Thursday, June 13, 2013
The Kenton Cast Iron Cement Mixers
There's a lot of construction going on where I live. A smaller-sized shopping centre decided to downsize, so they eliminated half of the shopping area, and eliminated close to 30 acres of parking lot. Needless to say, I have seen lots of cement trucks coming and going to pour the foundations.
When I retired from having taught professional photography, I decided to just go out and take all kinds of photography for speculation. I also wanted to improve my Photoshop skills,so I did lots of that also. The image below is an example of a cement pourer that I photographed. I never got a reply from the company to see if they would be interested in buying the photo. However, Ive been contacted by American Pickers for 2 toys that I photographed when I bought and sold on E-Bay. I also had my City purchase the last photo of the comlpete shopping centre, before only half of it remained.
The above truck is attached to a "normal" cement truck. It suctions the cement from a trough, and then through the long hoses, pours it wherever it needs to be positioned. Because the truck was so large, and positioned in a small space, I had to take lots of photos,then splice them together. Afterwards, I simply removed the distracting background.
Today,in 2013, you can purchase these types of beautiful "models". They're called models because more people collect them for show rather than children playing with them. They're also costly, because of all the detail. I've posted several posts as a change from the norm of "antique toys" on this blog.
I originally was going to write this post about cement mixers in general, but so many Kenton toys came up, I decided to limit today's post to just one manufacturer. Like many of the other companies of the time, Kenton originally produced locks, then toys. The toys presented today are from the 1920's-early 1940's and were made form cast iron. There were basically 2 types made - the mobile (moved by horse or truck) and the portable ( moved by truck and then placed on the work site).
All of the cement mixers on this post were modelled after the Jaeger company. The one above was not identified as a Jaeger. I wonder if it wasn't, since I find that the dimensions of the trough, mixer, and the turning lever and wheel are much too big for the truck. The other reason could simply be that the name had been forgotten to be added to the listing, but in fact the design sure looks like to rest of the Jaeger stationary mixers (no truck).
The location Jaeger mixers (driven to a location) naturally had a motor to mix the water,cement and other ingredients such as the rocks. The motor was encased in the orange part of the "real" machine. Of course for children to play with the toy, wheels and turning levers were added.
The portable Kenton Jaegers came in 3 sizes - 6 1/2", 8" and 9" (.165M, .203M, .228M).
If you've never had a cast iron toy in your hand, try placing one in your hand next time. I'm a hands-on person, and I like to tough "touchable" art work made of stone, soapstone, or rock or steel. Cast iron toys are just substantive and solid. They're totally unlike the plastic toys of today!
Thanks for dropping by,
and have a great part of the day,
wherever you may be.
Stacey
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