Progress is fine, but it's gone on for too long.: July 2014

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Albatross B II

Unarmed German reconnaissance plane from early WW1, captured by British forces.

Development of the Cadillac World's Fair Car

C. Edson Armi, The Art of American Car Design; Pennsylvania State University 1988

From full scale side view drawing, through full scale clay model and finally completed full scale mockup.

Another motorcycle you never heard of; Binetta Super 5

Made in Germany by Rabeneick (who still produce bicycles) and introduced to America in 1965, I'm not sure these 50cc bikes were ever actually imported. These pictures came from a road impression in Cycle Magazine June 1965.

How to stop highway flats

Having just had a good tire ruined by a nail, I'd like to know the answer to this. As a first step, I'd suggest targeting the morons who drive around in pickup trucks, tailgates down or missing, with open boxes of drywall screws and other sharp fasteners bouncing around in the back. If anyone who fits this decription is reading this post, smarten up!

Ratchet screwdriver

An interesting little ratcheting screwdriver I found recently, with a pistol grip and interchangeable bits:

Patent No. 962057 does not correspond to any U.S. or Canadian patents for such screwdrivers. (The US patent with this number is for a "racing apparatus" issued in 1910, the Canadian one for a signboard issued in 1975.) Perhaps it's British, but that country has not made its patent database easily available on the web.

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Inner Tube by Cushman

Removed from a 55 year old Cushman wheel. Real heavy rubber and......no leaks! Rust from the rim was stuck to the tube but after some cleaning-and a little Fantastic it cleaned up quite nice. It'll go back into the new tire.

Steamer Princess Royal

Fredrick H. Armstrong, Toronto: The Place of Meeting; Windsor Pub. 1983

This 500 ton steam packet was one of a number of Royal Mail steamboats operating on Lake Ontario in the 1840s. She was built at Niagara On. in 1841, was rebuilt with larger boilers, cylinders and paddles in 1850 but ended her Royal Mail career on June 25 1853 when she collided with the steamer Mayflower near Whitby On. She was rebuilt several times over the next few years, as she operated along the east coast of the US in different configurations.
By then named the Nellie Pentz, she "opened up" and sank in Lynn Haven Bay, Florida in 1865.

Great Lakes Maritime Data

Mile high skyscrapers

Leonard Bertin. Target 2067. Canada's Second Century. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1968.

One of the many optimistic predictions made by the "thought leaders" Bertin interviewed for his book. Currently, the world's tallest building is the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai, 2,716.5 feet high. So we're halfway to the target!

Making skis the traditional way

From Richard Needham. Ski. Fifty Years in North America. (Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1987)

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Cosmic Grille for the TR2

We used to make things in this country #158 Shipbuilding in Toronto

Fredrick Armstrong, Toronto: The Place of Meeting; Windsor Pub. 1983

The SS Floraba is launched on a rainy day in September 1920 from the Dominion Shipbuilding Works at the bottom of Spadina Ave in Toronto. The 1655 ton Floraba was exported to Mexico, renamed the Bolivar and scrapped in 1934.
Shipbuilding in Toronto

Wings over the Arctic

William H. Elson, Christine M. Keck & Mary H. Burris. Junior High School Literature, Book Two. Revised Edition. Chicago: Scott, Foresman & Co., 1920, 1928.

The frontispiece of this high school text from the 20's. I think it perfectly captures the romance of aviation as it extended into more remote parts of the globe. Imagine being a teenager at the time, stuck in English class, dreaming of flying a biplane over the arctic seas!

Murder by locomotive!

The Book of Knowledge Annual 1960. The Grolier Society.

This seems an overly-elaborate (not to mention unreliable) way to commit murder. Turns out this cliché was almost never used in the silent movies, and pretty much exclusively in comedies. See Movies Silently.

Monday, July 28, 2014

India Tubeless Tires, 1955

City of Monticello

Iceboats to Superferries An illustrated History of Maritime Atlantic Breakwater Books Ltd. 1992

The paddlewheeler City of Monticello, built in 1866 and modernized in 1885, provided steamer service between Saint John and Digby from 1889 to 1896 when she was obsoleted by the new and faster Prince Rupert. She sank off Yarmouth in November 1900 with a loss of 36 lives.

Pride of ownership: 1927 Norton motor bike

Old Port Talbot & District in Photographs. Vol. 3. The Port Talbot Historical Society, 1985.

Adolphe Pégoud and the Loop the Loop

Hugh W. Peart & John Schaffter. The Winds of Change. A History of Canada and Canadians in the Twentieth Century. Toronto: The Ryerson Press, 1961.

Pégoud was one of the first, if not the first, to loop the loop. He was also the first person to parachute from an aircraft, and the first to lay claim to the title of "ace" (four confirmed aerial victories). He was shot down and killed in 1915 by a former student, now serving in the German air force.

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Join the RCAF!

Suzuki X6 dirt tracker

Photo by Alvin
Go fast, turn left, no rear suspension and no brakes...Also see Previous post

The Folly of Fast Driving

Stuff high school students were taught in 1966.

People certainly seem to have driven pretty slowly back then!

Poor drivers should be considered to be sick people!

What's the lesson here? Helping someone can get you killed?

Reefer Madness perpetuated.

From Oliver E. Byrd. Health. Fourth Edition. (W.B. Saunders Co., 1966). Byrd was Professor of Health Education at Stanford.

Butlins Holiday Camp, Clacton, England, post-war

Paul Addison. Now the War is Over. A Social History of Britain 1945-51. British Broadcasting Corporation/Jonathan Cape, 1985.

Woo hoo! It doesn't get any funner than this!

Butlins camps are still around. Founded in 1936 by Billy Butlin, a former fairground showman who brought the first "dodgems" (bumper cars) to Europe, using the profits to found his camp. His motto was "A week's holiday for a week's wages." Holiday pay for workers had just been introduced, so his timing couldn't have been better.