Tampilkan postingan dengan label history. Tampilkan semua postingan
Tampilkan postingan dengan label history. Tampilkan semua postingan
Minggu, 05 April 2015
Jumat, 03 April 2015
1873, L'Obeissante (the obedient)
Steam powered, 12 passenger, weighed 5 tons, could move at 40 mph.
Thus, the October 16, 1875 was born in Europe the automobile age, when the Obedient , the horseless carriage, entered Paris to the amazement of the crowd. The success was overwhelming and the mood of the inventor reached the sky, giving wings to their ingenuity to keep improving in successive prototypes, the steam car. Ah, but everything has its gray side. The Obedient was so fast at the time that this adventure was made Bollée fined up to 75 times for speeding.
http://globedia.com/bollee-familia-inventores
Kamis, 02 April 2015
The Durand-Lesley Propeller Collection
Fifty of the propellers are currently on permanent display in the Terman Engineering Library in the Huang Engineering Center. Others were sent to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C
The work created a comprehensive methodology that was widely used by engineers but little studied by historians, until Walter G. Vincenti wrote about it as a case study in his book, “What Engineers Know and How They Know It: Analytical Studies from Aeronautical History” (1993).
The studies at Stanford systematically altered parameters that defined the shape of propeller blades, and two others - the speed of the airstream and the speed of propeller rotation, to determine the best performance of various propeller shapes.
The history of aeronautics at Stanford began long before the actual founding of the Aeronautics Department and is almost as old as the university itself. It all started with the appointment of William F. Durand in 1904 to the chairmanship of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, only a year after the first flight of Wilbur and Orville Wright.
While at Cornell University, Durand's research concerned boat design. He published the classic text Resistance and Propulsion of Ships in 1898. When he came to Stanford he began to study the then-nascent field of aviation. Working with Professor E.P. Lesley, Durand built one of the first wind tunnels and embarked on a rigorous study of propeller design that provided airplane makers with the means to choose the best propeller for their airframe designs. The study was notable for its results, and for bringing a more scientific approach to engineering research.
In the early 1930s, Durand edited the six-volume series, Aerodynamic Theory, a major reference in the field. Durand also shared his scholarship through public service, both as chairman of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics - a precursor of NASA - and during World War II, as a leader of a program to advance the development of jet engines.
His first professional assignment upon graduation from Annapolis was as engineering officer on the U.S.S. Tennessee, a full-rigged wooden ship with auxiliary steam power.
http://lib.stanford.edu/lotf/readings?page=0%2C450 and http://engineering.stanford.edu/2010-stanford-engineering-heroes
Senin, 30 Maret 2015
history, always with surprises. The 7 cylinder rotary engine by Macomber, 1915
Those rims too... cool and unusual.
Well the grand daughter of the inventor/mechanic, is very interested in locating an actual Macomber rotary engine and an Eagle-Macomber car.
If anyone out there has any leads, please contact Bart Parker at the Rand Desert Museum by clicking here, or www.andersonwritingservices.com.
http://cynthiashidesertblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/walter-macomber-macomber-rotary-engine.html
The significance of 1915 was that it was the year of the San Diego Exposition Road Race that was the opening event for the Pan Pacific Expo... sort of a worlds fair type of year long event http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2014/12/100th-anniversary-of-panama-california.html
Selasa, 24 Maret 2015
Washing the ambulance between call outs, 1944, England
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Women of the American Ambulance Great Britain wash an ambulance car of the surgical unit to pass the time between call-outs at their depot, somewhere in London, 1944.
found on http://www.vintag.es/2014/10/women-at-work-in-united-kingdom-in.html
WW1 dispatch rider, 1914
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Found on http://www.vintag.es/2014/10/amazing-vintage-photographs-of-british.html
Jumat, 20 Maret 2015
most astonishing bike tricks I've seen... and this was 50 years ago, in heels, on stage. Not even Danny MacAskill can pull off these tricks
Lily Yokoi, the "Ballerina on the Golden Bicycle"
Rabu, 18 Maret 2015
the smart devils at Petrolicious, they did the perfect St Patricks Day post... of why Alfas had 4 leaf clovers on the hoods
You have to admire the precise thinking over at Petrolicious, no one else thought to post about this!
Read the article at http://www.petrolicious.com/more-than-luck-the-story-of-alfa-romeo-s-quadrifoglio-badge
But long story short, Alfa had 4 race car drivers on their first factory racing team, Enzo Ferrari, his friend Ugo Sivocci, Giuseppe Campari and Alberto Ascari. Sivocci was unlucky, and to boost his luck, he painted a quadrafoglio - four leaf clover - on his car before the 1923 Targa Florio.
Sivocci won the 1923 Targa Florio—and, apart from his talent behind the wheel, it seemed as though the Quadrifoglio helped win him the race.
Sivocci, who died during practice for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza before the symbol was painted on his Alfa Romeo P1 race car.
His death was recognized in a symbolic change to the Quadrifoglio: before Monza, the clover sat inside a white diamond, each point said to represent each of the Alfa Romeo factory drivers.
When Sivocci died, one of the points of the diamond was removed, creating the cloverleaf in a triangle emblem that continues to this day.
Senin, 16 Maret 2015
Just 100 years ago, New York's subway electrical transmission lines smoked the insulation, caused so much toxic smoke people panicked
That morning, two electrical cables feeding into manholes at Broadway and 52nd Street suddenly shorted out, causing a blackout in the subway tunnels below. The cable insulation, not fireproof, began issuing masses of “dense acrid” smoke that soon filled the tunnels.
The event occurred at the start of rush hour so there where three trains between 50th Street and Columbus Circle that were immediately affected. Over 2,500 people were trapped in the subway cars or stuck inside suddenly dark stations.
they tore out the sidewalk grates that covered the subway so they could lower ladders and pull out injured people that had been trampled in the panic. Only one woman died, but hundreds were hurt by the stampede and some succumbed to the toxic smoke
http://www.boweryboyshistory.com/category/planes-trains-and-automobiles
I see several rear tires that have some traction aid, chains or ropes
Minggu, 15 Maret 2015
Jumat, 13 Maret 2015
overcoming a power out caused by a hurricane
88% of the New England Power Association's customers had no electric service—including this New London, Connecticut, gas station.
Hundreds of automobiles were stalled for lack of fuel on New England roads until this youngman came up with a brilliant solution
Photo from https://www.facebook.com/Asliceofworldhistory?ref=stream via https://www.facebook.com/groups/353785941367129/
Kamis, 12 Maret 2015
rail inspectors were outfitted with Chevys, Fords, etc... the company President, though, he went full force and got a Caddy limo
New Haven Railroads lines managing director, Pat McGinnis.
Notice the vanity plates with his initials... he mush have been ridiculously wealthy
Found on https://www.facebook.com/HeritageRailway and photos from https://www.flickr.com/photos/that_chrysler_guy/4925148772/in/photostream/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York,_New_Haven_and_Hartford_Railroad
The New Haven Railroad operated in New England from 1872 to 1968, dominating the region's rail traffic for the first half of the 20th century. By 1912, the New Haven practically monopolized traffic in a wide swath from Boston to New York City.
The line went bankrupt in 1935, was reorganized and reduced in scope, went bankrupt again in 1961, and in 1969 was merged into the Penn Central system, which itself went bankrupt.
A reorganization was completed on September 18, 1947. Frederic C. Dumaine, Sr. and others, including Patrick B. McGinnis (1904-1973), gained control in 1948.
Frederic C. Dumaine, Jr. took over after his father's death in 1951 and immediately set about restoring the condition of the railroad and the morale of the employees. In 1953, control passed from the preferred stockholders to the common stockholders.
A proxy fight then ensued between McGinnis and incumbent president Dumaine; McGinnis emerged as the victor and sought to maximize revenue for shareholders.
To do this, he deferred maintenance and ordered experimental lightweight trains for Boston-New York service. Another McGinnis contribution was the imposition of parking charges at stations.
Hurricanes in 1955 washed out a number of important lines. Upon McGinnis' departure for the B&M in 1956, auditors found the NH earnings for 1955 were less than half of what McGinnis had claimed.
McGinnis' financial dealings ultimately culminated in a prison sentence for receiving kickbacks on the sale of B&M's streamlined passenger cars, ending his career in railroading.
Senin, 09 Maret 2015
Charlotte Motor Speedway has a Dodge 100th year anniversary exhibit!
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Dodge brand, the AutoFair Nationwide Showcase Pavilion will be home to a display featuring vehicles from each decade of production, including this 1923 Dodge/Graham truck.
photo by Walt Hollifield
CONCORD, N.C. (Feb. 26, 2015) – Started by two brothers who loved building cars, Dodge is now one of America’s oldest automotive institutions, with a history of performance, innovation and milestones that will be celebrated with a special display at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s April 9-12 AutoFair.
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Dodge brand, AutoFair’s Nationwide Showcase Pavilion will be home to more than a dozen historic models representing each decade the manufacturer has been in production. A 1923 Dodge/Graham truck, 1951 Power Wagon, 1996 Viper and a replica of the famous 1969 “General Lee” Dodge Charger from the “Dukes of Hazzard” television series will be among the featured vehicles.
In 1902, Ransom Eli Olds—founder of Oldsmobile and the first automaker to use an assembly line—hired the Dodge boys to produce engines and transmissions for his hugely popular curved-dash model. Considering Oldsmobile represented 30 percent of the United States car market in 1903, the Dodge brothers profited nicely. Henry Ford, an engineer and race car builder with two auto company bankruptcies to his name, desperately needed the Dodge brothers’ cooperation, components and investment dollars to start Ford Motor Co., so he agreed to give them a 10 percent stake in his venture and a contract that would eventually make the Dodge brothers two of the richest men in America.
During the 15-year relationship, Ford wanted to build cars—especially his landmark Model T—as cheaply as possible, so he often ignored the Dodges’ suggestions for improvements. When the brothers ended their Ford contract in 1914, they turned their factory and resources toward building a medium-priced, high-quality car to be sold with a Dodge Bros. badge.
Their first self-named car rolled off the line Nov. 14, 1914, with a 35-horsepower four-cylinder engine, a 12-volt electrical system, and an all-steel touring body. It cost $785 (about $18,500 today), or $200 more than the cheapest Model T, but it was years ahead in engineering sophistication. Because of their reputation as smart businessmen, the brothers received 22,000 applications for Dodge dealerships before any cars were available to sell.
Dodge Bros. finished 1915, its first full year of sales, in third place for the U.S. market. That same season, the Dodge plant size tripled, the brothers built the first factory test track, and John Dodge drove one of their cars into a brick wall at 20 mph so the ever-curious brothers could see how their designs held up. The following year, the U.S. Army bought 150 Dodge Bros. cars for its new mechanized cavalry in Mexico, and an ad campaign for the company coined the word “dependability” to describe their machines.
There were countless racing victories and high-performance milestones, such as a fully realized aerodynamic race package (the 1968 Charger Daytona), the V-10 Viper sports car and the 2015 Challenger Hellcat, with a 707-horsepower Hemi V-8 that makes it the most powerful passenger car ever offered by an American automaker. These exciting developments are why it is one of only six American nameplates to reach the century mark (after Cadillac, Ford, Buick, Chevrolet and GMC).
http://www.charlottemotorspeedway.com/handler.cfm/template,photo_gallery/cat_id,44908?sf_id=7721 for the photo, and their press release for the info. For a similar post that shows a couple cool photos: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2015/01/a-bit-of-dodge-history-i-didnt-know.html
The AutoFair features more than 50 car club displays and more than 10,000 vendor spaces offering an array of automotive parts and memorabilia. More than 1,500 collectible vehicles of all makes and models will be available for sale in the car corral that rings the 1.5-mile superspeedway. In addition, up to 200 cars will be auctioned by Dealer Auctions Inc., and kids can enjoy face-painting, bounce houses, and other games and entertainment in the Play Zone. Hours for the April 9-12 AutoFair are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday through Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday. Ticket prices are $10 per day for adults and children 13 and under are admitted free when accompanied by an adult. Get a weekend pass for just $30. Parking for the event is $5. http://www.charlottemotorspeedway.com/
The fastest accelerating machines on the planet return to the Bellagio of drag strips March 27-29 for the NHRA's only four-wide assault on the senses.
history... some interesting stories come out from a variety of sources that were never interviewed for the history books
The 1958 Cuba Gran Prix, the one where Fangio was kidnapped and held for ransom? Yeah, that one.
Well, the Cubans had hosted the Miami Police Dept exhibition squad earlier that year, but seized the Harleys instead of shipping them back to Miami.
So, when the 58 GP happened, there were plenty of stolen Harleys being ridden by Castro's goon squad of security
Here's an example of the ridiculous military of Castro hanging around the pits of the GP
Just what enemy army they imagined they were needed to tackle, is a mystery.
Images from https://www.facebook.com/groups/505973489414476/permalink/958960260782461/
Minggu, 08 Maret 2015
Houghton Fire Department #1... you'd guess would be a fire truck, steam pumper, or other fire fighting piece of equipment wouldn't you?
Not this time. Snow removal before plows were invented
Found on https://www.facebook.com/groups/447886021929743/
Jumat, 06 Maret 2015
Gandy dancers and gross polluters, the killers of the street cars
image from http://latimespast.tumblr.com/post/96562548684/the-planned-downtown-l-a-streetcar-is-back-in-the
the federal government sued the consortium of General Motors, Standard Oil, Firestone Tire and Rubber, Phillips Petroleum, and Mack Truck Manufacturing Co. for conspiring to deep-six the region's streetcars.
Most historians agree that GM and the other mega-companies only helped to speed the end of the railway, which already was deep into red ink.
World War II's shortages of gasoline and rubber crippled bus service. By the end of the war, the trolley lines were decrepit, obsolete and deep in the red. Some Angelenos purchased the trolleys from scrap dealers, moved them to vacant lots and began living in them during the city's housing shortage.
In 1945, American City Lines, a subsidiary of National City Lines, a Chicago-based company whose investors included General Motors and other big oil and rubber interests, bought the remaining electric streetcar line in LA.
National City Lines soon controlled 46 transit networks in the Midwest and West. The company began scrapping these electric systems and replacing them with diesel buses that -- surprise -- used fuel and rubber.
By 1946, the Justice Department had caught on. It filed an antitrust suit against National City Lines for conspiracy to monopolize the transit industry. But before the suit came to trial in Chicago, the consortium of big companies bailed out, selling their holdings in National City Lines. That essentially left it as an empty corporation.
In 1949, the case finally came to trial. The verdict was mixed, with acquittals and convictions. Although they no longer owned National City Lines, the companies in the consortium were fined wrist-slapping amounts of $5,000 each, while individual company officials were fined $1 each, for a total of $37,007. By then, the far-flung suburbs were crisscrossed by cars, highways and a few freeways, and the so-called conspiracy plot simply applied the coup de grace to a dying system.
http://www.latimes.com/me-2003-los-angeles-streetcar-history-story.html#page=1
LA, 1943 http://latimespast.tumblr.com/post/81704529173/downtown-los-angeles-70-years-ago-this-is-the
Kamis, 05 Maret 2015
It was April 1917 and Goodyear set out to create trucking as we know it. From coast to coast on pnuematic tires, in days not weeks.
The first truckers? Harry Smeltzer and Harry Apple, the pioneers of interstate trucking, and their rig? A 5 ton Packard.
Above photo and below video courtesy of Mike and Goodyear! Thanks!
image from http://www.lincoln-highway-museum.org/NPS/03-NPS-Index.html
Image found on The Old Motor http://theoldmotor.com/?p=56024 which is most likely one of the two escort vehicles, which carried supplies. This photo didn't come with info... so it's anyone's guess as to what it was used for
The truck made the 740-mile trip from Akron to New England in 28 days, 21 days late and having went through 28 tires. The two-man team and their film crew made it to Goodyear's fabric mill in Killingly, CT, where much to their surprise they were greeted by Mission of Burma a brass band and hundreds of cheerful mill workers.
It's not a reflection on tire quality to mention how many went flat, you have to keep in mind that the amount of horses who'd lost horseshoe nails for the previous hundred years and the terrible conditions of 700 miles of unpaved, non improved roads.
The truck was a five-ton Packard, but the 10-foot-high, specially built body had been designed by Goodyear. Behind the novel traveling bunk, the cargo bed was loaded with a dozen spare tires, a compressor to inflate them, 500 feet of manila line, shovels and a heavy block and tackle.
What was most novel about Goodyear's truck, named the Wingfoot Express, was the big pneumatic tires it rolled on. Hard, solid rubber tires were standard equipment for short hauls in those days.
two escort vehicles were along, sent for safety's sake, carrying in addition to the usual tools... 60 liters of oil, 40 liters of petrol and 60 liters of water. Also, carrying what the convoy needed most, an air compressor to pump up all the replacement tires.
The three-vehicle caravan that set out to do just that was barely to the Akron outskirts when it became mired in the mud. So began an agonizing odyssey of muddy ditches, broken bridges, blown out tires and engine failures.
It came as no surprise that a heavy truck would have much more difficulty on the poorly graded dirt roads than the farmers' lightweight buggy. Bridges that safely carried farm wagons collapsed under the Packard truck. Twice the engine failed and had to be rebuilt.
The support cars were worn out by the time the caravan reached Pittsburgh and were traded for new ones. Blowouts occurred about every 75 miles as the truck plodded ahead at 15 mph.
As Smeltzer described the trip, "It took 28 days and 28 tires." The trip back with fabric from the mill was less eventful and took just five days.
Walter Shively, the tire engineer, promptly applied the lessons learned in the grueling truck tire test and improved tires were almost immediately available. A stronger bead and heavier sidewalls produced a tire more resistant to blowout.
Future trips employed seven Wingfoot Express trucks, ranging from three- to five-ton models of White, Mack and Packard. The 740-mile run one way was pared down to 80 hours running time within a year.
They carried tires to Goodyear dealers in the Boston area, or shoe soles for New England footwear makers, bringing back tire fabrics from the Connecticut mill.
The success of the Wingfoot Express was reflected by a spurt in highway construction, as state governments strived to improve roads within their jurisdiction. The Lincoln Highway movement, conceived in 1913 to create a modern coast-to-coast highway, was strongly supported by Goodyear's President Frank Seiberling.
by 1919 they were coast to coast
Info from http://www.goodyear.com/corporate/history/history_wingfootexpress.html
In 1918, the same trucks that had conquered the ten-foot snow drifts of Pennsylvania's worst winter in decades, left Boston for San Francisco. This time, the caravan faced a round trip of 7,763 miles, some of it across trackless desert. In Wyoming alone, 36 of 56 wooden bridges gave way beneath the highway giants.
This time the commercial cargo was aviation tires needed by the Army on the West Coast. Again, the persistent Goodyear teams overcame all obstacles of road conditions and weather. After completing four round trips totaling 30,000 miles, the Express trucks had established a new world transcontinental record, coast-to-coast in just 14 days.
Found on http://forums.justoldtrucks.com/25451/cooperation-sleeper-cab?PageIndex=16 and http://www.goodyear.com/corporate/history/history_wingfootexpress.html
By the 1920's it was decided that another pair of tires would be an engineering necessity to lessen the load and increase the life expectancy of any tire, through the lower load on each, and they added a 2nd axle in the rear
Photo from http://www.camionactualidad.es/noticias-marcas-fabricantes-camiones/vehiculos-historicos-y-clasicos/item/912-goodyear-wingfoot-express.html
photo from http://www.cheersandgears.com/topic/78687-gmc-art/
Not until 1926 was the production of pneumatic tires higher than that of solid tires; four years later the ratio was 10-1 and ten years later by 10,000 to one.
some info from http://www.urlaubsspass.de/auto/160507-wingfoot/160507-wingfoot.htm
the above 8 wheel bus was used to pick up and return Goodyear employees from the company housing development in Goodyear Heights to the Akron tire factories for 2 cents a trip. Firestone did the same thing.
The 8 wheel vehicles in the below photo are in front of a Goodyear business
above 3 images from http://www.cheersandgears.com/topic/78687-gmc-art/ and are 1921
the left most tandem axle truck is described in Electric Traction Vol 16
So these ads seem to indicate that Goodyear was selling prefab homes in the 40's during WW2 (notice the "Buy War Bonds") , and using the name Wingfoot Homes and the material that insulated the homes was the "Pliofoam" used to seal war aircraft gas tanks from bullet holes.
and in the 1980s they did an homage to the 1917 Ohio to Connecticut run on the sides of their trucking trailers.
Images from Ebay listings
found on http://www.oldcaradvertising.com/Packard%20Ads/1922/1922%20Packard%20Truck%20Ad-01.html
Rabu, 04 Maret 2015
during WW2, Baldwin was building both Sherman tanks and steam locomotives
In this 1943 company photograph, two different war product lines are shown, a brand new Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range “Yellowstone,” one of the largest steam engines produced, along with an M4 Sherman tank. This view is from the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania’s collection
Found on https://www.facebook.com/HeritageRailway?fref=nf
Sabtu, 28 Februari 2015
the 1933 August storm flood took out the center bridge support, and the photographer took a photo from both ends of the track near Kenilworth
The Crescent Limited operated from New York to Washington on the Pennsylvania Railroad, on the Southern Railway from Washington to Atlanta
Details and photos on http://www.shorpy.com/node/18074?size=_original#caption and http://www.shorpy.com/node/18075?size=_original#caption
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