Typical aircraft of today, 1935

W.G.V. Balchin (Consultant Editor).  The Country Life Book of the Living History of England.  Country Life Books, 1981.

Boring history 4: R. Stock & Co., Berlin, Germany

Below, a drill bit I recently turned up:

Richard Stock & Co. was founded in Berlin in 1903.  They seem to be best known for their manufacture of bayonets and other edged weapons.  I don't know when the company ceased operation.

I like the details on this twist drill:  recessed space for the size markings, so they don't disappear if the bit spins in the chuck; nicely stamped marking; and a tab at the end for better driving in a compatible chuck.  This tang is characteristic of Morse taper bits, but the shank on the R. Stock bit is cylindrical, not tapered. Interesting.

I've never encountered this company's products over here before, so it was probably brought over when someone immigrated from Germany.

Cross section drawing of the Titanic

The PCC car is introduced to Toronto, 1938

Filey/Howard/Weyerstrahs; Passengers Must Not Ride on the Fenders, Green Tree Pub. 1974

The PCC streetcar was introduced to enthusiastic response at the 1938 Canadian National Exhibition. The TTC went on to run the largest fleet of these streetcars and used them till the early 1990s.

Indian in Brooklyn

Aftermarket cast wheels

Just before the OEMs started providing them as an option. 

Crosley-Williams-Swan AA/F Dragster

Bill Toboldt.  Fix Your Plymouth.  All Models 1967-1952.  The Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc., 1967.

From a day when your suburban neighbour might roll one of these things out his garage!

Speedex Trig-O-Matic wire stripper

"Trig-O-Matic!"   You gotta love it!

These wire strippers were patented in 1947 by Stuart G. Wood of Rockford, Illinois.  From what I can determine, he went on to found the Wood Specialty Manufacturing Company in the same city. This particular tool was apparently made for the General Cement Manufacturing Company, also of Rockford, which was founded in 1930 by Stanley B. Valiulis and Richard Ellis.  Their initial product was a general purpose cement designed to repair phonograph and radio cabinets and repair torn speaker cones.  Over the years, their product line expanded to meet changing market conditions, and in 1959 the company changed its name to GC Electronics.  Unlike the Wood Specialty Manufacturing Company, GC Electronics is still in business.

Anyway, they're very nice wire strippers and have given me no cause to complain, especially since they were made over 50 years ago.

Richard Garrett & Sons, Suffolk, England

W.G.V. Balchin (Consultant Editor).  The Country Life Book of the Living History of England.  Country Life Books, 1981.

The company remained under original ownership from 1778 to 1932 and persevered under a related name until 1981.  Over 200 years--an impressive accomplishment.  The company was the first British firm to incorporate the American practice of flow line production, the predecessor of the assembly line.

Around the World in Eleven Years

Patience Abbe was 12 years old when she "co-wrote" this book with her two younger brothers about their travels between the wars with her photographer father and ex-Ziegfeld Girl mother.  Patience actually dictated the book to her mother.  Among her experiences, she got to meet Josef Stalin and, unlike many, survived the experience.  The book was published in 1936 and became a best-seller.  The New York Times called it "a gay and amusing travel book."  Not quite the adjectives most people would use to describe Germany at this point in time.