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| Schrader spark plug air pump advert |
The 1974 'a guide to Land Rover expeditions' has a few interesting paragraphs on tyres, as the quote above indicates. Metal dust caps are still available (check your local ebay) however I don't think I know anyone who has metal dust caps fitted!
One item in particular caught my attention: 'Spark plug air pump (Petrol models only)'
The paragraph continues: 'The latter is extremely useful, as manually inflating large tyres in hot conditions can be very exhausting'.
Ever heard of a Spark plug air pump? Here's an overview of this outdated item:
A third “powered” pump, and a bit less labor intensive, was the spark plug pump. When needed, you would remove a spark plug and screw this device in its place. With the engine running it would create a two-stage pump for the air that was needed. The Mayo Manufacturing Company of Chicago stated that any other way besides their Mayo Spark Plug Pump would be the hardest job you would ever tackle. They also told you that their pump would inflate the largest tire in from 2 to 4 minutes. Another brand of this type of pump was made by A. Schrader’s Son from Brooklyn. The Schrader name might be familiar because of their fame from the manufacture of valve stems. Source: DerekGoogle images and Ebay have a few colour photos of this device:
I wonder what other old vehicle equipment was recommended in those days and what equipment we carry that we will look back at and wonder why we ever used it!
I still have and use mine. Unless you have a very expensive twin-piston compressor, nothing else comes close. It also does indeed pump clean air, because when it draws in air via the slots in the pump, it prevents a vacuum building up in the cylinder and so if you have a carburettor engine no fuel enters. It does get hot in use so taking it off is fun! Also, you have to be careful not to break any spark plugs. I use it as a back-up these days, but it often comes in handy for inflating tyres on multiple vehicles.
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