L S Starrett's first invention

 

Ladish Co. Brantford wrench

  This aluminum wrench was apparently intended for stainless fittings manufactured by the Ladish Co. in Brantford Ontario as part of their tank and pipe manufacturing.  It appears the Brantford operation may have become the Tri-Lad company in the early 2000s.

 The company was a subsidiary of Ladish Co. in Wisconsin, a company that had specialized in forgings of all types but mostly for automotive, farm and industrial purposes. Ladish had bought up the Tri-clover company of Kenosha Wisconsin in 1953 which manufactured stainless steel piping and fittings, that company was acquired by Alfa Laval in 1985 and closed down in 2000.

 Ladish lost business in the 1980s and after a bankruptcy in 1993, has focused on aircraft parts as they built back, ownership has changed again, it is now known as the ATI Ladish Company, Inc.

 

Lucas lighting kit 1920s

  If you owned a motorcycle in England in the 1920s, and wanted lights, there was a acetylene gas lighting kit available from Halfords (a motoring department store) for the equivalent of approximately £60 which gave you barely adequate lighting, or if you were feeling flush Lucas made an electric setup consisting of the above SS48 headlight and MT110 taillight and the magdyno illustrated below. If I made the translation from old British money £10 17s 6d correctly, that's about £600 (or about $1100 Canadian). I expect most motorcyclists just stayed home at night.

 

Heartfelt thanks!

Well, would you look at that...

 Ten million views. Sure, it's taken more than a decade, and I know these days there are people that can do that in a day but this is just a blog of old rusty things. No popstars or naked women.

I would like to thank everyone who stops in to take a look. Love the comments. Some of you have been here since the beginning, some for a short time and sadly some have passed on. You all are appreciated, you keep it fun for me and I learn stuff every day... keep well!
 

Sidecar Sunday

Folk art. 

 

Dunlop, 1967

 "Crummy" is a technical term...

Yachting Magazine, January, 1938

 Yachting, then as now, "If you have to ask, sir..."

Adel Precision Products

I'm not sure what the decorative RCMP uniform had to do with an aircraft fastener company in Burbank, California in 1942, but it must have helped sales? Weird.

 From Facebook, a history of the company... After attending Marshall College for two  semesters in 1924, Huntington, WV native Henry Ray Ellinwood moved to California, where he went into business making camera equipment. While taking flying lessons, Ellinwood noticed how loosely the wires in his plane fit together. He devised a better way, designing an aluminum and rubber clip that held the wires in place. In partnership with a man named Adler (his first name has been lost in the mists of history),  Ellinwood opened a Burbank plant to manufacture his clip design. The two men named their company Adel, taking the first two letters of their last names. Adler parted with the company shortly after its inception.  The company struggled in its early years, but with the outbreak of World  War II, Adel found it couldn't produce its clips fast enough. In addition, military leaders worried that the California plant was in danger should there be Japanese air attacks. They urged Ellinwood to  build a second plant somewhere inland. And so in 1942, Ellinwood built a  plant in his hometown of Huntington, WV. At the height of the war, the  plant employed as many as 500 workers on three shifts. After the war,  the plant had its ups and downs. Meanwhile, it had passed out of  Ellinwood's hands. In 1965, Adel was acquired by Transamerica Delaval Inc. In 1993, the company closed its Huntington plant, returning all operations to California. Left suddenly jobless, many of Adel's veteran employees had never worked anywhere else. Enter Huntington businessman Rick Houvouras and other local investors, who teamed up and raised  $800,000 to start a new company - Star Technologies. The new venture began operation by hiring a half-dozen former Adel employees and pledging to them that, once the company reached a given level of profitability, they could become partners in it. Today the Star Technologies plant, located in the 2400 block of Fourth Avenue in East Huntington, produces millions of aircraft fasteners and other precision parts each year.

Glamour puss

Ken W Purdy, The Kings of the Road, Little, Brown and Company 1952

It appears that the door seams, fender skirt and fender vent door have been airbrushed out to accent the flowing lines.

 The Jaguar XK 120 was presented at the British International Motor Show at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre on October 27, 1948. The marketing campaign was centered around guaranteeing it would reach a speed of 120 miles per hour. The campaign worked, between 1948 and 1954 12,055 units were made.

M1 Carbine

 By early WW2 there was an awareness that the full size military cartridge was overly powerful and the rifles ungainly. The Germans developed the STG 44 with a necked down 7.62x33 cartridge, America designed this compact rifle using a 7.62x 33 straight case round developed from the earlier .32 caliber Winchester self loading round. The M1 carbine started production in July 1942 and went to war immediately. Millions have been manufactured by dozens of manufacturers.