Kraeuter Tools

 This company (according to Alloy Artifacts...) was founded by a German immigrant August Kraeuter who, after working in various manufacturing jobs started his own company in 1869, making mostly machinists tools. The company was passed on his son in 1902 who broadened the product line to include quality pliers, punches chisels and wrenches. I've not found any pliers, but recently found the (probably early 20th C)  wrench above and also the bearing scrapers seen below, that I expect were used to fit Babbitt bearings as they also sold connecting rods for a Model T Ford.

Autocarrier Cyclecar

 A.C. Cars (the initials stand for Autocarrier) got its start making three wheel delivery vehicles in 1906, this was their cyclecar entry, competition for the Morgan three wheelers, I guess.

Fiat, stepping up

 As part of a 1930s publicity stunt, a Fiat 514 Berlina descends the steps at the Urbina cathedral.

Charles G. Page Axial engine

 Dating to the 1840s, when electro-magnetism was an exciting new phenomenon. The term Electrician had distinguished connotations- think Magician. The device shown is a design for an electric motor by Professor Charles G. Page, obviously inspired by these newfangled steam engines. A and B are electromagnetic solenoids, as electricity energized the coils, iron rods are pulled into the cores, the power is then switched off or possibly reversed, releasing the rods to return to their previous position. The walking beam translates the reciprocating motion into rotary motion. This could then be used to power various devices. 

After demonstrating uses of this engine to run saws and pumps, Page successfully petitioned the U.S. Senate for funds to build an electromagnetic locomotive, he was given $30,000, electrical power provided by the primitive batteries of the time. The demonstration on April 29, 1851 with a ungainly prototype was a partial success, carrying 7 passengers on a 5 1/2 mile ride to a nearby town but exploding and failing battery cells during the return trip caused much grief. The money had run out and no one had been sufficiently impressed to invest more.

Ford Runabout

Not a survivor, not a restoration, not a hot rod- maybe we'll call this a renovation in progress. Looks like a ton o' fun.

 

Lady Josephine shoe stretcher

This tool didn't make much sense till I googled it and discovered it was only one part of a shoe shine holder kit.

Ebay

 

Collins Indicator

Here is another precision instrument in a beautiful wooden box, made by the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company. The company was founded in the late 1870s by Robert Fulcher to service instruments for the Cambridge physiology department.

The device is a Collins Indicator, a pressure measuring instrument patented in England in 1922, designed to monitor and record the pressure changes inside an engine. From The Engine Indicator (John Walter); An indicator is a small, originally mechanically-operated instrument that gives an insight into the operation of a range of pressure-operated machines — steam engines, gas and oil engines, compressors, condensers, even guns — by comparing the rise and fall of pressure during the operating cycle. The use of an oscillating drum allows variations in pressure to be recorded on both the outward stroke and the return journey. Excepting some of the continuously-recording instruments and virtually all maximum pressure recorders, indicators usually give a trace in the form of a closed loop.

The description of this Collins device is on page 27 and 28 of the previous mentioned link.

The Canadian supplier is long gone...

Thanks, Glenn!

STI fire engine

Here's a nice friction powered tin fire engine probably from 1960s Japan. The crew is definitely all Asian.

 

Cotton carriers of the Mississippi

Cotton harvesting season and how are you going to get your cotton to market? In the 19th century, the quickest, cheapest way was by Mississippi river boat. Above; The Natchez is loaded "to the guards" as they said. Alongside is a towboat loaded with cottonseed. 

Below; The Charles P. Chouteau, shown carrying about 9000 bales,  held the record for transporting the most cotton in one season, almost 77,000 bales. Not surprisingly, fire was a hazard, in 1887 the Charles P. Chouteau caught fire and burned to the waterline.

 

Steam powered hearse?

 

Really don't know what to make of this thing. Seemingly a horse-drawn hearse powered by a steam engine and outfitted with a cowcatcher, the display at "The House on a Rock" had no explanation. It might simply be someone's idea of a joke, but the drive did look like it could be operational.