I don't know where to start, should I point out a number of assumptions and mistakes, or try to put this all in perspective.

Let's start here by taking a look at the country at this time. In 1929 this country entered a depression, millions were out of work. Very few owned cars mainly because they couldn't afford to purchase gasoline because they were out of work, also because they needed money they sold the cars they were not using. No cars, not buying gasoline, don't need new pumps, who could afford them. Around 1937 people started going back to work. This country was not at war, Europe was, but our government knew we would soon be at war. Factories started making military trucks, tanks, guns, ammunition, some of this was being stockpiled getting ready for us to go to war, but most of this material was being sent to Great Britain and Russia under the Lend Lease plan.

Now let's take a look at the Martin & Schwartz Pump Company. The company began business in 1922 in Buffalo, New York, (just a comment, why would you start a business in a city that probably received more snow in the winter than any other city in the U.S.). A good way to judge the production of a company is by the Patents they applied for, (another comment, when looking up Patents ignore the date the Patent was issued, the most important piece of information is the date the Patent was applied for, then subtract a year or two for the time of development and you will probably be close to the time the new product was thought of). Patents are also hard to find, sometimes they are in the company name, sometimes in the designer/engineer's, etc., name. I have spent a few hours looking up M&S Patents, but it appears they never applied for any Patents until 1929 and most of these were for the price signs they were selling. I can't find any type of Patents (regular or design) for the M&S 70.

M&S production records. Here we use the Bluebook. In the BB they estimate the life of a gas pump was nine years, this was in 1942. In 1942 the Office of War Information, War Production Board, Office of Petroleum Coordinator For War asked the Gasoline Pump Manufacturers Association to help them create a list of existing pump companies (and as many companies that were out of business). What they were after was the model numbers, years of production and how many pump were made. Not all information was supplied the same way, some companies supplied information on a monthly basis, other on a yearly basis. The reason for all this was the War Department wanted to encourage these old pumps (many of which were sitting out in farmer's fields) be scrapped for the War effort. Some of these statics are important. The War Department estimated that that over 20,000 old (Hand Piston Type pumps) were still in use; over 620,000 clock and visible were still being used; and another 35,000 to 50,000 pumps from the 1930s were still in use and eligible for the scrap pile.
Now using the figures supplied by the M&S company we can determine how many pumps they produced per year starting with 1933.

1933: Model 129-EU, 1012 made; Model 429-EU, 118 made. For a total of only 1130 pumps made.
1934: Model 129-EU, 398 made; Model 429-EU, 335 made. Total, 735 pumps made.
1935: Model 129-EU, 75 made; Model 429-EU, 33 made; Model 65, 303 made. Total 341 pumps.
1936: Model 129-EU, 710 made. Model 429-EU, 31 made; Model 65, 617 made . Total 1358 pumps.
1937: Model 429-EU, 3 made; Model 65, 866 made; Model 70, 3017 made. Total 3886 pumps.
1938. Model 429-EU, 45 made; Model 65, 50 made; Model 70, 5854 made. Total 5959 pumps.

1939 to 1942 M&S only made 70s, a total of 22,508 were made.

Some assumptions and mistakes above. You state that the oil companies mentioned, did not use the 70 over a decade (10 years). Too big an assumption.
1. They didn't purchase M&S until 1937. No new gas pumps were available for purchase during the years 1942, 1943, 1944 and 1945. Since the pumps were not being made during these years, there were none to sell and plus the War Department restricted all sales of gasoline pump to only reconditioned pumps and you had to have a permit to even buy one. A decade becomes five years now.
2. Oil companies did not order pumps this week and have them delivered next week. Orders were planned years in advance, also orders were usually ordered by divisions of the oil company. Since we don't know when in 1937 the purchase of M&S was made, it is difficult to determine when they took control, if it was in the late part of 1937, that knocks another year or more off the decade.
3. At this time steel was very hard to acquire, how early did M&S have to order the steel to have it ready to make all these pumps?
4. You mention the ads do not show the 70s. Just like large gas pump orders ads were prepared months, sometimes a year in advance. To be shown in an ad, the oil company needed to know way in advance when the pumps would arrive, how quick could they be installed, etc.
5. One more thing, oil company ads were used to sell gasoline, not gasoline pumps.
6. As I mentioned above, around 1937 many companies were making war supplies, It would be nice to know if M&S was involved in this and to what extent. Could this have anything to do with the purchase?
7. Also you mentioned the oil companies may have already ordered pumps from other companies and these were to be delivered in 1938 or 1939.
8. One last killer reason they never used the 70. In 1941 Wayne and some other companies were already making the low (50 inch or lower) gas pumps. This was the newest thing to come along since the computer. Cars were now being made lower, Hudson advertised that you had to step down to get in their new 1940 car. Tall pumps were out of style.

When you think about it, it appears the oil companies never got to use the 70s because of the sanctions, the war and the sizes.

The biggest question that should be asked here is "WHY DID THE OIL COMPANIES EVEN BUY THIS SMALL COMPANY?"

Jack Sim


Author, 1st & 2nd editions of Gas Pump ID book, 3rd edition is now available at www.gaspumpbible.com
Air Meter ID book also available