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

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

One of my vices is vises: RAE

Rae #2 Vise, one of a line of vises once made in Hamilton Ontario. Another company that just up and vanished.

A Rae being advertised on Kijiji:

And another:

And a woodworking vise from the Duke's shop:

Monday, October 1, 2012

This lovely little 50 cc two-cylinder 2 stroke was first presented at the 1969 Milan motorcycle show. The engine was new but the frame was from another 50cc Guzzi, the Dingo. Other components were sourced from the 125cc Stornello. Apparently the engine was never run in public and nothing more was heard until a few years later, when the bike was presented again, this time as a 125. Unfortunately neither was ever put into production, as they were considered to be too expensive.

Motorcycle Pulp Fiction: Collision Course 1976

Well, don't leave the bike in the middle the road, Ray.

Miniature Cameras

Thomas H. Miller & Wyatt Brummitt. Eastman Kodak Company. This Is Photography. Its Means and Ends. Published by the Case-Hoyt Corporation for Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, NY, 1945, 1952, 1955, 1959, 1963.

The authors write:

"Back in the '30;s there appeared a new type of camera, the miniature. Originally, its claims to fame were based on the facts that (1) it used short lengths of 35-mm motion picture film, (2) it usually had a fast, short-focus lens that permitted picture making under the most unlikely conditions, and (3) it was a precisely engineered mechanism. Too, because many and fascinating accessories were provided for it, it became the favorite of gadgeteers.

But the miniature's appeal changed and broadened vastly when Kodachrome film was made available for 35-mm cameras. The whole plan, which involved the color processing and return of the customer's film in little slides suitable for projection, ushered in a new kind of personal photography.

The first miniatures came out of Europe, and some are still produced there. But today America is making more miniatures than is Europe. And the quality of many of our cameras is unbeatable."

Sunday, September 30, 2012

We used to make things in this country. #66: National Display Specialties Ltd., Brockville Ontario

National Display Specialties Limited "Show Card Writer Set" made in Brockville, Ontario.


Signs Made Easy. First Edition. National Display Specialties Ltd., 1951.

The device was originally patented in Canada in February 1933:

The company was operated out of both Brockville, Ontario and Morristown, N.Y. (two cities which face each other across the St. Lawrence River), with the Canadian side started around 1925. A later kit advertised on the internet shows the sign below, indicating that at some point they moved their American operations down river to Ogdensburg, N.Y.

The last internet reference to the company I can find dates from 1968. The kit I have also came with a brochure for the Dinsdale Signriter, also out of Brockville. I don't know if this was a different company, but it clearly shows how the product was intended to be used back in the day.