Tramontina #2 plane

  I came upon the name Tramontina a couple of years ago when I found a hatchet made by the company. The Brazilian company makes quality housewares, pots and pans, kitchen knives and accessories, but this small block plane was a surprise, I did not know they made woodworking tools.

One of my vices is vises, Bison

  Interesting vise from Poland. Tighten normally, then a cam action clamp does the final securing. Good for repetitive work. These vises are still being made. More here.

Shingling hatchet head

  The Crucible Cast Steel stamping is the only marking on this well-used shingling hammer. It appears there were several companies that stamped Crucible Steel in their edged tools, referring to the process of melting iron with carbon in a crucible which resulted in a high quality steel. 

 It's likely the head shown was either C. Hammond of Philadelphia or Isaiah Blood of Ballston, NY who made premium shingling axes and tools that regularly used "Cast Steel" or "Crucible" on their tools . A little googling shows both manufacturers made shingling hammers of this shape. 

Sidecar Sunday

moto guzzi inline 4 1951

 Moto Guzzi management wanted to replace its aging 500cc 120 degree V twin racer in 1951, this advanced four was the result. It featured a watercooled 4 cylinder engine mounted longitudinally in the frame with shaft drive. The motorcycle was first raced in 1952, it was not very successful as the center of gravity was considered to be too high and the torque of the longitudinal engine affected handling. It lasted till 1954 and was replaced by the famed V8.

Two strokes are the future!

So said Elmore in 1910... 

The company had been manufacturing bicycles in Clyde, Ohio for 7 years when they started building cars in 1900. The cars were among the lowest priced on the market and originally featured a mid mounted single cylinder two stroke engine.  By 1908 the single had been developed into a three cylinder engine.

 The two stroke power caught the eye of Charles Durant who purchased the company for General Motors in 1909. Durant was forced out of General Motors a year later and the Elmore was discontinued soon after. 

 

We used to make things in this country,#382 IEL Pioneer chainsaw

  This is another pre-diaphragm carburetor chainsaw. In this design, the engine and bar remain solidly connected while the tank and carburetor are rotated as a unit to keep the float oriented correctly. 

 IEL is Industrial Engineering Limited, based in Vancouver BC from 1940 till it was purchased by Outboard Marine Corporation in 1956, which eventually moved manufacturing to Peterborough, Ontario. 

Scandinavian American, 1913

   S.S. Frederik VIII of the Scandinavian-American Line, originally painted by artist Ferdinand Worms (1859–1939). 

  The Frederik VIII was launched on May 27, 1913 and much of her service for the next twenty years was between Copenhagen and NYC though she occasionally called in at Philadelphia and Halifax.

In December of 1935 she was retired and 11 months later was sold to the Hughes Bolckow Shipbreaking Co. Ltd. for scrap.

OEC Four 1934

 A proposed 4 cylinder motorcycle by the Osborne Engineering Company, the prototype was not completed in time for the show. The engine was a narrow angle V4 from the Matchless Silver Hawk. The machine never made it to production as Matchless discontinued the development of the engine.

General Electric Electronic Toys

  Here's a GE Model 186-3 toy record player. It came with a 78 rpm record of nursery rhymes, to match the printed illustrations on the sides. It's made of stamped sheet metal in an unusual teardrop shape, even the tone arm is sheet metal. This was sold in the late 1940s and into the 1950s for around $10, not a cheap toy.