Every ounce is worth a tenth

 Drag race guys and their weight reduction... 

reminds me of this one we found years ago.

They used to make things there, India Edition

Production line of the MiG-21 Ibis fighter at the HAL factory,  (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited), Sunabeda, Koraput, India. They built 840 of them.
 

A Parisienne in Toronto...

 

HD Smith Perfect Handle wrench

Henry D Smith founded the self-named company to produce castings and forgings at Plantsville, Conn. for the carriage and wagon manufacturing trade. In 1900, with the writing on the wall for horse-drawn equipment, the company reorganized to focus on a line of  tools featuring rivetted wooden handles which they named Perfect Handle tools. The line included a range of pipe wrenches, adjustable wrenches as well as hammers, plain wrenches and screwdrivers, this 1914 catalog shows a few of their products.

 In 1929, the company was sold at auction to an oilman, George Lassen who planned on continuing the tool manufacture but Trimont acquired the company a year later and the Perfect Handle line was phased out.

 More history here.

Even more at Alloy Artifacts.

Corvette 1961

 

Small adjustable wrench

 Seen at the Beaumont Mills antique market,  a small simple unnamed adjustable wrench, Wrenches of this type were known as bicycle wrenches in the late 19th C.

Aprilia V twin cross section

 What I like most about this modern cross section drawing is that it was someone's job to draw it out.

 After that, this is a Rotax designed and built 1000cc 60° V twin, with two balance shafts. One, quite obvious, is in front of the crankshaft, the other smaller one located in the rear head, presumably running half crank speed? Can we make an engine more complicated?

Planes in formation, Monday Mystery

 I'm trying to identify the aircraft and leaning towards Keystone LB-6 light bombers (biplane) but there are problems with that. The photo caption in the now-forgotten blog source suggested it was taken in 1935, by then apparently all the LB-6s had been scrapped. Are there any topnotch vintage plane spotters out there? 

This dayinaviation

Martin MB-1

Sioux Valve Grinder

   Another valve grinding tool. This one has a yet another mechanism for accomplishing the back and forth motion. The ad shows several adapters to interface to the valve head.
 

Sidecar Sunday

 

E type crash damage

Life in pre-5mph bumper times. Below, another view that Dave (in comments) found online. Wonder what the story was.

 Rumour also has it that Jaguar was unable or unwilling to fit the E type with bumpers to conform to the new regulations, so we got the XJ12 instead. 

Sidney Machine Tool

 

Lathe manufacturers from the turn of the last century continue to pop up. I swear they're like the software companies of today.  Sidney Machine Works set up shop in the Sebastian May factory in Sidney, Ohio in 1904 to build woodworking machinery. They added metal lathes to their line in about 1910 and the name was changed to Sidney Machine Tool Co. By WW2, the woodworking tools had been discontinued and metal lathes were their only product.  New owners came in 1961 in the form of the Buhr Machine Tool company who renamed the company Buhr Sidney. That company was bought up a few years later and the Sidney operation was shut down. More history here. And the whole story at Lathes.co.uk.

From the Practical Machinist forum; 

Serial Number reference book has serials from 1930 to 1962, when it says "all lines discontinued".  The first number is 5532 and the last number is 10629, so they made a little more than 5000 in 32 years, and supposedly a little more than 5000 from 1904 to 1930.  Sounds like a fairly serious effort, though nothing like the amazing output over at Monarch or Lodge & Shipley.   They made 14 to 32" medium and heavy duty lathes. Sidney was famous for their herringbone gear headstock.

Mini X ray

Nick Vesey

 A different kind of cross section view.

Norton Manx

 Seen at Barber a few years ago.

1993

16th C multi-tool

Core77

 Just in case we thought that multi-tools were a relatively recent development...

A richly decorated combination tool, Nuremberg, circa 1580. Iron with fine etched decoration in the form of flowers and foliage. The tool can be used as pliers, hammer, nail-puller or mini-anvil. L 21.5 cm.

Oldsmobile Autronic-Eye

More here. Futureliner.org

 

Marvel Accessories Mfg.

 

Patent

Amusement device patent

 

 People have been mentioning that the US patent office might seem to be mostly interested in novelty items. I beg to differ and present this patent as evidence of their serious intent. Anyways, anyone inetersted in acquiring a franchise in what will surely be a lucrative venture?

"This invention relates to amusement devices, and more particularly to what is commonly known as the loop-the-loop, and its object is to provide an inclined plane terminating in a loop and having slots throughout the length of the plane and loop within which trolleys extending from roller skates are adapted to play and be retained while the user of the skates may race by gravity down the incline and around the loop without danger of leaving the common surface and at the same time simulating a daring feat which might be accomplished, but generally attended by too much risk when continually undertaken without the safety provisions herein more fully explained, set forth in the claims and shown in the accompanying drawings..." 

Google patents

Wilkinson motorcycle

 These oddballs were produced by the Wilkinson Sword Company. Wilkinson made the Maxim machine gun, a young on-staff engineer designed a scouting motorcycle armed with the gun. The military wasn't interested in the V twin powered device, but the seed was sewn for a unique touring motorcycle which was introduced in 1909 and named the TAC (Touring Auto Cycle). The engine was now a 676cc inline four and featured rear suspension, a bucket seat and fuel tank incorporated into the rear fender. A steering wheel was an option. The designers weren't finished; in 1911, they introduced the TMC (Touring Motor Cycle), now with an 850cc watercooled inline side valve engine. In the next few years, the engine grew again, this time to 996cc and the brand came under control of the Ogden Motor company who shut down production around the beginning of WW1.

 BTW, the last Sidecar Sunday post subject was also a Wilkinson, no wonder it wasn't easily recognizable!

Being tested at Brooklands.

Pioneer Run 1996
 (The Classic Motor Cycle Aug 1996)

Chevrolet van production line

 Looks like a 1966 model (or earlier). I drove several of these over the years, a great partner in crime for my misspent youth.

Spraker valve grinding tool

thanks, Ski!

 

  Here's a hand operated valve lapping tool, as the crank is turned, the star wheel engages one, then the other pin on the shaft, giving a back and forth rotating action for valve lapping action. It's similar to another device in an older post here.

Official Gazette of the US Patent office, Sept, 25, 1928 pp 783-784

J A Williams animal trap patent

US Patent 269776

Now, that's a humane trap...

Sidecar Sunday

Homemade hotrod

75 mph in that? No thanks...

 

Wm. Schrader bicycle spanner wrench

thanks, Ski.

Never seen one in real life, and there is little info online.

 

Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Scottish designer and architect, Charles Rennie Mackintosh

 

Rubber Insulated Screwdriver

Apr 1, 1891 The Electrical Engineer.

Who knows... it might catch on!

 

Klaxon Horns, 1914

 Death knell of the squeeze-bulb horn... Say it isn't so!

Rickman Triumph, 1966

500 Triumph-powered Rickman Metisse in the capable hands of Geoff Monty. Monty had been involved in the GMS (Special, 250 based on a 350 BSA single), GMV (Velocettes) and later Monard racing projects. This project must have just been for relaxation.

 

Paul Dunstall Performance, 1968

Paul Dunstall started modifying Nortons in the late fifties and became a licensed manufacturer of Norton Dominator-based race bikes in 1966 after purchasing the contents of the Norton Race shop. For those of us who couldn't afford a complete race bike, or were overseas, he also supplied go-fast parts for Nortons and BSAs.

 

Below, Decibel silencer.

British Cycle Supply