One of our Vendors brought this antique, very rare, cast iron Buckeye Force Pump into Grandma’s Attic. This pump was made by Mast, Foos and Company, of Springfield, Ohio. The number on the pump is No. 215. It appears that this was a style number and not a pump number for there were several No. 215 pumps. The patent dates were 1872 to 1881 making this an authentic antique.
The Buckeye Company was considered the greatest mechanical and manufacturing enterprise of its time. Mr. Phineas P. Mast, partner, designer and producer of these pumps, was a businessman and banker. He seems to have had the Midas touch, for everything he did turned to money. He and partner John Thomas, a lawyer, invented a Grain drill, cultivator, and cider mill. Later, Thomas passed his interest to Mast. In 1875, Mr. Mast joined forces with Foos and Company, inventions that came from this union were lawnmowers, iron fences, iron turbines, and...Buckeye Force Pumps.
There was poetry written in honor of the Mast-Foos & Company and the force iron pump. The following is a copy of a postcard from a Mr. Jonathan
Gump.
Gump.
Do you have any stories about antique water pumps like this? Leave us a comment below, we'd love to hear from you!
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