We have all heard the old proverb; the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Farmers know this from experience, but successful farmers also know: "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

In our machinery-intensive business, less than an ounce of grease, applied at regular intervals, can save many pounds of machinery bearing and part replacement, as well as save on downtime when planting and harvesting.

From the time when the first settlers used lard or tallow to lubricate wooden wagon wheels in their movement westward, to the specialized lubricants in use today, making moving parts last longer and work more efficiently has been an important factor in our society. As the machinery age began with steam and internal combustion engines, innovators met the need for better methods of lubrication with improvements in putting the proper lubricant in the proper place. Oilcans that dripped slightly refined oil on bushings and the sliding mechanisms on machinery gave way to the drip cups mounted over the part to be greased. These oil cups put the right lubricant in the right place at the right time, finishing the requirements that made machines run longer with less downtime and also work more efficiently.

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In 1907, Oscar V. Zerk developed the first lubrication fitting that bears his name while considering the best way to reduce wear in equipment parts. Later, 1916, Arthur Gulborg invented a screw-type grease gun to lubricate moving parts in a casting company in Chicago, Illinois. He and his father, a co-owner of the Alemite Die Casting and Manufacturing Company, named the system "The Alemite High-Pressure Lubricating System."

So many modifications have occurred since those early days it is almost impossible to document all of them. The zerk fitting on the equipment was an important part of the lubrication equation, but first, grease had to be loaded into a device that would deliver the substance into the bearing with that zerk. Some people prefer the one-hand pistol grip guns; some like the lever operated ones better. Whatever your choice, grease has to go into the gun before any work can be done.

Bobby Grief, of Dallas Center, Iowa, recalls one of the earlier methods of loading grease guns in his youth. According to Mr. Greif, his father to taught him:

1. Unscrew the top of the grease gun.

2. Take the lid off the grease bucket.

3. Grasp the barrel of the grease gun in the left hand.

4. Stick the barrel of the grease gun into the bucket of grease. Just an inch or two.

5. Slowly pull back on the pull rod of the piston. At the same time pushing the grease gun deeper into the pail of grease.

6. When the rod is all the way out, lock it in place.

7. Remove the grease gun from the pail of grease. Note: At this time you will notice that the outside of the grease gun has about as much grease as the inside.

8. Taking a feed sack, wipe the outside of the gun clean. Another note: Do not use a feed sack that your mother or wife can make a nice dress, or dish towel, or you a new pair of underwear out of. Use one of those brown colored gunny sacks.

9. Screw the grease gun back together.

10. Release the pull rod.

11. Grease away.

Notice that you do not have to throw away an empty tube or those other parts of grease tubes."

In a response to those instructions, Dave Morgan, Oakland City, Indiana, tells of improvements in getting that grease into the gun:

"The new invention that changed our way of life ... The Grease Bucket Pump ... With a special use only for this application fitting you can now pump air and grease mixture, amount of air depends on temperature of grease and depth of said grease in bucket, into the grease gun without getting grease on your sleeves ... Big disadvantage we didn't think about when looking at the new invention at farm store was no open bucket to catch the grease when we screwed the pump off the barrel too far letting out all the extra air.

Then came along the lock on the plunger, can now pull plunger out to engage lock, push on plunger with groin area while holding and pumping the grease gun with both hands = second most handy invention, and all Stewart Warner aka Alemite grease guns had it"