Canadian Pacific Tours and Cruises

Jim Lyon with Barbara Duggan.  The Port of Vancouver.  Canada's
Global Gateway.  Vancouver Port Corporation/Douglas Mcintyre, 1993.

Ciceri-Smith's Micrometer 1920

From Sell's National Directory of Large Commercial Houses and Buyers' Guide.  London:  Business Dictionaries Ltd., 1920.

Perhaps the first digital micrometer.  Ciceri Smith was from Edinburgh, Scotland and in the wire mesh business, so he made a micrometer to make it easier for employees to gauge wire thickness. The device was apparently accurate to .0001 inches!  He took out a U.S. Patent (No. 495,379) in 1893.  Apparently, Brown & Sharpe bought the U.S. rights.  Surviving examples of these devices change hands for big money nowadays.

For more information, and pics of the real thing, visit the Practical Machinist.

Enterprise Mfg. Cherry Stoner

 Another useful clamp-on cast iron kitchen gadget from another century. Cherries are dropped into the hopper at the top and a ridged wheel turned with a handcrank split the cherry and separated the pit from the cherry. How well does it work? I'll try it next spring.

http://michaelstowe.net/rue/documents/cherry_stoner.pdf

The Enterprise Manufacturing Company was founded in 1864 by T. Henry Asbury (1840-1907). In 1866, they incorporated and operated very successfully as a maker of domestic and commercial equipment for grinding, chopping and slicing meats, coffee and fruits. 

Charles W. Asbury (1870-1935) presumably a son of the founder, continued the business which had grown to be one the largest makers of mills, grinders, The line even included a lard press and a sausage stuffer. The company continued into the 20th Century but never made the leap into electric appliances. 

 Their last successful line, a no-clamp food chopper, caught the attention of Silex, a rising manufacturer of appliances and in 1955 T. Henry Asbury II, (a grandson of the founder?) sold the company to them. Within seven years every item in the Enterprise line had been discontinued.

Unknown atomizer

This nicely constructed garage sale-find appears to be some sort of atomizer-type device. Unscrew the lid using the wingnut, pour in your choice of liquid, pump the handle to pressurise and activate using the thumb-activated trigger. There doesn't appear to be any identifying marks on it at all. At first I thought it might be some sort of torch but the stamped hearts on the handle would suggest something more feminine. I'll keep polishing it though, it really seems a likely home for a genie.

Incandescent Lamps

J. Arthur Thomson. (Ed.).  The Outline of Science.  A Plain Story Simply Told.  Third Volume. 
New York & London:  G.P. Putnam's Sons, The Knickerbocker Press, 1922.

After 135 years, the incandescent light bulb is on its way to extinction.  In Canada, as of January 1st, 75- and 100-watt bulbs are no longer being manufactured, with lower wattage bulbs to disappear at year's end.  In the U.S., January 1st saw the end of production of 60- and 40 watt bulbs.  Personally, I think that compact fluorescents, in spite of their greater energy efficiency, are a poor replacement.  In my own experience, they don't last as long, they don't operate well in cold environments (like my unheated barn), their mercury vapour requires them to be disposed of as toxic waste (while most people probably just toss them in the garbage), and they're much more expensive.  Don't get me going on another government "green" initiative--ethanol in gasoline.  Progress is fine.

Boring History 2: William Ridgway & Sons, Ltd., Sheffield, England

Last week, I finally managed to find a William Ridgway tool, an auger bit.  I didn't know it was a Ridgway when I bought it, because of all of the surface discolouration, but it cleaned up nicely.

William Ridgway and Sons were founded in 1878, and operated out of their Oscar Works in Sheffield.  Their primary products in the beginning were augers and other wood-boring and mortising tools.  Almost a century later, in 1972, they merged with several other British tool-making companies to form Record-Ridgway.  Ten years later, this company was snapped up by the Swedes, but it wasn't to their taste and returned to British ownership in 1985.  In 1998, the American tool giant Irwin swallowed it up. 

To view their now derelict factory, visit 28 Days Later.

Anyway, the company had a good run, and a terrific trademark!

1945.  Source:  Grace's Guide to British Industry

Schooner L Herbert Taft

Launched in 1901 from Thomaston Me. with the usual fanfare. Not much information on the ship after that. One newspaper report of a load of rails turned up.  I was not able to find her ultimate disposition but did find the following two newspaper articles that illustrate the dangers of the coastal shipping business.
 In the second article, she ran aground off New Jersey in December 1912 but there is no evidence that she sank at that time.

Evening World Dec 19 1912

Sidecar Sunday

Synchronoscope

Used to synchronize the frequency of AC current of a generator to the power grid.

Motor toboganning in the Arctic, 1960's

The New Book of Knowledge Annual 1969.  Grolier Inc., 1969.