The Lugzsonian - A Virtual Tour

[Private Lugnutz]

I couldn't resist this at the flea this morning! No cars, which I suspect were kept in the bottom, which is missing. This piece is the lid. When you turn the crank, it quickly moves that cardboard piece back and forth, which would vibrate the cars from start to finish. The graphics are awesome, despite the dirt track depicted being clockwise (UK? Australia?)!

We're not complaining. It's going to make a classy wall hanger.

Wolverine Supply and Manufacturing out of Pittsburgh. Huge toy company dating back to early 1900's. US Patents (Swiss man, A. Gueydan) are 1931, 1933, and 1934, for the apparatus and improvements.

I wouldn't normally spend so much time on a toy, but hey, it's Midget racing!

 

[Outlawmws]

more importantly, the card and graphics are intact! Cool find Lugz!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks. It's going to be a while until the buzz of this one wears off. I'm still not tired of looking at it.

 

[y'sguy]

Awesome find. Would love to see what the cars looked like like that came with it.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Would love to see what the cars looked like like that came with it.

That makes two of us! I did some initial research, and I found pages and pages of Wolverine toy ads - Boy's Life, etc, including a very cool leatherhead football kicker from 1912, but not any of their race games, though. I've been busy with other things today, but I plan look deeper tomorrow. The patents showed sailboats and horses, so I'm thinking Wolverine adapted it to cars.

Here's a composite I made showing the critical paragraphs and the figures.

 

[83VillageRepair]

so it works like electric football?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Haha. 'Zackly! Except for the buzzing noise. (We just lost everyone under 50!)

 

[Outlawmws]

They don't make electric football any more? I loved watching all the players run in circles!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Incidentally, I do have a vintage electric football game. Paperwork is dated 1949. Flea market find from a few years ago. The box is in terrible condition. But the game itself is near mint, with original paperwork, 11 players for each team - plus the kicker-passer that was used for both teams, and all four footballs!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Does anyone recognize this liquor bottle label? It's surrounded by dates on the left and right, all of them late 1700's. That one at the top is 1786. I can see "DISTLLERY" and in the middle, "BALTIMORE, MD" and "LOUISVILLE, KY". I'll look closer with a magnifier tomorrow. Just wondering if it's supposed to be recognizable and if any of you US bourbon or whiskey drinkers know it by sight.




It's the second novelty whiskey bottle handle screwdriver I have found. The other one Carstairs) is far less sophisticated or interesting. One more and it's officially a collection!

 

[RTM]

. The box is in terrible condition. But the game itself is near mint, with original paperwork, 11 players for each team - plus the kicker-passer that was used for both teams, and all four footballs!

Of course it’s near mint, after playing with mine three times in the 70s, with army men type figures, we decided it was the stupidest thing ever. Someone gave us another set, where you could set the front brushes in the players, to control which direction they didn’t go. Took twice as long to set up each play, to the same effect. It didn’t get used more than twice, but we kept them both around for ten or more years, tattering the boxes.

 

[Modern Garage]

When these things come up everybody references the 'electric football games' but when I was young my older brother got a similarly (non)functioning baseball game. It used a spring loaded paddle to flip small magnets onto a metal 'scoreboard' then you turned on the buzzbox to float the players to the positions determined by where the magnet landed. Don't know where it went but I do recall we thought it was pretty lame and Mom thought the noise pretty aggravating. We had more fun playing with the magnets (and whacking each other with the spring loaded paddle.)
Joe

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Someone gave us another set, where you could set the front brushes in the players, to control which direction they didn’t go.

I thought all sets had that feature. This one did way back in 1949.



I have to admit, I'm not remembering it being that bad. They didn't go exactly how you wanted, and sometimes they went sideways or even in circles, but I remember getting complete possessions in, including first downs, and eventually scoring. I mean, it was goofy, of course. But fun.

but when I was young my older brother got a similarly (non)functioning baseball game.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I did identify the advertising screwdriver. It says "BLENDED WHISKEY illegible" around the top of the circle, "GRAIN NEUTRAL SPIRITS" around the bottom, and in the middle, "CARSTAIRS DISTILLING CO." above the "BALTIMORE, MD" and "LOUISVILLE, KY". And Carstairs was founded in 1788, which they were apparently pretty proud of, since it's all over the bottle!

 

[Outlawmws]

So you have a "mixing stick" for your new Bar/safe!

 

[RTM]

I thought all sets had that feature. This one did way back in 1949.

On the second one I had, the left pair in your picture was on a pivot, and could be turned to aim it more left or right.

 

[Old Radar]

This one from the net looks like it says "86 Proof".

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks. That one is in way better condition than mine.

 

[gearhead1960]

Lugz,
I'm sure your out on the hunt this morning, but thought you might need another Jeep in your garage. Maybe by the time you see this post, it might not be too late!

 

[d42jeep]

Lugz is more of a MB guy than a GPW guy. Nice pristine example though.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I'm sure you're out on the hunt this morning,

I took a very full HS baseball season this year and haven't been out on the hunt much at all.

Nice pristine example

It sure is! Straight and very original and near complete.

 

[Smokeshow69]

Lugz is more of a MB guy than a GPW guy. Nice pristine example though.
-Don

I took a very full HS baseball season this year and haven't been out on the hunt much at all.

It sure is! Straight and very original and near complete.

Man that thing is a time warp. Not often to see one that hasn’t been absolutely destroyed by modification over the years by bubba. That’s a great start to a project for someone!

 

[MR.X]

I took a very full HS baseball season this year and haven't been out on the hunt much at all.

It sure is! Straight and very original and near complete.

Whether it runs or not is conspicuously missing from the Ad.

 

[Outlawmws]

Whether it runs or not is conspicuously missing from the Ad.

No battery, no radiator cap - I think that is pretty conclusive.

 

[MR.X]

No battery, no readiator cap - I think that is pressty conclusive.

good work detective.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Our interest in vintage stencil brushes, stencils, and stencil kits was richly rewarded with an intriguing new addition from the Acquisitions Dept yesterday.



To hear him tell it, the piece was the subject of a lively debate between himself, the flea market vendor, and a couple old codgers who insisted it was for powder, for dusting, for a use case they could not identify precisely, but vaguely insisted was architectural or machinist related in origin. Per the Acquisitions Dept, they scoffed derisively when he politely suggested that it was - "kinda sorta like a fountain pen, but a fountain brush instead" - a self-contained stenciling brush for paint!



The Universal Fountain Brush Company was located in NYC at least as early as 1904. In 1921 they were in Summit, NJ. In 1939, when they received the patent for a self-dipping stencil brush, they were in Florida. We're not sure what the "PAT. ALLOWED" marking indicates, but we think it could mean our example may have been produced in the time between submission (1936) - when they were still located in Summit, NJ, and award (1939), when they were located in St. Petersburg, FLA. Further investigation may be required, as this is a new term for us.



It operates pretty much exactly as you would expect, with paint contained in the canister running into the bristles from a perforated piece controlling the flow through a central screw-stem.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Some references and a 'collection' shot.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

We're not sure what the "PAT. ALLOWED" marking indicates, but we think it could mean our example may have been produced in the time between submission (1936) - when they were still located in Summit, NJ, and award (1939), when they were located in St. Petersburg, FLA. Further investigation may be required, as this is a new term for us.

It turns out our speculation was correct.

From the USPTO site:
"A patent application is subject to fees. Accepted payment methods include checks, credit/debit cards, or electronic fund transfers. To avoid a surcharge, submit the filing, search, and examination fees upon filing. An issue fee is required after an application is allowed and before granting of a patent. Fees are subject to change; consult the USPTO fee schedule for more detail."

From Wikipedia
'A patent is "allowed" when the patent office examiners have determined that the patent application meets the necessary criteria of novelty, non-obviousness, feasibility, and usefulness. The applicants are notified of this certification, and that the patent office is ready to grant the patent once certain fees are paid and paperwork filed by the inventors or assignees. The term is used in the U.S. and some other countries. Few allowed patents are not subsequently granted.'

It is essentially a very narrow timeframe, much narrower than PAT. PEND., which could indicate any time between submitting the application and the patent being granted. PAT. ALLOWED is literally after a submitter has been told it will be granted, but before they have paid the required fee.

Very odd marking.

Raise your hand if you've ever seen it on a tool before!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

The Acquisitions Dept found this at the flea this morning.



He was thinking putty knife, based on the overall look, the flexible blade, and the construction, including a full through tang and two brass rivets through a dark, handsome, rosewood or cocobolo handle.

The Curator is not so sure. It's awful tiny and we are not aware of any line of vintage putty knives that came that small. We were thinking special putty knife, maybe, for a special trade, and special use, by a glazier or old windowmaker. Then we were thinking artist's knife, for spreading oil paint. It is extremely well made.



When we saw that it had a three-word branding we couldn't quite read, we weren't quite sure of anything. After careful clean-up and some scraping with the edge of a utility knife razor blade, we discovered it was made by Landers, Frary & Clark Aetna Works.



LF&CA was a large and very popular maker of household wares, including cutlery, located in New Britain, CT. We only know the name from their WWI and WWII production as one of the largest suppliers of canteens and mess kits and the like to the US Army.

Although we haven't placed it in an LF&CA catalog yet, now we are thinking perhaps it's some kind of fancy spatula, for icing a cake, for example. Or perhaps a pate (which is close enough to puttee) knife.

 

[555]

I had a friend who did a lot of plaster restoration in the 80s. The size/shape looks like one of his plaster spatulas.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks for the lead. It would certainly work on plaster as well as putty or paint or icing or anything that needed to be meticulously spread and manipulated and finished. If you mean walls, in corners or around moulding or decorative fixtures would make the most sense. It is VERY small. Not just short, but narrow. You can see the die for context. It's not going to move much of whatever material it's intended to move, is the point.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Found an 1869 Landers, Frary & Clark catalog. I'm pretty sure it's a pallet knife. Their smallest is 3 inches. The pallet knife page does not identify the wood, but I think this one could be ebony. The handle is identical to the ebony handled knives earlier in the catalog. Very dark, no grain, ferrule, and two rivets. I'd bet there's another catalog, maybe earlier, or maybe later, with ebony-handled pallet knives.

I'm going to give this to my daughter, an artist.

 

[WisJim]

I remember my dad using a pallet knife like that when he was doing oil paintings back in the 1960s.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

The Acquisitions Dept has to admit this had him stumped at the flea this morning. The Curator has to admit this also had him stumped when he looked it over more closely on the workbench, initially thinking some kind of weird *** wheel and tire related multi-tool, until he looked up the patent date on DATAMP, whose patent diagram composite we are liberally appropriating. We're putting it in the overflow catch-all bin for now, although we wouldn't be surprised if it makes its way onto a table or shelf or fireplace mantle upstairs in the Curator's Quarters (it has an eye-catching shape), and we are posting it here, because we don't have a dedicated thread for antique firehose and hydrant spanners!

 

[Outlawmws]

That's interesting! I have more modern bronze alloy spanners for the Hydrant valve (5 sided...), but nothing like that

 

[555]

Akron Brass makes fire fighting equipment. Around 1985 we watched a huge July 4th fireworks display at the Wooster factory headquarters.

 

[gearhead1960]

If it wasn't marked, I would have thought it was a medievel torture device....

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I have more modern bronze alloy spanners for the Hydrant valve (5 sided...), but nothing like that...

Ironically, it's not brass.

Akron Brass makes fire fighting equipment.

Apparently since at least 1925!

Around 1985 we watched a huge July 4th fireworks display at the Wooster factory headquarters

It's interesting that Wooster and Worcester (Mass.) are both pronounced the same.

If it wasn't marked, I would have thought it was a medievel torture device....

"FAH-REE-DOOOOOM!" Or, alternately, with less schmaltz, "NO-body expects the Spanish Inquisition!"

Seriously, I got the hook spanner part intuitively, but I had to read the DATAMP entry to figure out the rest, and they don't describe this variant, so I am completely guessing on the other end.



(1) Those two hooks are the hook spanner for tapered curved lugs on fire hose couplings.
(2) The larger hook will allow it to hang on a ladder rung.
(3) For clipping to fireman's personal equipment by a lanyard or strap.



(4) Judging purely by the shape, which reminds me of a crate tool or any large pry, I am surmising this end is for using it to get locked doors open when you don't want to or can't just break it down. But I am guessing.
(5) Following the same logic, to pry fasteners. Again, guessing.
(6) To pop open a bottle of beer at the end of the shift. No, seriously, would also pry.

 

[Outlawmws]

you can test #6!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Speaking of multi-tools, gonna leave this one here too, because we're too wiped out to find a decent thread they might fit, and we're getting ready to go see the new Indiana Jones movie. Soft face hammer, hatchet, wire cutter, nipper, burner pliers, tack puller, and pry, all in one. Indy could've used one. Well made with a nice knurled handle. We unabashedly love it and don't find it the least gimmicky, hence our aversion to that thread.