Greenerd Arbor Press

Me? A big hammer...? Never...!

Another job you wouldn't want to do, lifting large rocks by hand

Climbing up the spokes of a large manual windlass, a dozen men try to counteract gravity and raise a large stone. This scene was painted at a quarry near Paris, France in 1826 but the technique had been used for hundreds of years- if not more- and would continue till steam cranes and later hydraulics replaced it.

Good Reads: Code Name Caesar

Published by Berkley Caliber in 2012, this non-fictional account intertwines the story of Nazi and Japanese efforts to share war technology with the story of the U-864 and its ultimate destruction by the British submarine H.M.S. Venture, the only submarine in history to sink another sub in underwater combat.  It's a fantastic book!

U-864 was carrying 67 tonnes of liquid mercury, sealed in individual steel bottles.  It subsequently developed into a huge environmental risk and has since been entombed under a heavy cover of sand and gravel.  Another terrible cost of war.

Poloroid Land Camera Colorpack II, 1970

Below, from Mark Olshaker, The Instant Image.  Edwin Land and the Polaroid Experience.  (Stein & Day, 1978):

The clothes make the man....

The ad is from 1925, the company is still in business today. They claim they were the first to introduce different patterns for different body types and also zippered trousers, among other things.

Still made in America

Stationary steam engine

The 16 foot flywheel of the cross-compound Bancroft mill engine is driven by a small high pressure cylinder (on the left) and a larger low pressure one. Capable of 600 hp, it was built to power a weaving mill in Yorkshire between the years 1915-1920 and is still operating today as a museum.

Curtiss "Aerial Yacht"

Picture yourself on a .... Husqvarna

Ryerson Drill press

According to Vintagemachinery.org, "this steel maker was established in 1842. At some point around 1900, their name was cast into a drill press, presumably manufactured by them. They are still in business as a subsidiary of Inland Steel Industries, Inc." 

A quick google search finds they also built large lathes, milling machines and other machine tools. 
http://www.vintagepaperads.com/1922-Ryerson-Conradson-Lathe-Ad--Far-Superior_p_50749.html

Radiation is part of your life, 1981

From Harry Johnson and Marvis Tutiah,  Radiation is Part of Your Life.  Nuclear Information Series.  Atomic Energy of Canada Limited.  Whiteshell Nuclear Research Establishment, Pinawa, Manitoba.  February 1981.

A document primarily intended to persuade the reading public that nuclear reactors were safe.  The Whiteshell facility was closed in 2003 and is still in the process of decommissioning. 

Childhood pursuits, 1948

Lovely illustrations from Junior Arithmetic Grade Four.  (Toronto:  The Educational Book Co., 1948).

Sidecar Sunday

Sharing racy pictures, 1943

How to Make Good Pictures.  A Handbook for the Everyday Photographer. 
Eastman Kodak Co., 1943.

Preparing yam stacks--Southern Nigeria

Geography for Today.  Africa.  Longmans, Green & Co.,
4th Edition, 1952, New Impressions, 1955.

Kewanee, Illinois

Roger Reiman, motorcycle racer

Keeton Car-Nation

Cyclecars were a class of small lightweight cars designed to fill the gap between motorcycles and the expensive regular automobiles of the first decade of the 20th century. They were usually powered by single or twin cylinder engines and were of lightweight construction. The Keeton Motor Company manufactured a cyclecar named the Car-Nation. Powered by a 135 cu 4 cylinder engine the 48" wide 1100 lb car would achieve 50 mph. About 2000 of these small cars were produced in two years of production. The company closed in 1914. 

We used to make things in this country. #276: Zippo Manufacturing Co. of Canada, Niagara Falls, Ontario

Family Circle, June 1974

In 1932, George G. Blaisdell of Bradford, Pennsylvania made improvements on an Austria windproof lighter.  Inspired by another recent innovation, the zipper, he called it the "Zippo" and gave it a lifetime guarantee.  Over 500 million lighters later, the original Blasidell design remains virtually unchanged. In 1993, Zippo acquired the W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery Company, and in 2010 they added Ronson Consumer Products to their banner.  They still uphold their lifetime guarantee, and repair any Zippo lighters, regardless of age or condition, for free.

According to their Canadian Website:

Zippo Canada opened in August 1949 and was the only place other than Bradford, PA, where Zippo lighters were ever produced. Operations included the fit-up of the lighter case and insert, surface customization, cleaning, repair clinic, and packaging. A final production run signified the end of an era with the closing of the Zippo Canada production plant in July 2002. Although Zippo lighters are no longer produced by Zippo Canada, we continue to distribute and promote Zippo products to retailers across the country.

During its run, the Canadian factory produced 500,000 lighters a year (vs. 16.8 million lighters per year for the U.S. plant), for a total of 13.5 million Canadian-made lighters.  The company decided that the Niagara Falls plant was to expensive to update, so consolidated production in Bradford, Pennsylvania.

To see pictures of the original Canadian plant, visit The Passionate Wick.  To view pictures of the products made there, go to Zippo Windproof Lighter.

Boeing Stratocruiser in section

J.E. Pryde-Hughes (Editor).  The Children's Book of Achievement.  Wonders of Modern Enterprise.  
London & Glasgow:  Collins Clear-Type Press, 1953.

Parilla Wildcat Scrambler

Parilla Wildcat Scrambler at the Barber Museum

 More here

Jim Jams Jababout for Multibestos brakes

Starting in 1915 as the Standard Woven Fabric company, the Multibestos company made brakes and other asbestos products in Walpole Mass. from 1915 till 1935. 

Film camera care

From an old Popular Mechanics encyclopedia.  I've uploaded the three-page article here.

Good Reads: The Judas Ship

First published by William Collins Sons & Co. in 1978, the Fontana edition came out in 1979.  It's a fast-paced story of a merchant ship's encounter with a German raider during World War II.  Realistic in its portrayal of the horrors of war (especially being shelled), I couldn't put it down.

The author, Brian Callison, rates his own Wikipedia page.  Below, from the book:

What's new on the CBC

Gordon Sinclair's column in the Toronto Star, Fall,1955

Visit the World's Fair in Chicago!

E J Hart, The Selling of Canada, Altitude Publishing, 1986

By CPR of course... this 1893 Monarch butterfly-shaped leaflet promoted ship and rail service to Chicago from around the world.

Library technology, 1890

Matthew Battles  Library.  An Unquiet History.  W.W. Norton & Co., 2004.

From the Library Bureau's 1890 catalog.

Battling the Clouds, 1927

Captain Frank Cobb.  Battling the Clouds or For a Comrade's Honor. 
Saalfield Publishing Co., 1927.

How to hold a camera

How to Make Good Pictures.  A Book for the Amateur Photographer.  17th Edition Revised. 
Eastman Kodak Co.

The Fate of the Ruhr Express and other Canadian Lancasters

From Spencer Dunmore and William Carter, Reap the Whirlwind.  The Untold Story of 6 Group, Canada's Bomber Force of World War II.  (McClelland & Stewart, 1992).  The authors report that the first Canadian-built Lancaster, KB700, was to be christened on August 6, 1943, a huge PR event.  The country was told that, following the ceremony, the aircraft would be winging to Europe to do battle with the Hun.  (At the same time, 20,000 workers at three Montreal aircraft plants were on strike for better pay.)  When the crew climbed aboard to thunderous applause, it was to discover that none of the engine instruments worked.  The plane took off, but landed at Dorval, Quebec where it remained for more than a month while it was being properly fitted out.  On a test flight, one engine failed.  Finally, in September it crossed the Atlantic where it was met by the Canadian High Commissioner and a group of reporters.  Turns out the crew disliked the Ruhr Express name -- their own preference was for Bambi.  Due to continuing technical problems, the aircraft didn't actually complete a bombing sortie until late November 1943.  In early January 1945, returning from it's 49th mission, the plane ran out of runway.  Attempting to get it out of the way of other aircraft using the strip, one propeller hit a ditch digging machine that had been left there by civilian workers and the plane caught fire and burned.  Although the crew escaped unharmed, the aircraft was a total loss.  It was supposed to have been retired after one more mission and flown back to Canada.

Below, another Canadian-built Lancaster that got back to Canada, only to be scrapped.  Very sad indeed.

Hispano Suiza V8 by the Wright-Martin Aircraft company.

 At the beginning of WW1 the German Mercedes aero engine was known to be better than anything the Allies were producing, and a search for a good engine to produce as a standard powerplant led to the Hispano Suiza water-cooled SOHC V8 to be chosen, producing good power while being light and manufacturable. Production started at the Paris factory in late 1915 and soon was being made in many different factories in several countries. 
In early 1916 General Aeronautics in America landed a contract for 450 engines. A year later only 100 engines had been delivered, and changes were needed. The company reorganized as the Wright-Martin Aircraft company, learned to make the intricate aluminum castings and to do the advanced machining required and production improved. 
In Europe the engine was being developed to produce more power and Wright Martin, unable to get full specifications, started their own program and by the Armistice in November 1918 the first 300 hp engine was on the test stand. The 150 hp engine was used in the Curtiss Jenny and the by the early 1920s the 300 hp version had been developed into one of the best pursuit plane engines.