Radical Software #2

  Seems like a hippie new media project. At the time, the term radical software referred to the content of information rather than to a computer program. The cover image was computer-generated, a novelty at the time. 

  The magazine was an outgrowth of the Raindance Corporation in New York during the summer of 1969. Their intention was to found an alternative media think tank; a source of ideas, publications, videotapes and energy providing a theoretical basis for implementing communication tools in the project of social change. The magazine struggled along to number 6 as the founders were seeing the production was a distraction from their overall mission of the Raindance Corporation. 

The whole story here.

Tatra V8

  A rather unique Czech car built from 1936 to 1950, with a break for WW2.  The rear mounted 3 litre air-cooled V8 could push the car to nearly 160 kph.  3056 units were made.

 

1986 Suzuki Samurai

 We need something like this again. 

Manufacturing processes, metal stamping

Volkswagen hoods

 

Renovation solutions

 Here's a hard one. A heritage house comes up for sale and you want it. Price is right but it's rough, nothing is near code... 2nd floor is a bit spongy, etc etc.. and you really don't like the seven foot ceilings. Hmmm So you bite the bullet... and realize its going to need a roof... and floor joists etc. Eight foot ceiling height requires raising the roof.  This of course is going to affect the overall aethetic of the building. you do it.

So, was this a successful solution?

Sidecar Sunday

No, that's not a Zeppelin.  When gasoline got scarce during both world wars, there was a lot of development on wood and coal gas as fuel. These vehicles required a large bag for the gas, previous post here.

 This image is a colorized version of this photo and I bet those smiling passengers are paid actors.                  Thanks, André!

Armstrong fork, 1955

This fork was presented as an alternative to telescopic or Earles forks as manufacturers moved away from girders. Honda stepthroughs used a variation of this design slightly later.

Cast iron bench

Nice lines on this cast iron bench. It looks vintage, or at least old enough for the wood to rot. No name cast in that I could see so maybe it is actually fairly modern.. I'd buy one.

 

We used to make things in this country, #378 Eskiloos boots

Eskiloos were a specialized fashionable line of waterproof, fleece-lined boots produced by Uniroyal (often under the "Dominion Rubber" brand in Canada) during the 1960s and 1970s, designed for cold, wet weather. It was an outgrowth of the Rubber Machinery Shop which was established in 1917 in Kitchener, Ontario, by the Canadian Consolidated Rubber Company Limited. RMS was a self-sustained division of Dominion Tire Company which was acquired by Uniroyal, but operating and maintaining its own facilities for sales and manufacturing. Although Uniroyal would be RMS’ largest client during the period, economic conditions saw the company branch into other industries and begin manufacturing machines for such diverse purposes as producing medicated Band-Aids and cutting wooden bungs for whiskey barrels, and products such as portions of the (now removed) peri-telescopes on the CN Tower. 

How to make a lathe

 We were talking about the proliferation of lathe manufacturers at the turn of the last century, this Lindsay books reprint of a 1920 South Bend booklet shows how prevalent machine tools were in society.       This is an instruction book to build your own lathe at the school shop. Comprehensive instructions, full drawings and the cheater page at the end, if you can't cast these parts yourself, your implied "substandard" school can't do the process (ok, I exaggerate), South Bend can supply the rough cast parts you need.

 Lindsay books used to supply reprints of long gone technical books, he closed the business in 2012.

 

Bugatti 35C

 1928 Bugatti 35C, known as ‘Genie, from the Alan Haworth collection.

   The car was sold to John Bentley in 1989 and as of 2019 is owned by collector Peter Rae who has ensured its safe keeping and in as near original condition as essential maintenance allows amid its utterly authentic originality. GNE’s current value must be heading towards £5 million.  Ownership history from Porschecarhistory.

Save wheat, save meat

  I've read lots about the severe hardship experienced by England after WW2, export or die, gas rations etc., but wasn't aware there was a similar situation on this side of the Atlantic. These posters from 1947 promote the American voluntary food conservation campaign aimed at preventing famine in post-WWII Europe and curbing inflation. Introduced by President Truman, the campaign encouraged citizens to help feed a devastated world while stabilizing the economy. 

 

Arnstrong Siddeley service card, 1927

 A handy chart for the home garage. If I read the chart correctly, the driver did 15,760 miles that year with only a speedo cable failure.

Motorcyclist magazine Feb 1943

Tough publishing a motorcycle magazine during wartime, just 16 pages. Two paid ads, one is for war bonds. A few classified ads, including one for a dealership closing down for the duration. Hang in there,..

 

Know your drill press

 

Parcel delivery express

Unsafe at any speed?

 

Minidrill

   Found in a 1965 British motorcycle magazine, this seems like a variation of the Dremel. The fact that it's being sold by a mail order company probably indicates it was a short-lived product.

 

Fiat Dino V6 section view

Nicely done section view of a Fiat DOHC V6, a detuned Ferrari engine. The signature seems to read G. Bettl, no luck on that...

BMW Telescopic fork section views

 

Sidecar Sunday

Re: last Sunday...  Anything you can do, I can do better...

Posing with a Norton single

 Wonder who this is?

 Looks like a drive in theatre in Toronto on the upper right. Date unknown. Google suggests Honor Blackman and she did star in a movie made in Toronto in the seventies, but I don't think this is her. Update. And it's not. It's a Martha Deaken, co-pilot of Howard Adair's Manx Norton and keen supporter of CMA airport racing, our cover girl for this month."  Canadian Motorcycle Association News, November 1951.  From the Ted Whitney collection.

Wrench tips and techniques

William H Cruse, Automotive Engines, McGraw Hill 1959

(From GM) That appears to be a cylinder head as found on a 230 cu. in. six...

 

Adams-Farwell rotary engine

 

  One of the first rotary gas engines, designed by Fay Oliver Farwell in 1896. The year before, he had joined joined the Adams Company of Dubuque, Iowa as manager. His experimenting with internal-combustion engines led to a 3 cylinder rotary engine powering what was probably the first rubber-tired automobile in 1899.  Apparently it all worked well enough that he then developed the above 5 cylinder version for the next generation Adams automobile. The company made about 200 units between the years 1898 to 1913. 

 The only real advantage to that layout has got to be the cooling aspect of cylinders whooshing around through the air. The penalties for having that much metal and machinery whizzing around near the passengers was enough that no other auto company felt the need to copy the arrangement. 

 For some reason the pioneering aircraft designers liked the idea though, and stuck the whirling mass on the front of flimsy flying machines. Le Rhône developed the idea into successful 7 and 9 cylinder engines during the WW1 years.

Images below and early rotary engine article  (including the contemporary Balzer rotary) from Hagerty. More info in Smithsonian. 

Fashion Friday, Puttees

 

  In the comments on post on the Gouldcar a few days ago, there were people lamenting the demise of  jodphurs- sorry, jodhpurs as a fashion accessory. They used to be an accepted part of motorcycling attire. honestly who wouldn't be more comfortable with weird useless leg flaps, errr... flapping in the wind at 50 mph. 

  Gentlemen, I bring to you a genuinely useful accessory for leg wear, puttees. As the ad says, they're handy for active wearers everywhere, go tramping right. I can visualize them becoming de rigeur for the 21st C businessman, perhaps in patterns that match their ties, the perfect accessory for the man who has embraced the Thom Brown suit.
 

Henry Boker tap and die set

  A reader in New Zealand sent me these images of a Henry Boker tap and die set probably dating to the early 20th century. Oddly, it has the Boker “tree” logo of the Heinrich Boker firm of Solingen on the handle but the square plate on the box indicates it was manufactured in Remscheid, Germany. In our previous Henry Boker post we have images of a similar set with an oval plate and the Henry Boker arrow logo. 

That's a bit of a mystery, some cross family pollination going on? And how old could it be? By the shape of the die handle, I'd guess it is no newer than maybe 1920 but do we have any Henry Boker tool experts in the crowd?

Punch-Lok Clamp Master

  Here's a little pressed steel ratchet wrench, fortunately with the patent number  (2507455) stamped in so I discovered that it dates to 1950. I was sure I'd found something rare as it doesn't appear at DATAMP! 

 Turns out it's a specialized tool- part of a kit for applying pre-formed hose clamps and it's still available 75 years later at Nathankimmel.

Dunelt two stroke

 Here's an interesting concept for a two stroke. The typical ported cylinder has a step at the bottom, bored to a larger diameter.  The matching piston has a matching larger diameter rim with a second ring. The larger diameter section enhances the pumping action of the crankcase providing a measure of supercharging. The engine was not really successful, probably due to expansion issues with the piston and 1920s metallurgy.

dunelt.se

Burt Munroe as a young man

  Burt bought this Indian in 1920, in 1926 it was clocked at 54 mph (with a following wind)  Not fast enough for him, he started modifying it.  A few decades later he had upped that speed to about 200mph, officially 184mph.

Enterprise Engine and Foundry

  Enterprise Foundry was founded in San Francisco in 1885 to make large castings for heavy machinery, mostly for the gold rush. The company was incorporated in 1908 and in 1917 they started producing a single cylinder 8 hp industrial diesel engine under the Enterprise Engine and Foundry name. Image of an early engine here.

  A merger with the Western Machinery Company made the new company the premier internal combustion manufacturer on the west cast. They were well placed to become a major supplier of marine and generator engines for the US Navy during WW2. In the musical chairs of company ownership changes, reader Terry discovered they merged with Adel Aircraft Fasteners in the mid-fifties, why it seemed aircraft fittings and marine diesel engines were somehow related is a mystery. But larger and larger industrial engines were being produced, now up in the 8000 hp range. 

 The next next 30 years were not good for business as the shipping industry and export markets shrunk, ownership changed many times during that time.  The company has survived currently owned by Cooper Machinery Services of Houston, Texas, supplying large industrial and backup generator engines all over the world.