Hello from Hazard!
Well, it’s the moment you’ve been waiting for… the unveiling of Item No. 639.
Some readers thought it might be a fuel pump; others thought it was a fuel filter. Others had the courage to guess other, but incorrect, uses. Still, I knew there had to be some readers out there who could identify it, and I wasn’t wrong.
Art Bilek of Norton, Ohio; William Stirewalt of Green, Ohio; and Ray Fleishour of East Springfield, Ohio, were the only ones (so far) who correctly identified our gizmo as a gauge or tester of fuel consumption. It’s trade name is a “Consometer.”
John Borkowski of Kirtland, Ohio, who sent in the item manufactured by Donat A. Gauthier, Detroit, Mich., included a page from the device’s instruction:
“The tester is mounted on the instrument panel close to the right of the glove compartment, with just enough clearance to open the compartment door fully…” Then you wove the lines through the dash and disconnected the the car’s fuel pump inlet from the fuel line, connecting one of the tester’s tubes to the car’s fuel pump inlet and another to the pipe from the gasoline tank.
“To test leave valve open. Start with tester full. Take speedometer trip readings as fuel level passes graduation markets. Distance traveled multiplied by 10 is the actual miles per gallon.
“To run between tests, fill glass and close valve tightly.”
Mr. Fleishour used the tester many times at a car dealership where he worked for 30 years, although he recalls simply hanging it on a partially open door window, rather than actually attaching it to a dash.
“It was interesting to ride with different operators and watch the different amount of fuel consumed by the habits of each driver,” he adds. “Some customers complained of fuel economy, and this was a way of proving if it was the fault of the driver or the vehicle!”
This was a fun Hazard – something a little different, but certainly unique.
Our next item is shared by Martha McBride of Beloit, Ohio. Anyone have any idea as to its use?
Send your responses to: Hazard a Guess, P.O. Box 38, Salem, OH 44460; or via e-mail to: editorial@farmanddairy.com.
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