Stories Behind Words

Back in the 1860's oil distribution was not well organized. Refiner­ies shipped barrels of kerosene to grocers and hardware stores, and customers took it home in their own cans or bottles. Sometimes wholesalers built tanks in railroad yard or docks. From there they sold kerosene in bulk to peddlers with small horsedrawn tank wag­ons. They, in turn, delivered it to their customers.

Later kerosene was delivered by oil companies in tin cans, and the empties were collected and used again. Today the tin kerosene can has reached the farthest places of the earth. In Mongolia, New Guin­ea, and the Burmese jungle, travelers come upon empty oil cans used by the natives as cooking pots.

When the first cars began chugging along America's dirt roads, the local blacksmith became the garage man. He began to keep a

drum of gasoline fitted with a faucet^ behind his shop. From this he filled a tin pitcher and brought it to a motorist who needed gas. This was quite a procedure, especially if the car was a Model-T Ford and had the gas tank under the front seat. The custom­er had to alight, remove the front seat cushion, and unscrew the cap of the gas tank. Then the blacksmith put a big tin funnel into the tank, and poured in the gaso­line through a chamois to strain out trie Trievh table dirt and water. It was usually necessary to make five or six trips from drum to car.

This was the first service station!