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

Thursday, May 2, 2024

Motosocial TO, May 1st 2024

A few of the bikes that stood out among the hundreds of Triumph twins, Ducati's and Harleys in Toronto last night...

We've covered Trimont tools in previous posts but this adjustable monkey wrench (with the name cast in everywhere possible and the rivetted semicircular part in the frame) seemed a little special. I didn't buy it, this type of wrench mostly works on square head nuts, I don't run into them much...

Wednesday, May 1, 2024

Lorraine Dietrich racer

This car, originally a 1912 Grand Prix racer, was converted to road use by fitting it with fenders and rudimentary road equipment to turn it into an early "sports car".

Curran Steam Commercial Vehicle, 1928

The Curran Steam Commercial Vehicle was a latecomer to the steam powered vehicles. The experimental steam bus chassis was built in 1928 utilizing the latest developments in metallurgy and steam power. The boiler was a combination of fire tubes and water tubes running at 600lbs pressure, The three cylinder engine was adjustable for steam entry into cylinders from full stroke length down to five percent of stroke length. The engine also acted as a brake as soon as steam entry was closed off, saving the mechanical brakes. The fuel could be pretty much anything from gasoline down to low grade fuel oil.

The bus chassis, loaded to 11 tons was tested on various roads and grades and was found to have high torque at start-up, a good power to weight ratio and ease of operation. However, the public was skeptical, all the steam car companies were long gone. The company failed to attract investors and the vehicle never entered production.