This old service station tool is a Shaler vulcanizer, used for patching tire tubes. The Shaler Company was founded around 1900 and is still producing automobile products today. This is a larger version, used primarily in service stations. A more popular, compact style - the five-minute vulcanizer - was promoted for use by motorists. The user would locate the hole in the tube and clamp a hot (or cold) patch to it. The sulfur in the patch was ignited with a match, and the heat generated vulcanized the patch and the tube together.


This model originally sold in red, though someone decided to paint this one green - even the Bakelite handle. We prefer to keep things as original as possible, so we removed most of the green, leaving as much red as possible. For an "after" pic, click here.