Motorcycles on record albums, Living Marimbas

 Cheesy easy-listening Latin versions of popular hits.. But it's a BMW!

One of my vices is vises, Dunlap 5244

    Craftsman was the premier line of tools from Sears, Dunlap was one of the names they used for home or hobbyist-quality tools,  much like Companion later on. With the exposed thread, this certainly looks like a lesser quality unit and it has been repainted, (looks like a Rustoleum colour to me.)

Odhner Model 30 Mechanical calculator

  Willgodt Odhner, based in St. Petersburg, made his first mechanical calculator prototype in 1875. It utilizes a pinwheel mechanism, not unlike a mechanical speedometer, and it will add, subtract, multiply, divide and calculate square roots by pushing various buttons and turning the crank in different directions. 

  Odhner passed away in 1905, his son continued the business, moving it to Sweden during the Russian Revolution. The company passed through more hands, machines were developed further, new models released and were in common use till the early 1970s. 

 I'd love to take one apart and play with it (probably ruin it) but fortunately there are people online who have done detailed studies of these mechanical miracles.

 How to use one here.

History and lots more here.

Thank you, Iris!

Sidecar Sunday

 

Car accident on Bloor St., Toronto

 On March 4th 1918, this car slipped on an icy patch, (note the rear tire chains) and clipped the front fender of a streetcar, which caused it to careen into the path of a streetcar going the other way. The driver suffered minor injuries but the passenger later died in hospital.

 

AMC 250

  1959 AJS/Matchless engine with separate transmission, though the right case covered both, making it look like a unit engine.

  Artwork by F. W. Beak who also did work for The Autocar magazine. Not much more information online.

Cyclecar Sabella

British paper merchant Fritz Sabel was the producer of this JAP V twin powered cyclecar. Only a few were produced between 1906 and 1914.

BSA Starfire

   Always thought these were a well proportioned motorcycle, the styling works better on this single than it does on the bigger 650. They do have a reputation for being fragile.

J T Slocombe Micrometer

  John Tibbits Slocombe was born in New Brunswick but moved to Maine as an infant. At 16 he started at Bangor Foundry & Machine Co. as a machinists apprentice. From there he worked at several machine companies and while working with the highly crafted measuring devices of the day developed the idea for making a precise, affordable micrometer. He also seems to have been influential in setting the standard of measuring in thousandths of an inch. 

 He and a partner,  C.E. Barlow set up J.T. Slocombe Co. and started selling measuring tools in 1893.  The company was sold to J.H. Drury in 1914.

Catalog No 12.

How to adjust a Slocombe micrometer

Patent 559,820

Buick Regal Sport

 Who writes headlines like that?