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Bell Gasoline Saver
Catalog #: 1986.0971.01,
Accession #: 1986.0971
Currently on display
From the Smithsonian Collection
Manufactured in Washington, D. C, the Bell Gasoline Saver cost $5. The Bell Gasoline Saver was collected in its original box, which housed two sheets of paper which provide instructions on how to attach the small device to a car's manifold. Purportedly this attachment improved gas mileage. |
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Physical Description |
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artifact. 4 1/2" L x 1/2" H x 2" W; silver colored metal; shaped like an upside down "J". Device has a threaded end to screw into car's manifold, and an adjustable screw to control airflow. The device is hollow metal, and has a moveable ball inside it. Marked with "Bell Gasoline Saver Pat. Pend" embossed into metal.
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Details |
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Date Made: | about 1915-1920 |
Locations: |
Dist of Columbia
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Credit: | Gift of Howard Cayton |
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History |
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As more and more Americans took to the wheel, they often tinkered with their cars so that they more effectively suited their needs, or to overcome early automobiles' very obvious limitations. A users could buy kits that converted Model T's into a stationary engine, lights, turn signals, anti-theft devices, and a host of other products that the makers of auto accessories touted as essential and useful. Although not all of them worked, or were succesful, some of these early add-ons, became standard features on later cars.
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Related People, Places, and Events |
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Manufacturer
Bell Gasoline Saver Company, Inc
Located at 1909 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C.
Related Person
Edward Watts Saunders (1860 - 1921)
Representative Saunders, a Member of Congress from 1906-1920, was listed as the President of the Bell Gasoline Saver Company. Saunders, a Democrat from Virginia, was a lawyer and judge before becoming state congressman. He resigned from Congress to become a State supreme court judge in 1920, and died in 1921
Related Person
Robert Newton Page (1859 - 1933)
Robert Page was a congressman from North Carolina, and the Vice President of the Bell Gasoline Saver Company. Page was in the lumber and railroad business, was mayor of Aberdeen North Carolina, and a state representative before he was elected to the House. He was a Democratic member of congress from 1903-1917. He did not stand for reelection in 1916, and went back into private business, becoming a banker. He died in 1933.
Related Person
C. E. Grosscup
Secretary-Treasurer of the Bell Gasoline Saver Company.
Donor
Howard Cayton
Place of Manufacture
Washington, DC
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