Saturday, August 31, 2013

Sidecar Sunday



Canadian Northover Motorcycle Machine Gun WW1. 1908

A different Merlin Engine


New Brunswick clothing factory 1960's

Canada One Hundred 1867-1967.  Prepared in the Canada Year Book,
Handbook and Library Division, Dominion Bureau of Statistics, Ottawa.

WWI Canadian recruitment methods

D.M.L. Farr, J.S. Moir, S.R. Mealing.  Two Democracies.  Toronto:  Ryerson Press, 1963.
Colin M. Bain et al., Making History.  The Story of Canada in the Twentieth Century.  Prentice-Hall, 2000.   

We used to make things in this country # 112; SCP bicycles

Another basic transportation bicycle with not much to distinguish it from any other mid-century man's bicycle, but I hadn't seen that badge before.
 Standard Cycle Products was a Toronto company, in existence from about 1930 to 1961, at one time located near Carlaw & Dundas, later at 600 Victoria Pk.  It appears that sometime during the war years or shortly thereafter, CCM acquired the company, and continued to sell bikes under the SCP badge.
 
 

Friday, August 30, 2013

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Atlas Dual Tool

I picked this odd-looking welding hammer up at a garage sale, not that I needed it but I wondered what the clip on the back might be for. A quick Google and all is revealed, a weld-cleaning wire brush clips into the back and more importantly; the Atlas Dual Tool is still available.

Friends: Museum Edition

Since the beginning of this blog we have occasionally posted a category called "Friends", a pairing of a motorcycle with an airplane. A visit to the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum showed they also had the same idea.
 




Narrow Gauge Locomotive #11

 

George Abdill A Locomotive Engineers Album Bonanza Books 1965
 
One of the three Baldwin 4-4-0s built for the Mt. Gretna narrow gauge railway in Pennsylvania. This 2 foot gauge line carried tourists on 4 miles of scenic track from Mt. Gretna to Governor Dick mountain and ran from 1889 till about 1916. Note the rustic twig theme on the enginehouse.
 The sister locomotive #12 drew attention to Baldwin when it was ordered on June 22 1889 with the stipulation that it be ready for sevice by July 4th. The plant workers applied themselves to the task and the locomotive was built in 8 working days- ready to roll on July 2nd.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Band trolley car

Large format photo at ExpoRail near Montreal. According to the caption this is a 1896 trolley car built to accommodate a full brass band. I think we need more of these.

The steamer City of Rockland on the rocks...

Postcard form the Penobscot Marine Museum
The three year old steamer ran aground in Penobscot Bay during a dense fog and just after low tide. No injuries and she was refloated to continue her career. She was scrapped, burned and sunk in 1923.

 
The City of Rockland's ultimate disposition on the bottom of the ocean near Boston.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Pilot Charles "Speed" Holman of Northwest Airways

1433 consecutive loops and a dapper dresser to boot!

WW2 Radial Medium Tank Engine

 Radial aircraft engine adapted for tank use as used in Grant and Sherman medium tanks.  Above, the rear view, showing mounting yoke, exhaust ring and carburetor air horn.
 
Front view showing power takeoff; fan and clutch removed.

Vintage Canadian Flat Track, Western Fair 1975


Brian and Fred Beddington with the XR750.

Building Ships Frames

Postcard from Penobscot Marine Museum
That's a lot of wood.
 Schooner St. George during construction at Rockland Me. 1939

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Mailwing at Owl's Head




Operation Manna

Painting by John Rutherford.  Bomber Command Museum of Canada.  Canadian Military Journal, Winter 2011.
A wonderful piece of history in which the British arranged to drop food supplies from Lancasters in April and May 1945 to starving Dutch people in territory still occupied by the Germans.  See the Wikipedia article.

Your Home Workshop



From R.J. DeCristoforo.  The Practical Handbook of Carpentry.  New York:  Fawcett Publications Inc., 1969.

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Sidecar Sunday

Photo taken in Holland at unknown date.  At the beginning of WW2 the rider/owner (shown) buried the rig to hide it from the Germans. When the war was over he dug it up and continued to use it.

Shay on the waterfront


Interesting picture of a scrapped Shay geared locomotive. According to the caption, on exhibit in Toronto but what's a logging locomotive doing in downtown Toronto? According to Wikipedia the earliest it could have been built was 1880 making this wreck a mere 28 years old at the time of photo, young for a steam locomotive.  Also I wonder where and what the G&O RR was.

Eureka


The product of some long-vanished company, for some long-forgotten purpose but, Eureka!  I have  found it!

Heating with coal


The Picton Gazette, May 28, 1947
From back in the day when you had to know how to order coal by type and size using names like "egg" or "Buckwheat."


Hubbard Cobb (Editor).  The Complete Home Handyman's Guide.  New York:  William H. Wise & Co., 1949.


Friday, August 23, 2013

Crew and Contents of a Sherman Tank 1943

Lt Col. Robert J. Icks, Tanks and Armoured Vehicles.  Phillip Andrews Pub. 1945

Before hydraulics there were steel cables

 
The very successful Link Belt Speeder LS98 shovel with over 7000 built in its 42 year production run.
 If you ever wanted to learn to drive one of these, demos on Youtube...

Travel with Trans-Canada Air Lines

In their latter years, not so fondly remembered as "Trash Air."

Select Mower Sharpener



"As seen on TV!"  Always a good endorsement.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Stovers Good Engine, Catalog No 25 (partial)


I found this partial catalog in a used book store and once I did a bit of googling, I was  introduced to another little-known inventor/ manufacturer of the late 19th Century. 
D.C. Stover started manufacturing windmills in the 1870s but his inventive mind came up with various machines including feed grinders, spring-making machines even barb wire.  One comprehensive and successful line were stationary gas engines, shown here in this 1920 catalog.
Apparently the company closed down in 1942, though serial numbers and shipping records still exist.
  A short history of Stover here.