Hello all — longtime reader, first time posting, and this seems like the one place with the expertise to set me straight on what I've got.
First, image album:
https://imgur.com/a/JpcdosaI came into a roll of old engineering drawings that descended through the Fleckenstein family, out of their home in Flint, Michigan. As best I can piece together, they're original factory drawings from the Fleckenstein Visible Gasometer Co. (title blocks read Chicago and Grand Rapids, Michigan), dated between October 1917 and February 1918. Several are hand-signed or name-stamped "Jackson Fleckenstein," and they tie to his patent, US 1,275,545 (granted Aug. 1918). A couple of sheets are marked "Pat. App. For" and "Patents Allowed & Pending," which seems to fit that window. I've read Jackson Fleckenstein is credited with the early visible-cylinder pump but I'd rather hear it from folks who actually know this history than trust my own Googling.
What's in the roll:
- The full "Rear or Side Elevation of the Fleckenstein Visible Gasometer," Model 3A — the whole pump, with the "Filtered Gasolene" globe, twin glass cylinders, rotary pump and base.
- Individual castings: base plate, top plate, and a filter (the filter is an original ink-on-linen tracing, plus a blue-line print of it).
- The internal "Gasolene Measuring Apparatus" sheet, signed Jackson Fleckenstein — an original tracing plus a few period prints.
- Two pencil working drawings (glass cylinder section; a crank/base-plate detail).
- Two Trahern Pump Co. (Rockford, Ill.) rotary-pump sheets — I'm assuming that's the pumping mechanism inside the gasometer.
- One hand-colored cutaway rendering of the twin cylinders.
Media are a mix of ink-on-linen and vellum tracings, blue-line prints, and pencil. One print even carries a Grand Rapids blueprint-house date stamp (April 18, 1917).
For provenance, the same roll held architectural renovation drawings for the "Mr. & Mrs. Wm. Fleckenstein" residence in Flint, plus a family genealogy chart (the family later tied to RPF Oil), so I'm fairly confident on where it came from. The packaging is postmarked with the Fleckenstein address.
I'd be grateful for any read this group can offer:
- Am I interpreting these correctly, or getting anything wrong?
- Has anyone here ever seen Fleckenstein drawings — or the pumps themselves — turn up? How scarce are they really? The only one I've found a record of is the 1924 Shell Duplex that went through Barrett-Jackson in 2010.
- Can anyone add history on Jackson Fleckenstein or the company? I only know the broad strokes.
- And honestly, how is original factory paper like this generally regarded around here compared to the pumps?
Happy to post more detail shots of any sheet or title block. Thanks in advance for taking a look. I've learned a ton just reading this forum.
