Large and heavy Pegasus Vaccum Oil sign (1200 x 1170mm/468 x 456 inches), made between 1911 and 1934 in South Africa by The Union Enamel Co. Ltd. Durban. The flying red horses began their journey in 1911, when a Vacuum Oil Company subsidary in Cape Town, South Africa, first trademarked the Pegasus logo. Based in Rochester, New York, Vacuum Oil had built a successful petroleum lubricants business around an 1869 patent by its founder, Hiram Everest, long before gasoline was even a branded product. At first, a stylized red gargoyle advertised the company, which produced the earliest petroleum-based lubricants for horse-drawn carriages and steam engines. The Pegasus trademark would prove to be a more enduring image. In Greek mythology, Pegasus – a winged horse – carried thunderbolts for Zeus. By 1931 growth of the automobile industry expanded the Vacuum Oil product lineup to include Pegasus Spirits and Mobilgas – later simplified to Mobil. When Standard Oil of New York (Socony) and Vacuum Oil combine to form Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, the new company adopts the familiar winged trademark, as does an affiliate, Magnolia Petroleum. In 1955 the name of the company changed to Socony Mobil Oil; in 1966 it became just Mobil Oil.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 06:14:30 +0000
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