Solitaire by prescription

The New Wonder Book Cyclopedia of World Knowledge.  Volume X.  International Press, 1954.

Nan Grey married singer Frankie Laine (aka "Old Leather Lungs" or "Mr. Steel Tonsils") in 1950.  Among his hits was "Moonlight Gambler." Perhaps this was his inspiration?

Anyway, solitaire was eventually supplanted by barbiturates as a medical prescription for nervous tension.  Progress is fine...

Hobbies Gem Fretsaw

On display at the O'Hara Mill Homestead and Conservation Area in Madoc, Ontario.

Hobbies Limited was founded in 1881 in London, England. Remarkably, the company is still around:  Always Hobbies.

1921.  Source:  Grace's Guide

The de Havilland Buffalo moves south

Although there are ads from the 1970-72 period touting the upcoming American Rockwell-built Buffalo C-8B, Wikipedia does not list any as being built south of the border. De Havilland built 122 of them from 1964-1974. 

Suzuki Katana 1986

Second year for the Hideaway headlight model, back to the original silver colour after the white 1984 limited edition Canadian Anniversary model.

Le Soudage Oxyacétylénique

Published in 1950, revised 1953 and 1958, and reprinted in 1970, this was a textbook for a Québec government correspondence course.  While my own French isn't up to the challenge, from what I can read it does look like quite a good syllabus. Still, how could you take a correspondence course in gas welding?

Belfast shipyards, 1960's

Rand McNally Illustrated Atlas of Today's World, Volume 1.  Rand McNally & Co., 1963.

Those glory days are long gone.

Primitive socket set

I can't make out the details of the diamond logo, but I guess it's possible this set is part of an automotive tool kit. 

Martin M130 Flying Boat

This plane was the third of three M130s built in 1935. All three were lost in accidents, this one on a scheduled flight from Miami to the Congo in 1945. During a landing at Trinidad, the crew failed to gauge their altitude properly and the plane hit the water much too fast, causing the hull to break apart, killing 23 of 30 on board. Details here.

Fordson Trackson

On display at the Wheeler Pancake House museum in McDonalds Corners, Ontario.

In the mid-1920's, the Full Crawler Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin made a track conversion for Fordson tractors, which became popular with loggers.  They sold more than 88,000 of these "Trackson" kits before being bought out by the Caterpillar Tractor Company in 1930.

We used to make things in this country. #165: A. McGillivray Chemicals Limited, Paris, Ontario

This probably came from my late father-in-law's house many years ago:

Put this stuff on your cooking utensils, and then cook away!  What could possibly go wrong?  Can you say "Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA)"?

A. McGillivray Chemicals Limited made various products, like lamp oil and "Rubbo", a cleaning compound. The company seems to have disappeared in the 1980's.  Maybe that's a good thing.