Bicycle Pump





1930's Bicycle Pump

  • Cylindrical body made out of metal, approximately eighteen inches tall and two in diameter.
  • Metal base fans out on the bottom, to be stepped on by the operator when inflating tires.
  • Metal rod which is attached to the handle and runs down the middle of the cylinder; used to push air out the hose and to suck in new air.
  • Wood handle attached to the metal rod, used to move air into the hose.
  • Rubber hose attached to the bottom of the cylinder.
  • Metal pin to attach the end of the hose to the inner-tube valve of the tire (unfortunately, this is missing from the artifact).
  • The metal used is extremely heavy, and has rusted all over, and the handle does not slide up and down easily.
    • This is the bicycle pump on display at the Greenbelt Museum from the 1930's.


    1990's Bicycle Pump

  • Also a metal cylindrical body made out of metal, but much thinner and lighter than the metal used in the 1930's, with approximately the same height as its ancestor but a lot smaller diameter.
  • Also has a metal base that is at the bottom of the cylinder used to keep the pump in an upright position. However it is now made out of a much lighter material and can be hinged, allowing the pump to be stored in a smaller space.
  • The rod is still metal, but is a lot lighter.
  • The handle is now made out of plastic.
  • The hose is still rubber, but now it is wrapped in a thick protective twine.
  • The pin is also made out of plastic now.
  • Overall, this pump is a lot lighter, less prone to rust and the handle glides up and down easier.
  • A lot of pumps these days can come with pressure gauge, so as to avoid pumping too much air into a tire.
    • This is a typical bicycle pump sold in stores today.


    Overall, bicycle pumps have changed very little since the 1930's. The materials have gotten lighter but, the general design remains the same. Bicycle pumps were not very common in Greenbelt when the town first opened for many reasons. Not many children owned bikes because of the war, so there was not a large need for bicycle pumps. Mr. Schields explains this situation, "Most kids who did own a bike used their old man's car-tire-pump, along with a special connector for bicycle tires."9 He went on saying how children in that time learned how to become experts at rubber vulcanization techniques; used for repairing holes that seemed to be constantly appearing in the cheap (by today's standards) inner-tube type tires. 9
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