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

Saturday, March 20, 2021

Mobile women's fashion

thanks, Ski

Quite amazing how much clothing women were weighed down with for any activity they chose to participate in...

Below, Muriel Hind, the first woman motorcyclist in Britain, outfitted in appropriate garb.

Friday, March 19, 2021

Bren gun manufacture

Display of parts from raw to finished with sectioned Bren gun. Main body parts on the left. See previous post here.

Inspired by the BMW telescopic fork introduced in 1935, in 1937 Associated Motorcycles Corp. ordered a set for "evaluation". Development led to the introduction of AMC's version in July of 1941 and they were immediately installed on the War Department G3Ls. Postwar, other manufacturers made their own versions so AMC were unable to capitalize on their head start.

Used to modern forks without even drain plugs, I like the oil level screws.

Meanwhile BMW moved on to Earles forks. A few years later, modern suspension came to the rear end.

Thursday, March 18, 2021

McKinnon adjustable wrench

A reader sent in pictures of this McKinnon wrench, an old style "monkey wrench", wondering if it was possible to date it. It looks like an early 20th century type of tool, one that would work on square nuts, but less well on hexes and was largely obsolete by the 20s.

We've covered the McKinnon company of St. Catherines and it seems the long-established company started making wrenches around 1925. Mention has been made of them manufacturing tools for Williams. Other sources mention that the tool making part of the company was spun off when General Motors bought the company in 1929. So were all these wrenches that turn up made during a 4 year period? Other sources don't mention the toolmaking part at all.

On a forum someone mentions a wrench marked on one side DREADNAUGHT, 1/4 & 5/16 USS, 5/16 OC. The other side CHROME-MOLYBDENUM, 1025, MCKINNON, Made in Canada. Gray Tools lists a Dreadnaught adjustable in their 1941 catalogue so possibly production was continued by Gray Tools after McKinnon stopped?

So it appears that McKinnon made wrenches for different companies in the time they were on the tool-making business. All these old companies seem to have conflicting and misleading accounts of their history. In the hopes that someone knows more than I've found, I'll leave this post here for awhile but will move it to the main McKinnon post eventually.

Wednesday, March 17, 2021

1934 Auto Union cutaway view

Another beautiful cutaway illustration, this time by artist Gédo, real name Georges Gédovius. (Thanks Hailwood1965)

The 4360 cc V16 with Roots supercharger and 5 speed transmission are clearly shown, as well as the 47 gallon fuel tank forming the drivers backrest. Drive safe!

Pitstop

Hans Struck discusses things with his wife.

Goodwood 2009

OHC Velocette

The OHC Velocette KTT motor, developed from the racers and introduced in 1929, was the first production racer. The camshaft is driven with two bevel gear setups and a vertical shaft with two Oldham couplings, not much changed from earlier OHC engines.

1924 Prototype OHC Model K

The 1925 Model K was the first production machine.

The KN- Normal- was the designation for the 1929 and 1930 model. It would have featured the foot operated gear shift introduced in 1927.

Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Martin Baker ejection seat

Now the main component of a vaguely disquieting sculpture in a shop window on Queen St West in Toronto;

Pudendal nerve of shame by J V Doucette, this Martin Baker ejection seat had, in its intended use, a bad habit:

"We had a number of failures over the years, including one when I was flying 60 miles out at sea. The Martin-Baker ejection seat (subjecting ejecting pilots to 22 Gs) broke my back. “As it usually does,” replied the Martin-Baker technical representative when R.Y. informed him about the incident."

More here

We used to make things in this country C.I.L.

thanks, Inno!

Here's a set of blasting cap cutter/crimpers from a toolmaker we've never seen. Canadian Industries Limited was largely a paints, coatings, chemicals and explosives company though my first single shot shotgun was a CIL brand. The firearms were basically a Remington Model 812 manufactured under license in Brazil by CBC (Companhia Brasileria de Cartuchos), and imported into Canada. These cutter/crimpers might be the same situation, very similar tools are on ebay under the names Atlas, Dupont, JVC etc.

These are marked made in Canada so now we're searching for a manufacturer who might have made them under the CIL name.