Motor Oil Mission

Okay all, here is the new puzzlah for today.

A young boy was sent to the shop to buy exactly a half gallon of oil, like straight motor oil. He is sent on a mission. He takes with him a can of exactly one-gallon capacity like a
paint can. A one-gallon paint can with a little handle on it, like Jack and Jill all those years ago in the fairy tale.

He goes to the auto parts store to buy this oil. But they dispense the stuff in bulk from a big oil drum. A huge vat of motor oil.

The guy at the store says, "I don't have anything to measure a half gallon kid but I have two measures of oil. One is 5 pints and the other one is 3 pints."
He says to the kid, "If I use these two things, 5 pints, and 3 pints, and your one-gallon paint can, I can measure out exactly the half gallon of oil that you want to buy."

The kid says, "I don't need your stinking 3-pint and 5-pint containers. I can do it without either of those."

So, how does he do it?

Good luck!

Answer the Puzzler »

Remember last week's puzzler?

Electric Mystery

Here's a new puzzler for you all.

Long before there was fuel injection, cars had carburetors back in the day. Long, long ago... And most carburetors got their fuel from a fuel pump that was mounted somewhere on the engine and would suck gasoline out of the tank and pump it to the carburetor. It was called a mechanical fuel pump, right? That was the way things used to be. You all might not even remember this.

But even back then, there were some manufacturers that began putting an electric fuel pump directly in the fuel tank.

So there are a few parts to this puzzler. Hold on tight.

Obviously, we're trying to figure out why this choice was made. Instead of using a mechanically driven pump, like they'd been using for millennia, these manufacturers chose to put in an electric pump. So the first question is why electric? And then, the second question is, why put it in the gas tank?

Why did certain manufacturers deem it necessary to put an electric fuel pump in the gas tank of certain cars?

At first glance, it seems kind of a dangerous move, right? To put an electric fuel pump directly in the gas tank.

And the last part of the puzzler is, how come the car doesn't blow up?

Good luck!