Remember the Titans: 1971 Suzuki T-500R

Popular Science

Electrical & Electronics Template

A very sharp pencil and a template and, voilà, a circuit diagram! How they used to do this before computers.

J.S. Staedtler founded his Nuremberg firm in 1835, introducing the Mars brand at the turn of the 20th century.  In 2010, the company celebrated its 175th anniversary.  Quite the accomplishment!

8N with halftracks

The old girl out in the woods on firewood retrieval duty.

Previous 8N Halftrack post

Big snow!

Two Northern Pacific American-type locomotives pushing a large pilot plow attached to the lead locomotive.

Idyllic Childhood in the Fifties

G. Roy Fenwick, Hollis Dann & Robert Foresman.  The New High Road of Song.  Intermediate 1.  Toronto:  W.J. Gage Ltd., 1958.  Illustrations by Priscilla Hutchings.  Music drawn by J.R. Brooks.

Paul Witty, Ursula Bringhurst & Barbara Nolen.  The Brave and Free.  Boston:  D.C. Heath & Co., 1952, Revised 1950.  Illustrations by Harve Stein.

Was there really a time when childhood was regarded with such naivité?  

Vanished Tool Makers: The Wetzler Clamp Company, Long Island City, New York

Tom Philbin.  Cabinets, Bookcases and Closets.  Creative Homeowner Press, 1980.

I came across this photo and had never heard of this clamp maker before.

Max Wetzler, a Jewish immigrant from Germany, founded the Wetzler Clamp Company in Long Island City, New York in 1928.  

Boating, 1961

The company made high-quality professional-grade clamps that were highly thought of.  One commentator on the web said of the company's clamps, "After 20 years of continuous daily use, I have never split a handle, bent a bar, or lost a swivel pad. By far the finest clamps I have ever used." In 1983, one of Max Wetzler's four sons, Elliot (who had earned a doctorate in economics from Johns Hopkins), returned to Flushing, New York from Juneau, Alaska to manage the clamp company, which he sold the following year. The new owners relocated the company to Pennsylvania in 1984, and locations in both Mount Bethel and Portland are listed.  In 2002, the company was sold to a husband and wife team who had worked for the company, but somewhere along the way the business appears to have folded.  Another quality American tool manufacturer disappeared down the tubes.

Practical Machinist

Jobs you'd probably want to do: Dirigible captain

Champion Racing Bikes by Altaya

I went through a phase of collecting Kevin Schwantz paraphernalia, mostly 1/24 scale bikes of the different years of his career. This deluxe package acquition dates to early Ebay and was obviously a dead stock item. It came in a package with some token articles and some advertising for a wallet, a knapsack etc...

Dirigible and the Empire State Building

Richard Halliburton's Complete Book of Marvels.  The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1941.

If this had ever been attempted, I wouldn't have wanted to be one of the passengers disembarking at this height, and with those wind conditions!

Richard Halliburton was a fascinating guy, travelling the world back when it was far less homogeneous than today.  His books are worth reading.  Also, see the Wikipedia entry on his home, Hangover House.

Illustrated Guide to Dirigible Defense

From: The Essential Charles Barsotti.  Compiled and edited by Lee Lorenz.  (New York:  Workman Publishing, 1999).

Charles Barsotti was a great cartoonist.  He passed away last June.