faces did not have holes for the price wheels. I put on new faces to expose those.
2. The sight glass manifold was in the normal location, but used the small glass like the short pump.
3. The sight glass was formed to fit the sight glass and was highly polished stainless.
4. Like Dick said it had a factory designed cover plate over the recessed globe hole.
5. It also had a cover plate specifically designed to cover the hole in the belt buckle that is used for the sight glass on the short pump.
6. I replaced the cover plate on the belt buckle and put on a backing plate to expose the "steps in the recess in the belt buckle because I thought it looked better exposed.
7. As LC 336 pointed out, these also have a different base. It is cast iron. So it had to be made for the pump.
8. Also as DB pointed out, there is no side door. The belt buckle has the lock like the short pump.
I have to say Dick you sure have an eye for the details! Great observation.
9. Yes the belt buckle actually latches and locks the door shut.
10. The ORIGINAL factory ID Plate is stamped "H 1SA". SA could mean "special application"?
It sounds like the one that DB had was the exact same pump. So they must have been sold all over the country. Not just around here.
So bottom line. It doesn't seem like a one of a kind pump that someone cobbled together. It's just a pump that was not high volume and therefore fell through the cracks on literature.
Like I said Jack, no offense. No one expects your book to be the last word.
I personally thank you for publishing it and for the countless time spent to assemble it.
It's pretty damn close to perfect. Nice job.
John
