Fashion Friday, More puttees

 

Gas or electricity?

  The idea of a pipeline supplying gas to houses for heat, cooking and light was revolutionary in the late 19th century but by the turn of the century, electricity was becoming practical enough to threaten the gases dominance. This somewhat awkward cartoon tries to illustrate that point.

 I've rented apartments that still had the capped-off gas pipe that used to be the light for the room. They generally still had the 80 plus year old flowery wallpaper. Oh, they also generally had one outlet in the room because who could need more than an electric clock or bedside light in a bedroom?

Mototri Contal

This thing dates to about 1905. Just the thing to take your mother-in-law for a ride. 

Someone decided one of these tricycles would make a good machine to take part in the 1907 Paris to Peking motor race. The machine made it into the Gobi Desert before it was abandoned.

Parilla

 Seen at The CVMG meet in June. So beautiful...

1922 Austin 7

 Maybe it's just me, but doesn't the driver look a bit sheepish slouching in this undersized car?  When the simple little Austin 7 was unveiled in July 1922, it was priced at just £165, when an Austin 20 was between £600 and £700. It was even cheaper than a model T. The average British worker earned around £5 per week so car ownership became a lot more accessible. The body bolted to a simple frame so it could be a 4 seater, a coupe or even a race car. It sold well and was built under license by BMW and also Nissan in Japan. It showed up in the US as the American Bantam.

A year after it was released with sales doing well, Sir Herbert Austin started an official competition department to develop  the car and to promote the cars reliability and performance. It became a popular racing car, winning races and setting records through the rest of the decade. The car went out of production in WW2 when the factory was converted to defence work.

Lister Diesel

 I've run across Lister wrenches occasionally but never an actual engine. This beauty, about 4 feet tall, was originally used to haul anchor on a freighter on the Great Lakes. Wish I knew more about it!
 

Most interesting find at a thrift shop ever

    This machine was sitting at a thrift shop, a handwritten note suggested it was a steam engine.  Hmmm. two single action cylinders of different diameters, no valve gear at all. 

 It's almost certainly not a steam engine but possibly an homemade experimental heat engine of some sort? There is a propane burner in a rusty box (below) that fits around half of the larger cylinder, the other half of the cylinder is surrounded by a metal trough, maybe with cold water? 

We applied a few pounds of air through the valve on the small cylinder and the flywheel turned a few degrees but no joy...

 Any ideas?

 

Flywell Might

 

   The editor of the magazine came upon this homebuilt unit while out and about and thought it worthy of publishing. It is constructed of plywood over a hardwood frame, the rear end is from a small Villiers powered motorcycle and apparently travelled along nicely at 35 or 45 mph, adequate for English traffic in 1935.

Blackbeard's ghost's CB750

Weird. I believe the movie dates to 1968, the CB750 wasn’t introduced till a year later.
 

U.S. Royal Balloon Tires, 1935

 Short and to the point...