Subways for Toronto

Mass Transportation Magazine January 1954

Fall 1953, the Toronto Transit Commission takes delivery of trains for the new subways.

Handy Mfg clamp

Handy Mfg of Chicago was a maker of various types of clamps, but I can't find any other online images of an over-center type clamp like this one.

Sidecar Sunday

Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, Jaguar, Jaguar Cars, 1990

Country life

I have no explanation for this pic.

Montreal Transit 1880

Plymouth, 1959

I guess that's subjective...

Naptha powered yachts

The advent of the steam yacht transformed the yacht market but it was anything but convenient. Expensive to run and maintain, the steam engine required licensing and inspections and required a qualified steam engineer to operate it. In addition, cruising was a slow process, the boiler required time to come up to steam. In the 1880's and 90's, the internal combustion engine was early in development, expensive and not yet at a dependable state.   
In New Jersey a Frank W. Ofeldt was working on his own engine using a oil byproduct, naptha gas. Instead of water, naptha filled the boiler, it was also used as the fuel to heat the boiler. Upon heating, the naphtha rapidly turned to a pressurized gas which was used to act against the pistons in the engine in the same manner as a steam engine. After passing through the cylinder, the gas then went into a pipe under the boat, cooled down and returned to the boiler as a liquid. 
As  pressures were much less than a steam engine, everything could be built lighter and best of all a licensed engineer, licensing and inspections were not required.  The owner-operator could master its operation in a short while using only the manual. 
It seems strange that boiling water would require a licence while boiling gasoline did not. The cost advantages of the the system allowed middle class boaters to own a power boat for the first time and by 1900 there were at least 3000 naptha powered yacht in use. Despite the maturing of the internal combustion engine naptha-powered yachts were still being sold in 1910. 

D.W. Fostle, Speedboat, Mystic Seaport Museum 1988

The original 1885 naptha launch on display in the 1920s.

Curtiss Bumblebee

1910 Curtiss Model E “Bumble Bee” at the Crawford Museum in Cleveland

From the Crawford Museum site,

After an accident involving a cow wrecked his first plane, Clevelander Al Engel ordered this Curtiss Hydroaeroplane so he could land on water. He named this plane Bumble Bee. Later, he modified it with wing extensions and a more powerful engine so a friend or paying customer could come along for a flight over Lake Erie. Al flew the Bumble Bee extensively throughout Northeastern Ohio, and for a time, based the Bumble Bee at the Lakewood Yacht Club (now Cuyahoga Yacht Club) at the mouth of the Rocky River. During the summer months of 1914, Al used the Bumble Bee to deliver “aerial mail,” consisting primarily of post cards, at Lake Chautauqua, New York. Al retired the Bumble Bee at the end of the 1914 season, stored the plane in his garage in Cleveland, and in 1946 sold it to the Thompson Products Auto Album and Aviation Museum in Cleveland. The Bumble Bee was restored at that time, and is now the sole remaining genuine Curtiss “hydro” in America.

http://www.earlyaviators.com/eengel2.htm

Cars in the 'hood, T Bird

First of the fourseater models, 1958 Ford Thunderbird

Railway Lifting Magnets, 1921

The Electric Controller and Manufacturing started in 1897 by adapting a street railway motor to overhead cranes. I like the logo. They're still in business, though they are now located in South Carolina. Company History here.