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

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Chevrolet for 1959

Industrial Design comes to transformer bushings

One of Henry Dreyfuss's clients was Ohio Brass of Mansfield, Ohio who hired him to style transformer bushings, those things you see on high power transmission lines. I can't say the results are a marked visual improvement over whatever they looked like before... but it does seem like an interesting project. Ohio Brass is still around, now part of Hubble Power Systems.

Submarine mother ship, World War I

Frank H. Simonds. History of the World War, Vol. 3.
The Review of Reviews Company/Doublday Page & Co., 1919.

One of my vices is vises: Erie Tool Works

I picked up this Standard No. 3 for $10 recently. Originally very rusty with flaking paint and old dried grease, I sandblasted it and then painted it. The frame is a foot high and capable of holding 4-inch pipe, so it has now eclipsed my Holland Mfg Co. pipe vise (coincidentally, also made in Erie) as the largest pipe vise in my shop!

The Erie Tool Works was founded in Erie, Pennsylvania in 1902 by Frank Bacon. For many years, they specialized in hand tools and vices for the plumbing trade, and for more than 30 years they produced a line of plumbing tools for Sears. In the early 1950's, they acquired Lakeview Forge. The family sold the company to Textron (the same company that bought Parmenter & Bulloch) in the late 1960's, but it came back under family control in 1973. Later in the decade they sold off the hand tool business, and since then they have focused on defense contracts under their new name, the Lakeview Forge Corporation.

Below, a pic of a large vise made by the Erie Tool Works taken from David's Knowledgebase (which is a great general resource for images of a wide variety of other vise makers).

The old Erie Tool Works should not be confused with the more recent Lake Erie Toolworks, which makes lovely maple wood vise screws to be used on woodworking benches.

Monday, April 1, 2013

Locomotive Tecumseh; 1853

John H White; James Millholland and Early Railroad Engineering. Smithsonian Press, 1967

A contemporary watercolour rendering of the locomotive Tecumseh built at the Reading shops in 1953. Another transitional design, the front idler axle of the 8 wheel locomotive was fixed to the main frame and did not swivel as might be expected. The engineer got a full cab, but the fireman rode on a platform attached to the front of the tender- at least it was covered.

American President Lines 1959

Ad from National Geographic Magazine, 1959

The American President express service to the Orient was operated primarily by the two-class ships, President Cleveland and President Wilson. Their 1940's Moderne first class public rooms and pool occupied the entire promenade deck, while Economy class had a lounge, veranda and pool aft on the lower decks. Cargo was also carried in the near-200,000 cu. ft. holds.
Before the era of airliners this service was popular with tourists, government and military personnel and migrants enroute from Asia to the USA. APL is now a Container Shipping company.
From http://www.lastoceanliners.com/cgi/lolline.pl?APL

Built: 1948 by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co., Alameda CA, USA
Gross tons: 18,962. Length: 609 ft (186 m). Width: 75 ft (23m).
Depth: 30ft (9m). Speed: 20 knots. Power: 20,000 hp.
Propulsion: Steam turbo electric twin screw.
Passengers: 324 First class, 454 Economy.
Cargo:193,984 cu. ft. (5493 cu. meters.)
End of service: Sold in 1973 to Oceanic Cruise Development, Inc.
and renamed Oriental Empress. Scrapped in Taiwan, 1984.

The Monitor versus the Merrimack

Edward V. Lewis, Robert O'Brien & the Editors of Time-Life Books. Ships.
New York: Time-Life Books, 1965.

From a 1908 engraving.

Graduating with a Major in Ironworking

Barry M. Moody. "Give Us An A". An Acadia Album. Acadia University, 1988.

Classroom for ironworking, Rhodes Hall, Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, around the turn of the last century. Yep, this skill used to be taught in university! The program gradually evolved into the Department of Engineering.

Bud and Connie chat with the Mounties

Constance and Harmon Helmericks. The Flight of the Arctic Tern.
Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1952.

In the late 1940's, the Helmericks flew their Cessna 140 (bought new for $3666) from Boston to Alaska, where they eventually built a home. Early on their trip, when they landed on the Ottawa River near Rockcliffe Airfield, the Canadians admired the all-metal aircraft and commented:

"Lucky fellows, you Americans, that you can buy an airplane like that," we were told. "As for us now, it would cost a man a thousand dollars just for the tax if he could get it, and he kin not get it."

That still hasn't changed.

For a summary and other photos, see "Back Home to the Arctic" (Life, August 31, 1953.)