Sterling Continental typewriter

 The Sterling Continental name sounds British but it was in fact produced by Wanderer-Werke in Siegmar-Schönau, Germany.  The portable typewriter was made during the 1930s and 1940s and is known for its mechanical precision and reliability.

Williams Supersockets, 1935

 

Morse taper drill drift key

  It took a while to sort out that the C in a "not-quite" diamond is the Cleveland Twist Drill and I had to wonder what could patentable on such a simple device? I discovered the 1951 patent 2,542,368 which suggests that the thickened portion (#4 on the drawing) is the improvement.

1956 Ford "Lifeguard Design"

 Seat belts and a padded dash! Safety comes to FoMoCo...

1930s Wyandotte pressed steel Streamlined Speedster

Gorgeous! Another toy I would have appreciated less as a kid.

 

Morakniv

  A used knife I just had to buy. It's a bit neglected but the edge is sharp and it feels good in the hand.

The text RostFrei just means stainless steel, Med skarpa- sharp? And the company name is Morakniv, a Swedish company located in the town of Mora, making quality fixed-blade utility knives since 1891.

Scotch tape dispenser

 Can't get much more "sixties" than that!

Volvo Amazon 122S wagon

Still earning its keep.

 

Lancaster production line

 We see lots of pictures of American bomber production lines, British Production lines less so. Here are some of the 7377 units (430 built in Canada) being made.

Lawn chairs

Remember these? These rickety folding aluminum and nylon web chairs were convenient and everywhere in suburbia. 

 

Merlin cutaway

 I've seen several Merlin cutaway drawings but this one is monumental. I hope the artist has incorporated his name somewhere in all that linework. From the Aviation magazine Yearbook Feb 1942. 

Monday Mystery

 

Thisa came from an old house in Amsterdam, no idea what it is. It came in a box, packaged as shown. Assembled, it turns into a strange tower-like thing. The bulb is hard like a ping pong ball and is connected to that rocket-like head.Any ideas?

Norton factory at the IoM

 Year 1920 Isle of Man TT Petty #61, Brown #56 and North #63 work on their Norton motorcycles in the garage.

Sidecar Sunday

 Isle of Man TT, 2017

More modern than usual but the photo couldn't be ignored. Explanation here.

Casting a chain

ICS Reference Library, International Textbook Co. 1901

 The preliminary text to this chapter points out that it would be quite difficult to cast a length of chain, the sand mold would be complicated as would the system of gating each link. The solution is to cast individual links, place them as shown and then pour each connection link. These days to make a link, we form wire into a loop and weld the ends.

Suzuki Dual purpose 125

 Lovely styling.

Family mystery/history

  In 1964 the family flew to Holland to visit family. Everything was amazing to an 8 year old boy and the cool uncle gave us kids a ride on his motorcycle. It was almost certainly my first motorcycle ride but I don’t remember being blown away or anything. It was fun cruising through the rural landscape beside canals and fields. 

Fast forward a lot of years, and I’m trying to piece together the events that led up to this motorcycle affliction I suffer/enjoy. I figured the uncle’s motorcycle had been either a Harley or a BMW but no one else remembered. 

    Well. We’re back in Holland to clean up an aunts estate, this photo appeared in an old album. Mystery solved! Cool uncle and his sister posing with the mystery motorcycle.

Volkswagen Bus

 

That’s an extravagant and aerodynamic roof rack system. The van is 1969 or 70. I think?

Stanley Surform

 

The surform-type blade was patented by a British company, Firth Cleveland in 1949, the first tools were made by Simmonds Aerocessories. Stanley acquired the rights in 1956 and subsequently bought the company. They were a popular home woodworking tool when they were released, they turn up at junk shops everywhere. I’ve found them useful for body filler.

Thanks, Derek!

And one in the original packaging! 

The automobile as part of the ecosystem

 We thought differently in the fifties. Insulation for wires was cotton and beeswax?

Motor Cycling September 8 1955

"The Queen's highway" Still making mileage from Queen Elizabeths's 1952 coronation...

 

Armstrong Whitworth Ensign drawing

 In 1934 Imperial Airways approached Armstrong Whitworth for the design of a new metal multiengine airliner. The chosen design seated 40 passengers and utilized 4 engines as that was seen to be desirable to passengers. Range was 1300 miles, suitable for the Empire routes of the day. Development took longer than expected as Imperial Airways updated the requirements several times but the first commercial flight took place in 1938. Further, the focus of the industry on military aircraft in the late 30s caused further delays. Once the airplane was flying it was found that despite the 4 engines it was underpowered and the engines were later upgraded to Wright Cyclones. However the war had started and production ended with only 14 made. The military took over the planes and they served through the war and retired in 1946. All were scrapped.

Anodized aluminum drinkware

 I don't recall any of the drinkware in this ad but does anyone remember these very cool (cold) metal tumblers? The blue anodized ones were beautiful...

Special Products Division

  Strange times in the recreational vehicle market. It seemed every company was playing with snowmobiles, AMF owned Harley Davidson, and in this ad, New Holland of Sperry Rand is making vehicles that defy description. Of these three, I think I'd pick "the Wedge" and park it on my front lawn.

Monday Mystery, Java Steel stick

 

“Steel stick” is what Google Translate calls it. The rest of the text is in the Indonesian-Dutch language. Possibly an adze type thing? 

 

Sidecar Sunday bonus, The Flying Bedstead

Thanks JP!

   But is it a sidecar? Australian Peter Dunscombe was racing a Vincent powered sidecar when he decided he needed to improve it. About that time Owen Greenwood's Mini-based "sidecar" was blowing away the competition in a very un-sidecar-like machine in England and it was that machine that inspired him to build this one.. Once again, a 3 track vehicle rather than 2, based on a Mini front end. When the Vincent started getting long in the tooth, he moved to a Suzuki GT750 Waterbuffalo engine shown here. Lack of space dictated the pipes location. It was far from ideal. The whole story here.

 

Sidecar Sunday

The Gnat, sidecar intended for Vespas. 1955

 

The Aeroplane magazine

 

Moto Major

 The Moto Major was built in 1948. Designed at an aerodynamic research facility, it was a carry over from the 1930s streamline styling trend. There was a single and a twin planned, the single was the only one built. The longitudinally oriented crankshaft facilitated shaft drive.  Unfortunately, it never went into production.  The whole story (lots of detail) here at the Vintagent.

Know your lead acid battery

 Back in the day when batteries were rebuildable. Outside connectors for each cell, this is where this weird cell tester might be used for diagnosis.

 

BSA for 1971

Totally redesigned for 1971. It was not good, maybe the least appealing of any of the BSA twins.

 

Shop Tips

 Hey, that's actually a good idea!

 Hours of reading... one of a million or so "shop tips" from Popular Mechanics- BTW that was uhhh... 60 years ago.