Tecalemit garage equipment.
Anyone who's worked on older cars, say from the 1970s or before, will be all too familiar with the lubrication routine that regular services often require. This usually involves greasing and/or oiling all manner of suspension components, wheel bearings, linkages, driveshafts and other vital parts of a car's moving mechanical make-up.
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Then there would follow checks of the engine oil level, and also of those lubricants hidden away within the gearbox and back axle. All essential jobs, but rarely much fun, and for the commercial garage owner at least, jobs that can drag on unless equipment designed specifically for commercial vehicle repair shops is invested in, to both make the job simpler, cleaner, and also quicker to turn around.
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The Tecalemit "Majestic" Lubrication Battery.
Tecalemit produced a huge number of grease guns and similar lubrication equipment over the years, and many British cars had this company's grease guns tucked away within their toolkits from new. This page though doesn't look at these small hand-held grease guns and oilers, but instead at substantial equipment aimed at commercial garages and fleet operators, beginning with a mighty bank of lubrication equipment called the Tecalemit "Majestic" Lubrication Battery.
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The following illustration, found within a garage supplies catalogue from the late 1940s, shows this impressive piece of kit.
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Tecalemit described the Majestic Lubrication Battery as follows:
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"The Majestic Master-Lubrication Battery consists of a three-pillar design, each pillar acting as a control panel flanked on either side by the cabinets containing the grease and oil dispensers mounted on their respective drums of lubricant.
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"In the central pillar are two automatic hose reels with 20ft hoses for Penetrating Oil Spray and 29ft hose for Compressed Air. On the front panel is mounted a large Air Pressure Gauge. The adaptor safe is located at the centre of the panel to house the alternative lubricating adaptors supplied with the unit.
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"The two outer pillars each contain two hose reels with 20ft hoses and control valves for dispensing Gear Oil, Synchromesh, Extreme Pressure, and Hypoid Gear Lubricants. Indicators having large dials are situated on the face of the pillars to register the flow of lubricant in each line and "Raise" and "Lower" Lift Controls are provided for operating the Hydraulic Car Lift whilst each oil hose aperture is surmounted by an isolating cock valve.
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Also included was an overhead swing arm that incorporated an extra 10ft of grease hose.
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In total the Majestic measured 15ft 7ins wide and 7ft 7ins in height, and cost a not-insignificant 480 GBP. I doubt that too many - if any - private motorists would have been willing to shell out such a large amount for an occasional-use item of garage equipment such as this, especially during the early post-war years, but I wonder how many Majestic Lubrication Batteries did find business buyers, and whether any survive, in use or otherwise?
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Tecalemit "Olympic" Lubrication Battery.
If the mighty Majestic installation was a little OTT from both space and cost perspectives, then perhaps the two-pillar "Olympic" would have been a good compromise.
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Tecalemit "Britannic" Lubrication Battery.
Of slightly more modest scale and ambition again was the related Tecalemit "Britannic" lubrication system, which retailed for 265 GBP and was designed for modestly-sized garages that couldn't justify the cost of, or accommodate the size of, the aforementioned Majestic installation.
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"Designed primarily for the Lubrication Bay of moderate size, this compact, graceful and highly efficient battery offers even the smallest establishment a sales-creating centre-piece and focul [sic] point of attention. Modern lubrication layouts need to be planned carefully and equipped with dignity so that the full benefit of publicity value can be achieved. Resembling the larger "Majestic" and "Olympic" companion models in salient and distinctive features, the "Britannic" Battery will undoubtably appeal to all who desire the best and most attractive equipment obtainable for premises of moderate dimensions and above all, to do its work in a practical, convenient way.
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"The "Britannic" Master Lubrication Battery consists of a single pillar unit, the pillar acting as control panel flanked by the cabinets containing the grease and oil dispensers mounted on their respective drums of lubricant, and provides services for lubricating chassis nipples, penetrating oil spray for road springs, compressed air for tyres etc, and gear oil dispensing for gear boxes and back axles.
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Tecalemit "Lubriflator" portable high pressure lubricator.
Heading down once more in size to another interesting item from Tecalemit's extensive range of products, is the "Lubriflator", a ".. portable electric high pressure lubricator and compressed air supply for paint spraying etc". The unit comprised a small compressor, an air tank, a 7ft long grease hose, and a high-pressure drum pump, all of which was mounted on a trolley for ease of movement around a workshop. An air hose was also incorporated, at the end of which you'd find a Tecalemit "Fix-o-matic" connector. At just over 56 GBP, this would have been within reach of both commercial garage owners, and also hands-on, comfortably-off, private car owners.
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Gear oil dispenser, Model LP10.
The full range of Tecalemit lubrication-related products on sale in the late 1940s runs to several pages within this old supplies book, the final example to feature on this page is the LP10 gear oil dispenser, for which 31 GBP was asked. It consisted of a ten gallon oil drum and a 6ft delivery hose. Compressed air would be fed to the unit via one of Tecalemit's "Fix-o-matic" connectors, running at between 100 and 200 psi. Certainly a very handy piece of kit, although one to use with care if spraying oil around the workshop was to be avoided.
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