MTFCA Forum

I recently acquired an Ever-Ready Auto Oiler, complete and in the box. I have seen them before at swap meets over the years, most in pristine condition and many still in their original box. Has anyone ever installed one of these and used it? The explanation seems like a good idea but may not have had a real operational presence. Just curious more than anything else.
Thanks

I have never heard of one. What kind of car was it for and what part was being oiled?
Many years ago I had a Franklin with overhead valves. Each cylinder had it's own head and valve cover. There were felt pads soaked in oil inside the covers. As the valves closed, the rocker arms would hit the felt and squeeze out a few drops of oil. There was a bottle of oil on the firewall with a tube which was connected to each of the valve covers and a float which bobbed up and down as the car went over bumps etc. This would squirt a bit of oil into each cover keeping the felt pads oiled.
Some other cars might have had a similar oil system. I've never heard of an automatic oiler for a Model T.
Norm

Just another nifty gizmo go go wrong long before it has actual utility

Personally, I hate to see nifty New Old Stock ephemera broken up and product installed, rather than continue to display them in the condition that they managed to survive in for 100 years. My perspective is that at some point, with respect to similar items for which I am the conservator, that still look like they are in the store's display case, and when I am gone, the next generation will be able to see and enjoy them in the same condition.

I have one of the sought-after FORD repair kits all complete in a mint tin. I suppose I could throw out the rubber cement container and the old sandpaper as well, as the cement is dried up, the sandpaper is too small to refinish a dresser. I could use up the rubber patches for something or other, replace a bulb or two with the 2 bulbs that are in it, and surely there is some use for the original spark plug...I'd still have the tin available to bounce around under the back seat with an assortment of rusty screws and gently used cotter pins. Or I could display it so that the next generation can see what a 100 y/o original emergency kit consisted and what it looked like when it was new.

Hopefully, you will consider preserving the oiler as a display piece, too.

Link contains instructions http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/257047/268729.html

Yes, probably just keep it the way it is. Most folks must have felt the same way!

Tom, I have one around here somewhere. It came with a warning light and device that went under the transmission door to signal oil was not flowing. I took that part off and the light is still on my 26. Never did install the tank. Some years ago a friend of mine picked up a bunch of those at the Little Hershey swap meet and I have often wonder where they all ended up.

I'd guess these were probably most used on commercial vehicles to prevent inattentive drivers from running out of oil during the long busy workday.

I was working on a job in Kentucky as a boilermaker sometime in the 1980s. I passed a yard sale at an old house on my way to work. Being the junker that I am, I had to stop. There were a couple of the NOS Ever ready oilers on a table for 5.00 each. The old man told me his dad had manufactured them in the teens 20s . He also said someone had bought over a 100 of them the day before. The two I just bought he had just found in the house. He mentioned that the roof of the building they were made in had collapsed is why he was cleaning the building out. I had to ask if I could look in the building. He said it was OK to dig around in the building if I was carefull. The building was a rock building about 20 x 30 in size with a shed room down one side. The roof had collapsed on the main room, but the shed roof was still pretty good but leaking . It looked like the shed had been almost full of the oilers. Lots of them had been ruined by the roof leaking, others had been torn up by rats and mice, others were just dumped out on the floor. By digging in the piles I was able to get 50 boxes that were complete and still had pretty nice labels. The old man said since I was doing all the work I could have any I found for 1.00 each. I was late for work that day but in hindsight I wish I had just spent the whole day digging in that building. The only really useable part of these oilers is the low oil light switch under the trans inspection door and the oil light on the dash. They work real good as a low oil "idiot" light.. There were 100s if not a 1000 of them scattered in the pile of damaged boxes. This was one of those finds that I will always remember and also regret not pursuing further.

Interesting, however, I don't think I would trust one on a T. Maybe the light, but to drain out all the oil and depend on that device?
Norm

Norman Kling wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 23, 2022 10:38 am

Interesting, however, I don't think I would trust one on a T. Maybe the light, but to drain out all the oil and depend on that device?
Norm

You dont drain all the oil out. This device reads the amount of oil flowing under the cover & adds as needed. I remember some 25 years ago, someone found a pallet full of these NOS in some warehouse on the left coast. They were everywhere. They are still floating around. Ill bet from that same pallet load. I bought 4 or 5 myself @ $20 each.

Pretty sure Ralph Ricks, R.I.P. installed one on his yellow speedster !

Being as we live in Louisville, I thought it would be fun just to keep. The instructions indicated the wiring is done through the mag circuit. I assume there is a light bulb in the white glass idiot light and the glass appears to be thick and fairly opaque. If lit, are they bright, white, red,,? I’d like to find the address of where they were made and go to see if that building is still there!

How it works
Info on the transmission cover http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/25 ... 1329539983
How it works from shttps://www.modeltcentral.com/model-t-ford-accessories.html