We used to make things in this country #22: Ruspan Furniture

 In the 1940s Russell Spanner began working for the wood products company operated by his family in downtown Toronto. By 1950 he had introduced a new line of "post war design" furniture. Called Ruspan Originals, this furniture continued the company's reputation of solid construction while his designs were animated and original. He designed two more lines of furniture “Catalina” (above) in 1952 and “Pasadena” in 1953 before moving the company more into contract furniture. Although the furniture caught on and was carried by department stores like Eaton's and Robert Simpson's, it's hard to find these days. Surprising, as his lively designs still have presence today.
 http://www.stylenorth.ca/blog/2009/10/canadian-cool-russell-spanner/

And the whole Russell Spanner story here.

Cross-sectional view of a blow torch.

John G. Miller.  Plumbing.  A Handbook of Tools, Materials, Methods, and Directions.  
New York City:  D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc., 1945.

Help maintain your Butler Metal Products appliance!  Although, from what I've read, for safety's sake these things are better polished than used.

HMS Glowworm versus the Admiral Hipper

Larry Forrester was a Scot who served as a fighter pilot and who later wrote many TV and movie scripts, including the screenplay for Tora, Tora, Tora!  He also wrote Fly For Your Life, a biography of the celebrated British fighter pilot R.R. Stanford-Tuck.

Battle of the April Storm is a novel first published by George Harrap & Co. in 1969, with the World Books edition following in 1970.  It recounts the heroic action of HMS Glowworm, a G-class destroyer that was involved at the beginning of the Norwegian campaign.  On April 8, 1940, she engaged two German destroyers escorting troop carriers headed for Norway.  The Germans called for help, and the cruiser Admiral Hipper was brought into the action.  Glowworm's 4.7-inch main armament was naturally no match for the the cruiser's 8-inch batteries.  Glowworm was heavily damaged in the engagement but persisted like the sea terrier that she was.  She eventually rammed the Hipper, breaking off her bow, scraping its side and then floating away sinking and on fire before her boilers exploded, taking 109 of her crew to their death.  The Hipper stopped to rescue survivors.  The Glowworm's commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Roope, was almost rescued, hanging onto a rope at the side of the German cruiser before losing his grip and falling into the sea.  He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, the first recipient in World War II of this highest of decorations.  The VC came in part as the result of a recommendation made via the Red Cross from Captain Heye, commander of the Admiral Hipper, who wrote the British Admiralty expressing his admiration for the valiant courage of the Glowworm's captain in persisting in such a one-sided fight.  This is the only occasion in history when a British VC was recommended by the enemy.

The book is a good read.  However, be aware that not all of the Glowworm's survivors were pleased by Forrester's fictional version, particularly his portrayal of the captain.

For more information and pictures, see HMS Glowworm, a tribute webpage from the nephew of a seaman who died during the battle.

1934 Bally Pinball Machine with pay-out!

The pinball machines pay-out feature was short-lived, being legislated out of existence by the 1940s leaving the "Free Game" as the only reward.

Ford Club Wagon 1971

National Geographic, January 1971.

Personally, I think the steam locomotive is a scene stealer.

We used to make things in this country. #23: Black Donald Graphite Company, Calabogie, Ontario

I found this tin of flake graphite buried in junk on a shelf at the back of a shed, and I loved the graphics on it:

I was also intrigued, because Calabogie (best known for its skiing) is just a couple of hours away from where I live, along some of the best motorcycle riding roads in the area.

On a rainy day in June 1889, John Moore was rounding up his cattle when he slipped and fell on a moss-covered slope on the shore of White Fish Lake in Renfrew County, Ontario.  He discovered that under the moss was a vein of solid graphite, 8 feet in width.  The next day, he chopped out some samples, but it wasn't until six years later that he was able to sell the mineral rights to the Honourable George McKindsey for $4000.  While this was a lot of money for a poor farmer to acquire, McKindsey flipped the rights the very next day for $42,000 to a group of investors who created the Ontario Graphite Company. In 1896, mining operations began and over the next 50 or so years generated over 20 million dollars for its owners. The company built a town on the Black Donald mountain range for the workers.  The mine eventually extended underneath White Fish Lake, until 1901 when rains brought a cave-in which flooded the operation.  A new mill was built 3 miles south of the mine, and a powerhouse was built on the Madawaska River.  This electric power was harnessed to access the ore, making Black Donald the first community in the district to be electrified.  Initially, the ore was carried 30 miles down to the railhead at Calabogie by horse and wagon, with 10,000 pounds per tandem wagon, and via a shorter route over the ice during the winter with as many as 14 teams at work at any one time.  Finally, a road was built through the bush, cutting the distance to 13 miles and eventually trucks replaced horses.  In 1908, it was operated by the Black Donald Graphite Company.  

Photos above (and much of the information in this post) from Bytown or Bust and The Township of Greater Madawaska.

By 1938, the underground ore was exhausted so the company turned to processing the old tailings, pumping them from the lake.  World War II accelerated demand for the product, and the government paid Frobisher Explorations Limited to investigate the mine's potential.  They concluded that 40,000 tons of ore could still be extracted.  Frobisher purchased the mine and over the next 10 years, sixty men worked in 3 shifts, eventually mining even the support pillars of graphite left in the old workings 300 feet down.  Around dinnertime one day in 1950, the manager of the general store heard a huge roar and he looked to see a gigantic whirlpool open up in the lake, with water pouring down into the centre for over two minutes. The mine had been catastrophically flooded, and air pressure blew timbers, concrete and buildings high into the air around both the working and capped shafts.   All mining eventually ceased in 1954.

The Black Donald mine operated for 58 years and produced around 90 percent of the total graphite mined in Canada, with the loss of only one life over its entire working career.  After the mine was exhausted, the town naturally declined.  In the 1960's, Ontario Hydro bought up the properties, built the Mountain Chute dam and flooded 8500 acres, including the former site of the Black Donald mine and village.  Subsuming the previous White Fish Lake, the new reservoir took six months to fill, and created a new lake, renamed Centennial Lake in 1967.  The remains of the drowned village and mine are now visited by some as an interesting underwater dive site.

All that's now left above ground to mark it is an historical plaque.

I have several times ended up at the Mountain Chute Station on motorcycle rides, and always wondered what this huge damn and generating station was doing there.  An old can of graphite solved the mystery.

Toledo Pipe Threading Machine

Another good solid antique tool from the days when pipefitting was a growth industry, back when steam pipes and plumbing were all threaded iron pipe. These days the tools are common and cheap with little use for them, now that plumbing is done with ABS, copper and Pex.
The Toledo Pipe Threading Machine Co. started in 1902 and was still going into the 60s at least. It became Toledo-Beaver after merging with Beaver Pipe Tool Inc. Toledo-Beaver was purchased by Curtis Manufacturing to become Curtis-Toledo Inc. located in St. Louis.

The Rotarian Jan 1915

A car is a must abroad...

"Railway to the Moon": Mount Washington Cog Railroad

Laurie Lee and David Lambert.  The Wonderful World of Transportation.  Garden City Books, 1960.

Completed in 1869, it's the second steepest rack-and-pinion railway in the world.  It's still in operation.

We used to make things in this country. #24. Roxton Pond

Over the years, I've picked up a number of old wooden planes, which people used to sell at yard sales for a buck or two.  Simple  and elegant tools:

Before iron planes, these tools were made in an astounding variety of sizes and shapes, and an experienced cabinet-maker could be expected to own dozens of different types.

Walter Coventon.  Woodworking Tools and Their Use.  London:  Hutchinson's
Scientific and Technical Publications, 1953.

Eric Sloane.  A Museum of Early American Tools.  New York:  Ballantine, 1974.  

According to Eric Sloane's excellent book (originally published in 1964), at one time in Vermont you could buy these tools by the barrel for $5, and most buyers simply used them for stove wood!

Anyway, I've acquired three made by A. Monty:

Below, Monty rebate plane, unfortunately missing its wedge and iron:

Recently, I picked up the S. Dalpe rebate plane below:

Both the A. Monty and S. Dalpe planes were made in Roxton Pond, a pretty village in Quebec's Eastern Townships about halfway between Montreal and Sherbrooke and 2 hours north of the Quebec/Vermont border. Jacques Héroux has produced an excellent history on the tool makers of this locale, summarized below.

In 1865, Sam Dalpé (who had worked for E. Carter, a plane maker in Troy, New York) paid $1300 for Louis and Paul Payan’s furniture store in Roxton Pond which specialized in making wood trying-planes.   Even though Dalpé produced a large 1899 catalogue of his planes, today they are apparently rare.

http://www.hyperkitten.com/pics/tools/fs/b162.html

Four years after his death in 1895, his widow sold the business to Arthur Monty for $4000 “including the saw mill, the plane factory, the house and the barn.”  Monty began making planes to his own design, particularly his wedge design, and using his imprint of three stars.  Adélard Monty bought the mill in 1899 and continued with plane-making (as well as serving as Mayor of Roxton Pond from 1908 to 1913 and 1917 to 1919).  Below, Adélard Monty's factory:

http://outilsanciens.spacebar.ca/

Monty planes were carried in the catalogue of the Marshall-Wells company, the third-largest hardware merchant in the U.S. Adélard Monty died in 1927 and although the factory was rented afterwards, the plane business was discontinued.  The factory was demolished in 1966.

In 1902, W.S. Bullock became president of the Roxton Tool and Mill Company, which he sold to the Stanley Rule and Level Company in 1907.  The sale included, "The absolute control of the water power, two dams, including the new one four hundred and twenty-one feet long, twenty feet high, giving thirty-four feet of head on water wheels, the electric plant with a capacity of five hundred lights extending over the entire village and plants; grist, sowing, planning mills; foundry, machine shops and complete manufacture of carpenter planes and "S" wrenches, with all equipment herein..."  Bullock remained the head of Stanley's Canadian operation for many years.  The company started off making wooden tools at Roxton Pond, but soon expanded to make their No. 45 and 55 universal planes, and ultimately 80 percent of the Stanley Tools sold in Canada.  

Popular Science, July 1953

So, chances are if you have a Canadian-made Stanley tool, it was made in Roxton Pond.

The Stanley plant was closed in 1984.  All that remains to mark Roxton Pond's place in history as the largest tool-producing centre in Canada are the lovely friezes and gingerbread on the homes, and a brass plaque put up in 1974.