Alemite / Zerk / Bassick Hand-Held Grease Guns

[Leviton]

Found a pistol grip grease gun. They don’t appear to be rare, but I thought it looked cool, it was in fair shape, I didn’t have one and it was only $3.00.

The markings on the gun are:

"Alemite Zerk Mfd By The Bassick Mfg. Co. Chicago, U.S.A"​

"No. 6-B Automatic​

Patented Dec. 4. 1923​

Other Patents Pending​

​

Directions​

Use Soft Grease, Pack In Solid​

To Prevent Forming Air Pockets​

Press Nozzle Against ******​

And Repeat If Necessary.​

​

Mfd. By The Bassick Mfg. Co Chicago U.S.A."​

This is patent 1,475,980 and the patentee was Oscar Zerk.

I tried to figure out the age of this one, but the history of Bassick related companies is not simple. There were several companies with the Bassick name: "The Bassick Mfg. Co.", "The Bassick Co." and the "The Bassick-Alemite Co." Then Stewart-Warner came in to envelop some of the company assets. Attachments to this post provide details that probably no one should care about.

A few interesting threads:

From Alemite to Zerk: The History of the Grease Fitting

The Alemite Story

Grease Fittings I would like to know more about

How does an Alemite Grease Gun work? (Post #12 has some good catalog info.)



The last attachment below is a photo of another grease gun.

 

[d42jeep]

Catalog images courtesy of Tin Medic. The catalog is from December 1944.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

The renovation of my Navy grease gun.
As found.
Cleaned up with spare handles. The original handle wasn’t in good condition.
Completed and in the Navy toolbox.
From the WW2 NAF catalog.
Don

 

[d42jeep]

Here is a link to a couple of late war Jeep correct Alemite grease guns I sold to other collectors.

ALEMITE 6593 LEVER JEEP GREASE GUN FOR SALE (Sold) - G503 Military Vehicle Message Forums

-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Here is a link to a couple of earlier Jeep correct Alemite grease guns I sold in the past.

Alemite 5585 grease guns for sale - G503 Military Vehicle Message Forums

-Don

 

[d42jeep]

My favorite Alemite grease gun is the one in my Jeep’s onboard toolset. It’s
A very hard to find grease fitting adapter.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Found a pistol grip grease gun.

Nice find.

They don’t appear to be rare,

Some are, some not so much.

Don't pass up the long one in the top of this box if you ever see it.





And if you ever find a relatively small (9 ozs) push-type that looks like this...



...marked Balcrank Model P-9 or 40811, please let me know!!!

It's the much-MUCH-MUCH harder-to-find option than the relatively common Alemite 5585 for early Willys MB jeeps.

Link for more with me and my White Vol 5 Evolution of the Willys MB Jeep co-author discussing them here: https://forums.g503.com/viewtopic.php?p=1706994&hilit=Balcrank#p1706994
(I am Wingnutt on G503.)

How does an Alemite Grease Gun work? (Post #12 has some good catalog info.)

That was a good one.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

An interesting ancillary cross-topic subject that occasionally pops up with respect to lubrication down here on the Vintage Tools Discussion forum are pre-Zerk era Alemite sockets, found as special sockets in early socket sets. Similar in appearance and often confused with but different than wingnut sockets. Used for pre-Zerk fittings.

Sometimes they have a cruciform pattern.



Sometimes not...

 

[four.cycle]

Thanks for this, @Leviton

The history of the company is a bit convoluted with all of the mergers and acquisitions and name changes:


Alemite / Alemite Die Casting Co., Chicago, IL / lubrication division acquired 1919 by Bassick Co., Chicago, IL /

Alemite / Alemite LLC, St. Louis, MO / est. 1918 / tool storage systems, work benches, merchandisers / https://www.servicemerchandisers.com/alemite / https://www.skf.com/alemite/about/the-alemite-story / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/alemite-zerk-bassick-hand-held-grease-guns.553024/ /

Alemite / Alemite Lubrication Co., Chicago, IL / est. 1918, acquired 1919 by Bassick Mfg. Co. / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/alemite-zerk-bassick-hand-held-grease-guns.553024/ /

Alemite / Alemite Mfg., Chicago, IL / acquired 1919 by Bassick Co., Chicago, IL, renamed Alemite Mfg. Co. 1928, renamed Alemite Corp. 1931 / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/alemite-zerk-bassick-hand-held-grease-guns.553024/ /

Alemite / Alemite SKF, Sven Wingquists Gata 2, SE-415 50, Gothenburg, Sweden / https://www.skf.com/alemite/ / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/alemite-zerk-bassick-hand-held-grease-guns.553024/ /

Allyne Zerk / Allyne Zerk Co., Cleveland, OH / acquired 1924 by Bassick Alemite Corp. / grease gun / patent 1475980 Dec 4 1923 Oscar Zerk / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/alemite-zerk-bassick-hand-held-grease-guns.553024/ /

Bassick / Bassick Alemite Corp., Chicago, IL / inc. Feb 1923, acquired Nov 1924 by Stewart Warner Corp. / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/alemite-zerk-bassick-hand-held-grease-guns.553024/ /

Bassick / Bassick Co., 275 Warren St., Bridgeport, CT / est. 1879 (as Samuel A. Burns Co.), inc. May 1917, merged with M. B. Schenck Company and Universal Caster & Foundry Co. 1917, acquired 1923 by Stewart Warner Corp., Chicago, IL / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/alemite-zerk-bassick-hand-held-grease-guns.553024/ / https://mycompanies.fandom.com/wiki/Bassick_Company /

Bassick / Bassick Mfg. Co., Chicago, IL / est. 1919 acquired Alemite Lubrication Co. and renamed Bassick Alemite Corp. Dec 1919, renamed Alemite Mfg. Co. 1928 / grease gun / patent 1475980 Dec 4 1923 Oscar Zerk / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/alemite-zerk-bassick-hand-held-grease-guns.553024/ / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/alemite-zerk-bassick-hand-held-grease-guns.553024/ /

Stewart / Stewart Warner Corp., Chicago, IL / est. 1905 inc. Dec 19 1912 (as Stewart Warner Speedometer Corp.) / acquired Bassick-Alemite Corp. Nov 1924 / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/alemite-zerk-bassick-hand-held-grease-guns.553024/ /


1948 Farwell Hardware Co. catalog Alemite ad pp 3527