Bell & Gossett Oil-Less Air Compressor & Vacuum Pump, Guelph, Ontario

A Canadian-made Bell & Gossett Oil-Less Air Compressor and Vacuum Pump I recently picked up.  The pump was made in Guelph, and the electric motor by the Prestolite Company of Sarnia.  It runs like a charm.  To convert from compressor to vacuum pump, you simply swap the intake and output ports.  I hope it will come in useful to use with an air gun to blow dust off of parts in an area of my barn too far from my main compressor.  But even if it doesn't, it's Canadian-made and it's cool!

Bell & Gosset was founded in 1916 to manufacture water pumps. The company continues to operate out of Morton Grove, Illinois.  It became a part of the huge ITT enterprise at some point in the past.

Oil-lubricated compressors contaminate air with oil.  In 1954, Bell & Gossett engineers discovered that carbon rings on pistons could eliminate this problem. The patent number on my air compressor is the result of their work.  This began the era of oil-less articulating piston compressors. In the original patent diagram below, the wearing skirt (14) is composed of U.S. Graphite No. 39.  In the mid-1960's, carbon was replaced by polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). 

Before traffic lights

Floyd Clymer 1952

In North America we tend  to signal only with our left arm, meaning a right turn is signalled by an upraised left arm bent 90 degrees at the elbow. This instruction sheet is a bit confusing, for a left turn you can either use a outstretched left arm or a right arm in motion!

All aboard for Winnipeg!

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Cool World War II Cover Art: Fighter Pilot

Cider press

A nice old cider press I photographed in my travels.  It looks like it has a chopper built into it, operated by the handwheel. Nice detailing but unfortunately no maker's name.

Herreshoff boats in wartime

The Pony Engine and the Pacific Express

These whimsical illustrations accompanied William Dean Howells short story, "The Pony Engine and the Pacific Express."   This particular version of the children's story was published in Olive Beaupre Miller (Editor), Over the Hills of My Book House.  (Chicago:  The Book House for Children, 1920, 34th printing 1951.)  The illustrator signed some of them as "Ferring" but I can't find any information about him/her.

Unusual Tools: Goldblatt Tool Company, Kansas City, Missouri

A mason's corner line block, for holding a mason's line at outside corners.  Thanks to Mark Stansbury for identifying the tool for me.

Henry Goldblatt founded the H. Goldblatt Tool Company in 1885 in Kansas City, Missouri.  Initially, he was a re-seller of tools to tradesmen such as cement finishers, bricklayers, plasterers, lathers, and tile setters.  Beginning in the 1920's, Goldbatt began to manufacture his own plaster and cement trowels.  Eventually, the company became so big that it only sold through dealers and in 1965 it built a new factory on a 9-acre site in Kansas City, but this time in Kansas.  In 1992, Stanley bought the company, but as the market share for such tools eroded, Stanley divested the company in 2005.  It was bought by FinishPro Tools of Lenexa, Kansas, which had already been making many Goldblatt-branded tools for Stanley.  In 2006, the Goldblatt Tool Company LLC was re-established as a sole business entity.

Trowel and Masonry Tool Collector Resource

Gun quad

According to The Classic Motor Cycle this is a Beeston Quad. Although appearing to be a concept that was only half thought out, it was demonstrated to the war office in 1899 for possible use in the Boer War. No evidence that it was used.

Brigantine Amazon

Stanley T. Spicer; Masters of Sail: Ryerson Press 1968

Everyone has heard about the Mystery of the Mary Celeste, found in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, intact but abandoned.
 She was originally launched as the Amazon and had a life of misfortune, a history of collisions and apparently had three captains die while aboard. In 1885, she was intentionally run aground off Haiti in an attempt to collect the insurance.