Monday, April 13, 2026

Starrett micrometer patent


 Patent 433, 311 Datamp notes it was not known to be produced.

100th Bugatti 46 chassis


 Monsieur Bugatti (center, behind steering wheel) with staff and friends posing at Molsheim in 1930. I wonder what the chassis number is. Bugatti register.

Sunday, April 12, 2026

Saturday, April 11, 2026

Seemed like a great idea at the time...


 

Link belts

The Teach Yourself books
 A E Peatfield, Engineering Components and Materials. The English Engineering Press, 1951

 Still around today... 
Lee Valley

Friday, April 10, 2026

Baldwin Duckworth chain

1948

 Care and lubrication here.  History of Baldwin Duckworth here.

Unnecessary cross section view?

Cyclopedia of Modern Shop Practice, American Technical Society, Vol 1, 1903

 The mystery of vise mechanisms revealed! No one could have known.

Thursday, April 9, 2026

The Future of Transportation!

Junior Language Book B by Donalda Dickie, 1938

 But hadn't we already eliminated Zeppelins a few years earlier?

Long live the Offenhauser engine!

Artist; Vic Berris


  The Offy 4 cylinder racing engine was designed in the twenties by Fred Offenhauser and Harry Miller of Miller Racing as a marine racing engine. During the 1930s, when Indianapolis racers favored 1.5 straight eights, it was adapted for car racing and started winning due to the displacement allowance of 3 litres for fours. During the 1950s, rules changes and the need for more power prompted a 4.1 litre supercharged version. Starting in the late sixties, turbocharging was being developed, With displacement back down to about 2.6 litres, and 25- 40lbs of boost the engine was again competitive.  In all, cars powered with various forms of the engine won Indianapolis 27 times between 1935 and 1976.