What is this?

[ns_in_tex]

My wife got this slightly colored glass jug at a garage sale & I am trying to identify it.
Glass jug, with "Gould" near center on all four sides. Near top, on all 4 sides it has "Water Level". It appears to be made for some kind of lid.

Is this some kind of old battery case?

We would like to find more info on it, along with what time period it was made.

 

[Mighty Dodge]

It looks like an old glass battery case to me.

 

[zzvyb6]

They were used with a Delco 32-volt light plant. Before there was electricity out in the country you had a Delco single cylinder motor or a Wincharger windmill with a 32-volt generator on it, and you had a dozen of these glass batteries in a rack that you charged. The battery had lead plates and a porcelain or Bakelite top held on with tar. You can still find 32v light bulbs, refrigerators, mixers, saws, and other appliances on the market. Got this info from an antique dealer when identifying mine.

Mine says DELCO (Dayton Electric Company) and makes a godd dogbone jar.

 

[MossRoad]

Yep. I just saw a bunch of those in a basement in a farmhouse attached to a generator in an historic village we visited Thursday. I even took a picture.

 

[ns_in_tex]

They were used with a Delco 32-volt light plant. Before there was electricity out in the country you had a Delco single cylinder motor or a Wincharger windmill with a 32-volt generator on it, and you had a dozen of these glass batteries in a rack that you charged. The battery had lead plates and a porcelain or Bakelite top held on with tar. You can still find 32v light bulbs, refrigerators, mixers, saws, and other appliances on the market. Got this info from an antique dealer when identifying mine.

Mine says DELCO (Dayton Electric Company) and makes a godd dogbone jar.

Thanks Bill, for the info & history.
Sounds like you have put yours to good use. We don't have a dog, but my wife is using it for a dining room table vase.

 

[ns_in_tex]

Yep. I just saw a bunch of those in a basement in a farmhouse attached to a generator in an historic village we visited Thursday. I even took a picture.

Hey MossRoad, this is what I like about TBN. You fellows have just given me a history lesson along with vacation, complete with pictures.
Thanks,

 

[MossRoad]

Hey MossRoad, this is what I like about TBN. You fellows have just given me a history lesson along with vacation, complete with pictures.
Thanks,

What cracks me up is I was in that basement of that farmhouse. Some young girl was grating soap to use in a hand washing machine. My wife and daughters were facinated with all the household chore stuff, and I see that generator with battery bank, grab the camera from my daughter and snap that photo. Then I start explaining to them what it is and how it worked and how cool it would have been to have electric power back then....... to blank stares from my girls and the character actors. So then your post pops up a couple days later, I've got someone to share the excitement with, I drag my oldest daughter off the couch and show her your photo and say, "LOOK!!! Look at THAT!!! Do you remember seeing something like that in the last few days???" It takes some coaxing but finally her eyes light up and she says, "Hey, that's one of those things we saw in that basement!" Then we marvelled at the power of TBN.

 

[Egon]

Found at North Cape Prince Edward Island. The other end of the jar Moss!!

 

[MossRoad]

Cool! We went out west last summer to see the sites and visit some friends from TBN. I noticed as soon as we crossed out of Wisconsin and in to Minn. we started encountering many of those windmills. We have nothing like that around northern Indiana because the prevailing wind is not strong enough to make $$, but out there is was constantly windy.

 

[RobertN]

Found at North Cape Prince Edward Island. The other end of the jar Moss!!

There are large windmill farms in a few places around California. A few that come to mind are the Altamont/Livermore area(East of San Francisco), Tehachipi(East of Bakersfield), and out along Interstate-10, near Palm Desert/Palm Springs/Indio.

It is pretty cool looking when they are all spun up in the wind!