Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Wayne 515 visible

Greetings,
I am new to this forum having just inherited a Wayne 515 from my uncle's estate. I am going to restore this pump (I hope) and would love any information available. The serial number is 40449-G and the cut number is 515-E. Not sure what the E stands for. It is all here and still works, but we had to cut the pipes going to the pump to move it. I got enough old paint off it to see it was originally a Sky Chief Texaco pump. Thanks in advance for any info. I am trying to attach photos but it keeps saying the file is too large. Any suggestions?
Doug

E = electric pump motor [knob/lever below cylinder is to run motor Raise to fill cylinder, drop the knob & motor shuts off].
When most were regulated to farm use, the motor was replaced w/ a hand pump.
I don't consider them RARE, but few are found intact today.

Thank you Dick. I have been admiring this pump all my life, and feel honored to have it now. I just want to make sure I do it justice. I saw somewhere else in this forum that their is no internal structure holding the pump and pipes, but that the skins hold everything. Can you tell me what this means? If I am asking too many questions just let me know.

On the 515/519 the Back skin is really the Frame that hold it all together. The Front skin [pump handle side, Other side in 1st picture] is considered to be front, was removable to service interior.

Jack Sim author of several books [2 on pumps] & a member here has the largest [that I know of] collection of literature, although I didn't see the 515-E listed;
http://petrolianacollectibles.com/wayne%20515.htm
He MIGHT have something on a later Model 615 using the same pumping guts.

Great info, I will buy some literature from Jack. Do you or anyone know where I can find out how old this is from the serial number. Is there a book I can buy that has good photos for restoration? Sorry for all the questions, I just don't know where to start.

Oldgas's Book Store;
http://www.gaspumps.info/
PCM's Guide to Gas Pump Restoration - Second Edition
IS VERY helpful & has LOTS of information on how most companies painted their pumps, signage & globes used & placed.

The WAYNE 515 was manufactured from 1924 thru 1929.
Your Serial # in the 3rd Edition, Blue Book of pumps says 1927.

Link 1
519 Wayne Patent
Neither are Exactly your pump [2nd is for the 519 w/ pull stops], but there is quite a bit of worth while reading in each. With more searching in Google Patents you should be able to find the correct Patent for the E.

I can't thank you enough. This is a tremendous amount of help.

Haste makes WASTE. Take your time disassembling. BUT 1st Take LOTS of Pictures along the way & keep them Burned to a CD [computers do Crash & destroy LOTS of files]. Even younger collectors sometimes let Life get in the way of getting a project completed.
ASK questions BEFORE you Break/Destroy something that has lasted 75+ yrs BEFORE you started tinkering w/ it!
Even after breaking 3-4 Cylinders, IT STILL HURTS.

More great advice Dick. I really appreciate it. I will make sure I do the research before I move forward. This pump has sat for 50+ years that I know of and who knows how many before that. Thanks again.

Closer to 85.

Hey, Dug. Welcome to the site. You just keep asking all the questions you need. Dick has given you some good advice. I am primarily a Texaco collector myself and think the pump you have is real neat. Keep us posted on the progress.

P.S. Becareful or you will end up with a garage full of pumps and signs to go with your pump. It's a sickness with no known cure except to buy more.

Thanks Alex. I can see how that can happen. Having a link to the past, and preserving the history of the ones who built this country is pretty special.

BTW if you didn't know it already, the 'cylinders' that broke Dick's heart are the glass. There have been a number of threads recently about those, removing/not removing, etc.

Welcome!

Oh and you might want to ask the moderators to move this thread to the general petroliana or showcase and stories forum. This is the forum where folks ask values. I did something similar with my first post...

Thanks Nicole

Hi Dug. First off welcome. Its YOUR pump to do what you want. And these are just my thoughts when I look at that pump you have. To me looks good to me the way it is. I've kinda noticed for most guys that get into this hobby for awhile, as found condition (as long as its not toasted) is more desirable. If you strip it and make it look brand new, it will not be the same pump you admired for years. Not the same feeling when you look at it. You really cant recreate that look. Personally I would clean the decal a little better and proudly display it out of the severe weather. There are tons of Wayne pumps already restored/destroyed and really ,i feel less in original shape. Like Dick says, haste makes waste. Either way, welcome and enjoy that nice pump.

I second that.Clean it up and remove it from the weather. If you break that cylinder, you will kick yourself in the a** until your boots wear our and the sound of that glass breaking is one that you will never forget...like a loud "tink" sound. Be forewarned and good luck. Dave

I had been giving that some thought, mostly because I don't want to screw up a good thing. I sure appreciate all points of view on this subject. I am still wondering what to tell the insurance lady what it is worth for insurance purposes. Jack's book tells me $1200. Does that sound right?

$1200 when your wanting to buy, $1800-2400 IF a Quake/Fire/Theft Destroys it beyond Repairing.

IF you feel the NEED to restore one, find one in Worse condition w/o Family Ties. Leaving this one as is, you will ALWAYS have FOND MEMORIES EVERY TIME YOU look at it.

Dug, welcome to Oldgas. Good to see another "Wet Side Collector" on Oldgas!

You have received a lot of excellent advise and everyone has been polite.... You've hit the "Jackpot".... LOL

As db has said, If the pump were mine... I would clean it up some; but leave a "restoration" to another pump.... This one has "Family memories and history" that can't be duplicated....

No matter what you decide, We all hope you will share photos of it once you have it looking the way you want..... ( we all like photos, so if you take photos as you progress with the direction you are going... We will enjoy seeing them also)

Dick and Bob,

Thank you so much for the advice. I am going back and forth on leaving it or restoring it. Kevin Frith gave me a ton of information on how to proceed if I decide to take it apart further, so I feel comfortable if I go that way. I think I will take a little longer to make the decision. Thanks again.

I spoke with my cousin about this issue. She stated that my uncle had always talked about "fixing up that old pump like new" but never got around to it. I guess that clinches it for me. I am going to restore it as a memorial. Thanks for all the advice and support.

Based on the reasons you have stated, you have made a good choice. If you had come to the opposite conclusion that you were going to leave it as is as a reminder of your uncle I would have said you made a good choice as well.

I am beginning the process of taking things apart. Here is a picture of the pump after taking off the top, lid, and cylinder.

Here is a picture of the cylinder. I haven't tried to clean it up yet. Any suggestions?

Cylinder

Here is a picture of the lid with numbers attached. Just leave them as is, or do they clean up?

Lid and numbers

I got the front skin off to reveal the guts. Are the two cylinders under the pump filters? The third photo is of the electric pump I have been told. It has three copper pipes running off it to the bottom of the pump. I don't know what they connected to there.

guts


pump and filters?


The electric pump?

Sorry, It's AIR OPERATED, Not Electric.
Ball lever regulates the open/close Air valve.
2 Brass cylinders are Suction chambers [1 up & 1 down w/ back & forth motion of pump handle]. They have check flaps to allow passing thru liquid on down stroke, close on up stroke to pull more liquid & push what it just passed thru up into glass cylinder.

Well that explains a complete lack of electrical wiring outside of the light on the top. Thanks Dick.

I also found this tag tied off to the pump. I am guessing it was a service tag of some sort. No date that I can see just says Texas Oil Co. Colfax Washington. Colfax is where my Uncle lived and where this pump sat.

Now that I have the pump out I am having trouble getting the fill and drain pipes out. Every time I try to unscrew the pipes the whole pump wants to twist because all the support has been taken out. Should I remove the back skin and just leave the pipes attached to the cylinder base?

One other question. How does this mechanism come apart? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks for the info Jerry. It is very helpful.

Thanks to Jerry's descriptions I was able to get the cylinder base with the piping still attached freed from the skins. Almost ready to go to sandblasting.

You should take a few photos of the BlackT Sky Chief sticker, it will be long time before you see another one.

Yeah, I wish I was able to save more of it.