The first gasoline fuel pump was invented and sold by Sylvanus Bowser in Fort Wayne, Indiana on September 5, 1885, pre-dating the automobile industry - It was commonly used to dispense the kerosene used in lamps and stoves. He later improved upon the gasoline fuel pump by adding safety measures, and by adding a hose to directly dispense fuel into automobiles.
The first fuel dispenser was patented by Norwegian John J. Tokheim in 1901. The Tokheim pump was named for him. Many of our products, such as EG1 (https://en.chinaeaglestar.com/products/showproduct.php?lang=en&id=25), EG3 (https://en.chinaeaglestar.com/products/showproduct.php?lang=en&id=15), EG5 (https://en.chinaeaglestar.com/products/showproduct.php?lang=en&id=16), EG6 (https://en.chinaeaglestar.com/products/showproduct.php?lang=en&id=22) and EG7 (https://en.chinaeaglestar.com/products/showproduct.php?lang=en&id=18), use the Tokhei pump. Fuel retail industry giant OPW (a Dover company) acquired Tokheim in 2016.
Many early gasoline fuel pumps had a calibrated glass cylinder on top. The desired quantity of fuel was pumped up into the cylinder as indicated by the calibration. Then the pumping was stopped and the gasoline was let out into the customer's tank by gravity. When metering pumps came into use, a small glass globe with a turbine inside replaced the measuring cylinder to show the customer that gasoline really was flowing into the tank.
