Sensenich

Still around today, history here

Woolf Barnato in his Bentley, Le Mans, 1929

Brad King.  All Color Book of Racing Cars.  Octopus Books, 1973.

Woolf Barnato, one of the wealthy "Bentley Boys", drives a Bentley Speed Six to victory at the 1929 Le Mans.

U-Boat in cross-section

Dodge A100 pickup truck

Thanks, Fred!

Nice fall setting...

Kanners razor blade stropper/sharpener

Instructions 

Hold Dubeledge in your left hand. Unscrew blade holder, put the blade on the prongs and screw back into place. Press blade holder LIGHTLY rollers but firmly downward with your thumb till the blade lies flat on the rolls. Turn handle several times, then release pressure until blade holder springs back and automatically reverses itself. Repeat same operation about 10 times giving three revolutions to each side of the blade.

"Lather well and you will shave well"

It's quite a complicated tool to perform a simple task on what is today a very cheap blade, it really does emphasize the "reuse" factor of days gone by. 
Looking at the machine, I can figure out how it works generally though the mechanism details I'm not certain of. It appears to have a Valet self strop razor blade in place and I'm not sure if the machine will work on any razor blade or if it requires specific design blades. Last thing I wonder is how many razor blades could you buy for the price of this unit?

Vanished Tools: Chicago Rawhide Split-Head Hammer

I recently picked up this split-head rawhide hammer for a few bucks.  It's cool that the initials for the company are even stamped onto the handle.  I surmise that the shape around the C/R logo on the head and handle is supposed to represent a stretched hide.

The tool needed new 1-1/2" rawhide faces, which are cheaply available through McMaster-Carr.

Founded in 1878, Chicago Rawhide continues to make seals (but not hammers) as part of the SKF empire, which acquired them in 1990.

The Bell is a Good Place to Work

When jobs in Canada were like low-hanging fruit.

Tea time!

How to Make Good Pictures.  A Book for the Amateur Photographer. 
17th Edition Revised.  Eastman Kodak Co., 

Mom looks like she's had a few too many barbiturates.

Skyblazer, 1946

Howard Brier.  Skyblazer.  Random House, 1946.

Roper stoves

George Roper started the company in the late 1874 as a manufacturer of wood and gas stoves and grew to be one of the largest appliance manufacturers in the US. This 1925 ad highlights a gas stove but they were already a large supplier of both gas and electric ranges. Town and Country models from the 1940s are still popular among vintage stove aficionados. 
In a bitter fight for the acquisition of Roper in the 1980s, GE acquired the appliance and lawn equipment company but Whirlpool acquired the brand name. Roper- under GE- then produced appliances for Whirlpool which was a major supplier to the then massive Sears Roebuck chain.