These "Exact" C-clamps were manufactured by the Exact Level & Tool Manufacturing Company, which was better known for their torpedo levels. Previous post here. The company started in the 1930s in Highbridge, New Jersey and lasted till 1985 when it was bought by the Hyde company and shut down.
Progress is fine, but it's gone on for too long.
with apologies to Ogden Nash...
Saturday, October 17, 2026
Friday, October 16, 2026
Locomotive Catawissa
The Little Schuylkill Navigation, Railroad & Coal Co. was incorporated in 1826. Amazingly, that was 200 years ago. As that time predates the common use of photography there are no photographs of the first locomotives.
This one, the Catawissa, was made in England by Edward Bury of Liverpool and was one of two ordered by the company. By 1832 it was running a 28 mile track in Pennsylvania from Port Clinton to Tamaqua. This photograph of unknown age shows the locomotive later in its career with an added cab, stack, pilot and sandbox. The locomotive was still on the property in 1863 and was sold to the American Dredging Company in 1871.
Grapple Hook
Wednesday, October 14, 2026
Today's big job
Admittedly not a good photo, but you get the idea. A full size Excello Bridgeport-type lathe has a new home. Its too heavy to lift with the tractor bucket but we did get it out and up, on and off the trailer and into its new home.
I clearly would have to work on my camera skills if I wanted to start a Youtube channel.
We used to make things in this country #380; Hornet chainsaw
Here we have a chain saw from the late 1940s made in Guelph, Ontario. This saw had a two stroke engine that used a float type carb. The problem with a float-type carb is that it only works in one orientation. In order to make a horizontal cut, some means of feeding the engine had to be devised. The Hornet's solution was a longitudinal crankshaft with the shaft out the front. A right angle gear mechanism allowed the blade to rotate 90 degrees while the power head stayed in place. That's one way of doing it!
Hornet Industries was started by a John J Smith after WW2. The company manufactured one and two man saws. In 1950 the Mall Tool Company bought the company and sold the saws under their own name. In 1958 Remington bought the Mall Tool company, moving chainsaw manufacture to Desa Manufacturing which closed in 2008.




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