LEGENDARY COMMENTS BY GEORGE CHEVALLIER 5-7-16

Gas Pumps

Something we all take for granted are gas pumps. We go get gas and hardly give a thought to the years of evolution that have brought us to the present “swipe & go” method of filling up our tank.

          

These past two weeks have had me thinking about an invention of my father’s that would have solved the problem for the gas stations up north that couldn’t pump gas because they didn’t have electricity. The plaque in the picture is a copy of the patent for a design to insert a crank into a gas pump when the electricity goes off that allows you to hand crank the gas out. I thought about this as the news was relating the situation during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. I couldn’t figure out why they couldn’t just insert the crank and get all the gas they wanted.

          

Because my father worked for Martin & Schwartz/Wayne Pump/ Dresser for a total of 44 years, he never realized any great monetary gains for his efforts. He also helped design the famous “blender” pumps that were seen at all Sunoco stations back in the 1960’s.    

          

I remember sitting around the dinner table and usually the conversation was about us kids. Back in the 1950’s, we finally decided that Pop should be included in the evening conversation. After two weeks of hearing about a new valve he was working on and very excited about, we politely asked him to leave work at work. I guess valves were not very interesting to anybody but an engineer.

          

Times have changed to the point where nobody works for anybody for 44 years. Part of this situation is because companies don’t remain in one location for that long anymore. Pop never complained about not getting rich from his many ideas incorporated in the pumps. He had the self-satisfaction of a job well done and job security. He was raised in Buffalo, N.Y. during the Depression and appreciated just having a job. According to his peers, he was the most knowledgeable man in the world when it came to mechanical gasoline pumps. Toward the end of his life/career, more and more electronics were incorporated in the design of gas pumps. He freely admitted that he knew nothing about electronics and the young electrical engineering graduates were where the future was going.

          

Sometimes we take things for granted nowadays and never give a thought to bettering the situation. It seems that the hand crank on the pump has been relegated to a time in history when people used their ingenuity to advance everybody’s situation in life. Now, it’s just press a button and everything works. But not without electricity.