1908 – Ford Model T

History

The availability of these new pumps, the proliferation of the filling stations, and the general expansion of motorization had a reciprocal multiplying effect: if the growing number of automobiles encouraged the installation of new pumps, the resulting accessibility to gasoline opened the doors for the broader use and diffusion of motor vehicles.

In 1908, with the Ford Model T, the automobile ceased to be a privilege, and fuel distribution made giant steps in terms of efficiency and security.

The somewhat improvised wooden housing of the first Bowser Self-measuring Gasoline Storage Pump was replaced by metal ones, more solid and not without a certain elegance.

One found the new pumps at the roadside or in specially designated off-road areas where one could refill without hindering the flow of traffic.

Other versions without housings were made available to private firms, garages and repair shops, the most simple of which resembled bicycle pumps.

The use of underground tanks became common, this being the most secure and also the most logical solution, given that the pumps necessarily had to draw their contents from below.

Around 1919, there appeared the first illuminated globes, which were placed atop a pole and bore generic information such as Gasoline, or Filtered Gasoline.

Mobile self-measuring pumps mounted on tank wagons proved to be useful auxiliaries to the fixed pumps, especially in the garages and secondary retail outlets.