Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Highboy as a lube dispenser term

I live way downunder in Perth, Western Australia and in my retirement from the oil industry I research and write stories on petroliana in Australia. We introduced glass Imperial pint and quart glass oil bottles in racks for gas station driveways in 1928. These bottles were filled from winder-handle rack and pinion pumps sitting in tanks generally measuring 10 inches wide across the front, 22 inches deep, and 30 inches high. the tank had a dipstick than in Australia was calibrated to 24 Imperial gallons (equivalent to 30 US gallons).

As far back as the early 1930s I have evidence how our oil industry used the name "highboy" for this tank and pump unit, and this had variations of "hi-boy" and "hiboy". I tried hard to find the origin of this term that I always reckoned came from the USA, where I certainly knew identical (but 30 US gallon) dispensing equipment was used in lube bays at gas stations and workshops. In "Shop Talk" I now see this same size type of equipment often referred to as a "lubester" but I always thought that term applied only to the larger and earlier 50 or 60 US gallon tanks with pumps - often with two wheels for wheeling out on the gas station.

Then in my browsing an Aussie colleague's March 2005 issue of US publication "Check the Oil!", in the middle of page 28 I see the For Sale item of "Five 60-gallon motor oil high boy lubesters for filling bottles" from the seller in Hampshire, IL, west of Chicago. "Wow!At last!" I think of this discovery being at least proof of the use of the term "high boy" in the USA. Can any other "Shop Talk" members please provide similar support?

In Google-ing for "highboy" all one gets is lots of USA antique furniture organisations offering highboys as a high chest of six or so drawers, as the collaroy for advertised lowboys being a lower set of drawers on legs often with a swing mirror. Just to be different, we Aussies call the latter a "dressing table" and our "lowboy" is a small maybe five foot high cupboard with two doors concealing hanging space on one side and narrow drawers on the other side. What your furniture people call highboys we call a chest of drawers. I say all that wondering how ever the furniture term of highboy was ever transferred to an item of lubes dispensing equipment in the USA?

I await any responses with great interest.

Tony Burnett

It may not be proper but in common use. I think a combo of lubrication + dispenser.

You hear highboy once in a while over here probably depends where you are located.

The BENNETT PUMP CO. actually made a despencing oil pump called HIGHBOY [& was cast on the cover lid].

Kinda like refering to ANY pump as BOWSER'S, I guess !
DB

Castrolforever,
Here is a not so good photo of a Bennett High-Boy mentioned by DB.
[img=http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/2671/10002304tj.th.jpg]
Ed

Very encouraging and greatful to get three replies already. Rust Collector provided the vital-clue photo of the tank lid embossed BENNETT HIGH-BOY, which in the centre is embossed MFD BY REPUBLIC STEEL PACKAGE CO RICHMOND CA (California). I see Dick Bennett's reply mentions Bennett Pump Co making a dispensing pump called HIGHBOY with that name cast in the lid. Is that a different manufacturer to Republic? I know Bennett also made gasoline pumps. Maybe Republic made the tanks and embossed lids for Bennett? So I will still appreraciate any ongoing dialogue.

Tony Burnett downunder

This is Rust Collector's image with a little tweaking to lighten it up.

Maybe Jack Sim can give us some more info.
Dick

If you refer to my history of the Bennett Pump Co. (in my Gas Pump Identification book) you will see that Bennett didn't make a gas pump until they were purchased by the Service Station Equipment Co. At that time SSEC also bought our the Shotwell Pump Co. This was all around 1928.
Up until that time, Bennett was famous for their lube and oil equipment dispensers. Also around 1926 Bennett came out with a line of oil dispensers called the "Highboy."
I didn't put too many of them in my book because they all look alike.
The highboys were used in the Car Bars, as well as individually or in banks of as many you wanted.
Many of the highboys had glass cylinders, but this was dropped later.
Around 1930 Bennett came out with the "Big Bertha" series of oil dispensers.
I have color brochures, and parts repair manuals for a ton of oil dispensers.
Jack Sim

Jack. I only registered with the oldgas.com Shoptalk this week, so I sure don't have your Gas Pump ID book here in Australia. From an Aussie colleague, yesterday I learnt how in 1919, Thomas B (Bert)Bennett formed the Bennett Injector Company making differential grease injectors. The business expanded and in 1924 the name was changed to Bennett Pump Co. But as you said, Bennett gas pumps did not eventuate until 1928 as a result of the merging with SSEC and Shotwell Pump Co.
With your revealing statement "around 1926 Bennett came out with a line of oil dispensers called the Highboy", can I now state authoratatively this line of highboys was from Bert Bennett's Bennett Pump Co, and no other enterprise with the name of Bennett? I say that wondering why (as shown in the above photo)there is some obvious manufacturing link between the BENNETT HIGH-BOY and Rebublic Steel Package Co? Maybe this was because in 1926 Bert Bennett's business did not have the manufacturing capabilities to make all of the highboy components?
My Aussie colleague sent me a 1-page US$ valuation guide illustrating 7 different Bennett mobile lube dispensers all dated 1926. They were in 2 and 3 compartment tank variables, both in 25 and 31 gallon capacities, and with both glass and metal cylinders for the pumps. Were these also made by Bert Bennett's company?
Tony Burnett

As for why the Bennett lid has Republic on it I can only speculate. If you will also notice it says Cal which I assume is California. Possibly Bennett had some of their items made by Republic in California. As for Bennett's capibalities, believe me Bennett could make anything. I visited their original plant the year they closed it.
No way I can answer you last question without model numbers.
By the way, Bennett was still making HIGHBOY oil dispenser in 1961.
If you can identify (Model number) your unit, I probably have a parts list for it.
I also want to say that when I wrote the Gas Pump Identification book I intended it to be only gas pumps, but because of the inquiries I had received about other equipment I decided to include some related items that I felt were as collectable as the gas pumps. So I included some oil dispensers, lights and some other equipment. No way did I try to include every oil dispenser, the book would have been twice as thick, and possibly a little boring as they tend to all look alike. Most of the ones I included were even on wheels or had glass cylinders.
Jack Sim
Author, Gas Pump Identification book

Let me throw something in here to muddy the waters a little more.
I read a short bio on the Rheem Manufacturing (water heaters, etc) and they bought the Republic Steel Package Company in January 1930.
Is it possible that Bennett Pump licensed the production of High-Boys? Just a little more to wonder about.
Jack, I can not find a tag or model number anywhere on my High-Boy. Do you have any clues as to how they were marked?
Ed

Jack. The model numbers of the year 1926 Bennettt Oil Dispensers are 202, 205, 206, 280, 291, 3506, 3580, however, I do not reqire any info on them. I do not have a Bennett highboy. As an oil industry historian in Australia, I am merely seeking a definitive answer on the origin of the term "highboy". Unless you or any one else wishes to differ, I think I am on fairly safe ground to state evidence shows this term was used in 1926 by the then Bennett Pump Co (rather than any other company named Bennett) and in the early stages all or some components of the highboy manufacturer appeared to be contracted out to Republic Steel Package Co, Richmond, California, maybe until Republic Steel became part of Rheem in 1930. By then, Bennett Pump Co had increasing manufacturing capability to then make these highboys on their own and were in fact still making them up to 1961. What Dick Bennett and Rust Collector/Ed are also saying seems to support this conjecture.
So if no one disagrees with this I am happy to conclude this useful dialogue with thanks to all who responded. Tony Burnett

My opinion: Bennett Pump Co. was the first to use the HIGHBOY. They used it around 1927 to describe their tall oil dispensers. Around 1929 they came out the BIG BERTHAS oil dispenser, they even had HIGHBOY,BIG BERTHAS, these it seems were not only tall but wide.
Bennett is the only company that I have ever seen that used the HIGHBOY.
Jack Sim