Combination wrench and spanner

I was looking for something else and happened upon this oddity in the B25B13/12 section- Spanners; Wrenches with adjustable jaws the jaws being slidable...
Once again, like the Newleva patent wrench, a seemingly clever and ultimately not really useful idea that as far as I know, never was put into production. US patent 644033A 

Application filed December 4, 1899. Serial No. 739,128, (No model.)

To whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK SHRADER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bridgeport, county of Fairfield, State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Combined Spanner and Wrench, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has for its object to provide a combined spanner and sliding-jaw wrench which shall be neat and attractive in appearance, shall have in full the qualifications for service of both a Spanner and a wrench, and which shall be so simple and inexpensive to produce that it may be placed upon the market at an expense hardly perceptibly larger than the expense of either spanner or wrench alone. With these ends in view I have devised a simple and novel combined spanner and Wrench, the same being an improvement upon and a carrying forward of the principle disclosed in Letters Patent No. 532,238, granted to me May 11, 1897, which I will now describe, referring to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, and using reference characters to designate the several parts.

 (The rest of the not-very-interesting blurb at the patent)

Cisitalia 202

Seen at the Auburn Cord Deueenberg Museum

 The Cisitalia 202 was designed by Battista "Pinin" Farina in 1945 and put the Pininfarina name on the map. At a time when most cars were a repeat of prewar vehicles, this car was a leap into the future. Its presentation at the 1947 Paris Auto Show was a great success and MoMA included the car as part of its "8 Automobiles" exhibition in 1951.
 Cisitalia as a manufacturer struggled along and only 170 were produced before the company quit in 1952.

Yamaha SRX600

A part of enjoying a motorcycle is just looking at it.  This is one that's easy on the eyes.  The SRX 600 seemed like a great simple bike when it was released in 1986, though the high price tag and kickstart-only probably hurt sales. The styling holds up well but when you can find one these days, they're still pricey. 

The Japanese market got a 400 cc version.

Early cycling problems

Horseshoe nails were an issue.

People were different then, 1954

Save money,  do it yourself, rebuild that engine! Canadian Tire tool lending service, even back then.

Celebrities on motorcycles

Mohammed Ali on a Donaselli.

Old Postcards, The Lowry Building. St Paul. Minnesota

Designed by Kees and Colburn and built by Horace Lowry in 1911-12 as the Lowry Medical Arts Building. It was considered one of the loveliest buildings in downtown, built to fit in with the surrounding buildings like the Saint Paul Hotel across the street. 

It's been swallowed up by new construction in downtown St. Paul, renovated recently and converted to condominiums.

Google streetview

Stock Pusher

Stock pusher, the tag says- and who am I to argue?

For sale at Cardon's Tools in Perth Ontario

Grand Prix de Suisse, 1946

Poster by Noel Fontanet. More of his great work here. 
This was the first postwar motorcycle race held in Geneva, Switzerland, just a year after the end of the war. 

Monday... whatsit....

Your guess is as good as mine...

Apologies for the late post, I'm having difficulties with the blog interface.