An old-time petrol bowser brings back memories

@JudyEv (382104)
Rockingham, Australia
August 21, 2024 7:46pm CST
Seeing the above petrol bowser in the café in our home town of Narrogin brought back memories of being a child. We lived on a farm and ‘Town day’ was Friday. Coming home, we would stop at Cuballing, a much smaller town and fill the car from a bowser just like this one. The shop-keeper would come out, pump the petrol by hand to fill the glass part at the top, then pushing/undoing something or other to allow the petrol to flow into the petrol tank of the car. The bowser held six gallons. I found it fascinating to watch the red liquid swirl into the chamber and gradually fill. Do you remember these?
15 people like this
13 responses
Four Walls
@FourWalls (86713)
• United States
22 Aug 24
I saw photos of them, including in the museum today, but I’ve never seen one in operation. Amazing!
3 people like this
Judy Evans
@JudyEv (382104)
• Rockingham, Australia
22 Aug 24
@snowy22315 @FourWalls Once again, I was presuming they were once universal but it seems not. I wonder how come we had them. Maybe they are an English design. I'll have to ask @RonRybs.
3 people like this
snowy
@snowy22315 (208944)
• United States
22 Aug 24
Never saw anything like that in my life. Really doesn't look like our pumps of old
3 people like this
Judy Evans
@JudyEv (382104)
• Rockingham, Australia
22 Aug 24
It must be an English invention surely and was brought out to Australia.
rebelann1949
@rebelann (117237)
• El Paso, Texas
22 Aug 24
I've never seen anything like that one, it would have been fascinating.
2 people like this
Judy Evans
@JudyEv (382104)
• Rockingham, Australia
22 Aug 24
I was always very intrigued with it.
1 person likes this
Loretta
@noni1959 (13048)
• United States
22 Aug 24
That is amazing. I never saw one like that. When I was younger, we had a few stations with the old single pumps.
2 people like this
Loretta
@noni1959 (13048)
• United States
25 Aug 24
@JudyEv It must be. We had different types over the years. I have an old pump from the oil fields my dad brought home and it was used to hand crank out fuel. It's in my daughter's storage right now.
1 person likes this
Judy Evans
@JudyEv (382104)
• Rockingham, Australia
22 Aug 24
It must be an English type. None of the US readers seem to have heard of it.
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Ron Rybs
@Ronrybs (21497)
• London, England
22 Aug 24
I've only seen these on the History Channel. Probably had something similar in the UK, but never seen them
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Judy Evans
@JudyEv (382104)
• Rockingham, Australia
23 Aug 24
No-one seems to know about them. Maybe I'm older than I thought I was.
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Judy Evans
@JudyEv (382104)
• Rockingham, Australia
24 Aug 24
@Ronrybs We'll say that was the reason.
1 person likes this
Ron Rybs
@Ronrybs (21497)
• London, England
23 Aug 24
@JudyEv Maybe the local fuel pump was kept on long after it should have been retired!
1 person likes this
M Cheung
@Beestring (15372)
• Hong Kong
22 Aug 24
No, I haven't seen one. It is interesting.
2 people like this
Judy Evans
@JudyEv (382104)
• Rockingham, Australia
22 Aug 24
I can remember the lady pumping the handle back and forth and the liquid coming into the top chamber.
1 person likes this
Judy Story
@jstory07 (148734)
• Roseburg, Oregon
22 Aug 24
Very interesting. I have never seen anything like that before.
1 person likes this
Judy Evans
@JudyEv (382104)
• Rockingham, Australia
22 Aug 24
It doesn't seem like it was an American thing.
Eva James
@wolfgirl569 (135770)
• Marion, Ohio
22 Aug 24
I don't but it would be fun to watch
1 person likes this
Judy Evans
@JudyEv (382104)
• Rockingham, Australia
23 Aug 24
The person would pump and pump until the petrol reached the marker for 2,4,6, gallons or whatever. Then it would gravity-feed into the car.
1 person likes this
RasmaSandra
@RasmaSandra (98004)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
22 Aug 24
I have never seen such a thing before,
1 person likes this
Judy Evans
@JudyEv (382104)
• Rockingham, Australia
23 Aug 24
It seems they were very much an Australian thing.
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Manuela Lopes
@nela13 (59365)
• Portugal
22 Aug 24
We still have that in petrol station here, I think it is used only for motos.
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Judy Evans
@JudyEv (382104)
• Rockingham, Australia
23 Aug 24
At last! Someone who has seen them and knows about them!!
1 person likes this
Manuela Lopes
@nela13 (59365)
• Portugal
29 Aug 24
@JudyEv or maybe we still need to evolve.
1 person likes this
LindaOH
@LindaOHio (222417)
• United States
22 Aug 24
I'm sure I saw some; but I don't remember them. I do remember gas for under $1 per gallon. Have a good day.
1 person likes this
Judy Evans
@JudyEv (382104)
• Rockingham, Australia
22 Aug 24
It doesn't seem as if they had this sort in the US. Maybe they were an English type.
1 person likes this
LindaOH
@LindaOHio (222417)
• United States
23 Aug 24
@JudyEv I think we did; but I'm not sure.
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jaishankar
@Shivram59 (50233)
• India
22 Aug 24
I have seen it on photos and;I remember;I had read about them somewhere;but never seen it.
1 person likes this
Judy Evans
@JudyEv (382104)
• Rockingham, Australia
23 Aug 24
Maybe there weren't many like this around as nobody seems to have seen one.
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jaishankar
@Shivram59 (50233)
• India
23 Aug 24
@JudyEv I asked my friend.They have never seen it;too.
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Jim Bauer
@porwest (112876)
• United States
22 Aug 24
These would have been way before my time. I have seen them, but never used one or even saw one used.
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Judy Evans
@JudyEv (382104)
• Rockingham, Australia
22 Aug 24
It's beginning to look like they weren't used in the US. Maybe it's an English invention.
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Jim Bauer
@porwest (112876)
• United States
22 Aug 24
@JudyEv Yeah, I don't think so either. We had pumps that looked similar but I am sure they were operated differently.
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