Spitfireace
Well-Known Member
In the second photo down, what is that white cannister that is to the left of the ruler on the desk?
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my latest acquisitions
- Thread starter Edward
- Start date
Spitfireace
Well-Known Member
Could you take a photo of your phone dial please. What is the writing on the dial?
ausreenactor
Well-Known Member
You could have used that calendar last year!
Edward
Well-Known Member
Actually I did indeed use a hanging calendar from 1942 all last year! Lol!
ausreenactor
Well-Known Member
This year's is sorted...
Quarter 1 for sure...
Quarter 1 for sure...
Edward
Well-Known Member
I have an Underwood Model S typewriter manufactured in the last quarter of 1941....
Well I came across this Underwood typewriter ribbon still in the box and dated January 14, 1942!
Tens of thousands of people were employed in Washington during World War II in newly created defense jobs.
These office workers, mostly “government girls,” arrived to find a city sorely lacking in office supplies and equipment. Typewriters were a particular problem – the government needed 600,000 of them for use in DC and overseas.
Typewriter companies had been asked to retool their factories to support the larger war effort. Underwood and Smith-Corona produced rifles, and the Royal Typewriter Company produced airplane parts. Unfortunately, this coincided with the huge spike in demand for their products and led to a great wartime typewriter shortage. Civilians and private companies had to fill out an applications and apply to even purchase a typewriter during the war otherwise you weren’t able to purchase one.
The Army & other services ran on paper - in quintuplicate so Typewriter ribbon would have been widely bought up and utilized in the states as well as shipped overseas to the military so I find it quite extraordinary to find one dated January 1942 still in the box! Hell it might be the only one! LOL! I only paid $12 for it. Looks great displayed with my Underwood Typewriter!
Well I came across this Underwood typewriter ribbon still in the box and dated January 14, 1942!
Tens of thousands of people were employed in Washington during World War II in newly created defense jobs.
These office workers, mostly “government girls,” arrived to find a city sorely lacking in office supplies and equipment. Typewriters were a particular problem – the government needed 600,000 of them for use in DC and overseas.
Typewriter companies had been asked to retool their factories to support the larger war effort. Underwood and Smith-Corona produced rifles, and the Royal Typewriter Company produced airplane parts. Unfortunately, this coincided with the huge spike in demand for their products and led to a great wartime typewriter shortage. Civilians and private companies had to fill out an applications and apply to even purchase a typewriter during the war otherwise you weren’t able to purchase one.
The Army & other services ran on paper - in quintuplicate so Typewriter ribbon would have been widely bought up and utilized in the states as well as shipped overseas to the military so I find it quite extraordinary to find one dated January 1942 still in the box! Hell it might be the only one! LOL! I only paid $12 for it. Looks great displayed with my Underwood Typewriter!
Remote People
Member
Great find. You can still get black silk ribbon to replace the rotten ribbon if you choose. Lovely machine as well, those aren't very common in wide ledger format anymore.
Rory Schultz
Well-Known Member
That is awesome Edward! I have been trying to find a replacement to my old one. I went looking around some pawn shops and found nothing. Next time I am about I am going to try goodwill to see what they have. Tomorrow is one of the auctions I was telling you about Edward. I have my eye on a couple of pieces that you would love. Next month is the one with the Vargas and Elvgren originals that I have my other eyeball on!
ausreenactor
Well-Known Member
Have a 1921 or 1922 Remington portable. Worth $125 back in the day. Paid $65! Bargain...
Rory Schultz
Well-Known Member
Hey Edward, in your man cave is it only WW2 period items or is it a mix? Do you have WW1 items along with it?
Rory Schultz
Well-Known Member
This is strange, I have not been getting notices and I have missed a whole lot of postings and cool stuff you guys have done. I will have to go back several months and look thru old postings i have missed.
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Rory Schultz
Well-Known Member
I don't remember where it was in which thread we had been talking about the Hartmann remake jackets that Pilot has been making for ppl. My 3 old waist buckles came in. A guy in France said he got them in a flea market. I am planning to put them on several of my jackets. I will post photos later today. I have an auction to attend to .....
ausreenactor
Well-Known Member
I lost a few years from 2016 until 2019... got right back into VLJ on deployment. Not saying I had more important things to do...
Was just time poor..
Edward
Well-Known Member
Only WWII era for the most part but some of the office items date 1930s. I try to limit myself to 1940s items however.
Edward
Well-Known Member
I’ve been keeping an eye out for a “Waralarm” branded Westclox shelf alarm clock for a little while. They come up from time to time but as always overpriced or not running. I finally got a fairly decent working one for a nice price. These were only produced for one year. From April 1943 through April 1944.
During WWII the government required that many manufacturing facilities stop production of their normal goods, to produce much needed items for the war effort. This included Westclox, and other manufacturers. Westclox made fuses, telegraph keys and other items. Starting in 1943, the government allowed production of a limited number of alarm clocks, using less critical material. The company was only allowed to use 7 pounds of brass per 1000 clocks instead of normal 300 pounds. The case was made of pressed wood fiber. (Cardboard!) and painted with black shellac to give some limited moisture resistance. The dial face is paper and the movement plates were made of thinner aluminum. The alarm hammer strikes a plate instead of a bell and sounds more like a long fart! The bezel cover is real glass. These sold nationwide at retail stores for $1.65 ($25.43 in today’s economy) and were a big hit selling out frequently. There are newspaper stories about customers lining up hours before a store would open to purchase one! (Or was that a marketing ploy to ensure these inferior products sold?
)
So far mine has been running since noon and has kept accurate time for the past five hours but now showing signs of running slow and losing a minute or two. I’m sure it could use a cleaning and an oiling) It’s a one day clock so it’ll have to be wound every morning. It has a pleasing and quiet TickTock...
During WWII the government required that many manufacturing facilities stop production of their normal goods, to produce much needed items for the war effort. This included Westclox, and other manufacturers. Westclox made fuses, telegraph keys and other items. Starting in 1943, the government allowed production of a limited number of alarm clocks, using less critical material. The company was only allowed to use 7 pounds of brass per 1000 clocks instead of normal 300 pounds. The case was made of pressed wood fiber. (Cardboard!) and painted with black shellac to give some limited moisture resistance. The dial face is paper and the movement plates were made of thinner aluminum. The alarm hammer strikes a plate instead of a bell and sounds more like a long fart! The bezel cover is real glass. These sold nationwide at retail stores for $1.65 ($25.43 in today’s economy) and were a big hit selling out frequently. There are newspaper stories about customers lining up hours before a store would open to purchase one! (Or was that a marketing ploy to ensure these inferior products sold?
)So far mine has been running since noon and has kept accurate time for the past five hours but now showing signs of running slow and losing a minute or two. I’m sure it could use a cleaning and an oiling) It’s a one day clock so it’ll have to be wound every morning. It has a pleasing and quiet TickTock...
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Edward
Well-Known Member
And continuing the theme of limited materials this is my Speed Products Co Model 3C stapler
(c. 1943)
Built with a wood base and Bakelite plunger cap to save metal.
The “Speed” Stapler introduced an important innovation that made the loading of staples faster. Previously, to load a magazine stapler, one had to remove a plunger (or other mechanism to push staples forward) from the back of a stapler, insert a staple stick onto a rail at the back of the machine, and then replace the plunger. By contrast, one simply opened the Speed Stapler, placed a staple stick on the rail, and closed the stapler. When the Speed Stapler was opened, the mechanism that pushed staples forward as they were used moved back out of the way; when the stapler was closed, that mechanism moved forward against the staple stick. This innovation gave the company an important marketing edge over competitors.
“Speed Products Co.” (1939-56),
The more familiar; “Swingline Inc.” (1956 onward)
(c. 1943)
Built with a wood base and Bakelite plunger cap to save metal.
The “Speed” Stapler introduced an important innovation that made the loading of staples faster. Previously, to load a magazine stapler, one had to remove a plunger (or other mechanism to push staples forward) from the back of a stapler, insert a staple stick onto a rail at the back of the machine, and then replace the plunger. By contrast, one simply opened the Speed Stapler, placed a staple stick on the rail, and closed the stapler. When the Speed Stapler was opened, the mechanism that pushed staples forward as they were used moved back out of the way; when the stapler was closed, that mechanism moved forward against the staple stick. This innovation gave the company an important marketing edge over competitors.
“Speed Products Co.” (1939-56),
The more familiar; “Swingline Inc.” (1956 onward)
Remote People
Member
Another stapler to consider is the Aceliner model 502 designed in 1938 and patented in 1943. It was produced in its original form until the 1950s. Reliable and so robust it can be used as a hammer. More background here.
Rory Schultz
Well-Known Member
Hey Edward, I won that auction yesterday. I pick them up next week at the Auction house. One is by James Bama called Homecoming. It was weird, it took me hours to try and get this photo on here. It would not load so I had to end up copy and paste it. But the illustration is of a WW2 MOH recipient returning home a hero. I am trying to hunt down the story that used this Bama illustration. James Bama is super famous and is still alive in his 90's. He was pals with all the top illustrators like Norman Rockwell, Mort Kunstler, Rolf Armstrong etc. He did magazine covers just like Tom Lovell did, then over to pulp magazines then on to traditional Westerns which launched him to superstardom. Usually you drop 10k and upwards to get his works. But there was an error in the Auction listing and this was sold as part of a group lot sale that had 4 original paintings and 4 lithograph prints. No names of the artist or the name of the art pieces were listed and I noticed and one other person noticed the error and we had a bidding war. I won the whole lot. 2 originals by Tom Freeman famous Aviation and Naval artist. One original watercolor by John Henry Raleigh who did illustrations for Good Housekeeping magazine in 1924 called the Cruisers and then this 1 by James Bama. I tried posting all this yesterday but it wouldn't load so I do not know if any of those listings went thru, so if there are multiple listings of this then I am sorry for the glitches.
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