From the Archives: the Big Boy

The Big Boy Deluxe Tire Pump, made at the Dalton Foundries Inc., in Warsaw, Indiana. I was working with the garage door open one day, when over walks a neighbor, who asks, "do you have a tire pump? Would you like this tire pump? I've had it for so long, and don't need it any more." I looked at it and thought, man that thing has Schrader written all over it, and won't do me any good. So, I said sure, i'll take it. It has been in the garage now for a number of years, unused even once during that time. The simple mechanism still pushes air through the hose, a little at a time, and I wonder just how many compressions it would take to fill a tube - and, assuming I had a tube with a Schrader valve, I might be tempted to satisfy that curiosity. Unless someone issues a double-dare, though, I think I will pass for now.

It is really not so big but maybe, back when it was manufactured, it was. Times change, and so do bicycle tire pumps. Honestly I have been on a tossing binge lately, and this would be on the bubble, but I was curious and searched - people are asking more than a hundred bucks for some of these. I guess it's safe for the time being.