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Rescued Tool

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Franz

04-25-2001 22:41:00




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Had the good fortune today of rescuing a brass item from a tool collecting yuppie. He didn't know it was brass, too green, so he gave it up easy. The case is 8 sided wood, about 2" diameter and 21" long, with 2 lead Dymo type labels, one "Gasoline & water tester" and the other "Irvin F Richardson" The instrument itself is a telescoping assembly of brass tubes with a plastic cylinder at one end , about 1" in diameter and 16 inches long. After a lot of Brasso and Scotchbrite, I found engraved on the outer cylinder "Irvin F Richardson" "Socony Vacumm Oil Co Inc" "Boston Mass". The plastic tube is about 6" long, 7/8 diameter, with a brass rod running thru it, and what looks like a bathroom sink stopper on the end. The upper 2 brass cylinders come apart, with about 15 feet of copper chain between them. It appears to be an early sampling device that could be dropped into an underground tank, that snalled the stopper part shut onto the bottom of the plastic tube to withdraw a sample. I know Vacum Oil started in Rochester, NY, but I can't date the merger with Socony. If anybody has any information on this device, please enlighten me. Thanks.

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Jim WI

05-02-2001 10:26:42




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 Re: Rescued Tool in reply to Franz, 04-25-2001 22:41:00  
The others have already explained what the tool is, but maybe I can help you a little with Socony.

I think Socony was the Standard Oil Company of New York. It eventually became Mobil Oil (I remember seeing paint cans at my dad's service station that were labeled Socony Mobil).



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Franz

05-02-2001 17:28:43




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 Re: Re: Rescued Tool in reply to Jim WI, 05-02-2001 10:26:42  
You're on the money with SOCONY, Vacum oil started in Rochester, NY, on Exchange St, where they developed the vacum methid of distilation of Pennsylvania crude that arrived by rail. Any way I cut it, I'm real happy with what I found when I scrubbed all the green off, never expected to find engraving.



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Dan

04-29-2001 16:33:37




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 Re: Rescued Tool in reply to Franz, 04-25-2001 22:41:00  
The oil business still uses such devices, called "thiefs". Modern thiefs have spring loaded doors on the top and bottom of the plastic tube. The tube is lowered into the tank on a tape measure, and when the desired depth is reached, a quick yank on the line, like you would set the hook on a fish, causes the doors to snap shut.



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Roger

04-26-2001 17:17:03




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 Re: Rescued Tool in reply to Franz, 04-25-2001 22:41:00  
I wonder if it's for checking for water at the bottom of a fuel tank? Probably didn't have that paste that changes color back then, like they use on the dipsticks at the service station now.



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Franz

04-26-2001 18:40:22




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 Re: Re: Rescued Tool in reply to Roger, 04-26-2001 17:17:03  
That's sort of my thinking too, but I'm old enough to remember when the government kept it's nose the he!! out of my business, and back in those days, we used Vasalene, and sprinkled Potasium Permangenate on it, on the end of the stick. Now that I'm protected, I have to buy the paste crap, at ten times what it's worth, so somebody can mix the potasium permangenate into the Vasalene.



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John in MA--with pic!

04-26-2001 12:45:07




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 Re: Rescued Tool in reply to Franz, 04-25-2001 22:41:00  
Well, I don't know what the heck it its, but here's the auction for those might. A picture's worth a thousand words.



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Mark Kw

05-01-2001 12:06:55




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 Re: Re: Rescued Tool in reply to John in MA--with pic!, 04-26-2001 12:45:07  
Sounds to me like you got what we call a "bullet thief". You can lower it to any point in a tank and then take a sample of the material at that point. These are used when products separate into layers according to their weight. Like water will drop out of oil, different weight oils will also separate into layers within a tank. Heavy oils like #6, #5 will readily drop out of say #1 or #2 oil as long as it does not become a complete blend as it is pumped into the tank. Gear oils will drop out of crankcase oils and ect...

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