Those Magnificent Machines from a Long Time Ago

  Monday, December 4, 2023

  Overcast,

  27 F -2.77 C

Those Magnificent Steam Engine Machines

from a Long Time Ago

    Whenever I get an e-mail from a reader, I'm always reminded of the 1995 Tom Hanks movie Forrest Gump, for which Tom won an Oscar award for Best Actor. I still remember that famous line in the movie where Forrest is seated at a bus stop and says to the lady seated next to him, "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get". 

    And so it was with today's post. I received an e-mail from Mr. Richard Rominger, III, asking if I knew something about a specific type of steam engine. The engine was  an Empire B-44 D-Cell Electric Engine that would have been produced between 1933-1938.

    Richard is searching for that rare B-44 Engine. So if there is anyone out there who has one or knows of someone who has one for sale, could you please contact me. 

I'll then forward the information to Richard.

    Unfortunately, I am 99.9% sure that I never ever wrote a post about these most-interesting machines. I called these engines machines because in my humble opinion, I felt that they were made for older children due to their complexity, and their needing care and caution when "working" with them.

    Naturally, I wrote Richard back, and said that I did not know anything about  these special class of machines, but if he could send me some photos, I would gladly write a post about them.

    These machines ran on electricity, and would produce heat (steam) by heating up water in an enclosed system.

Below is the cover page of a 1935 Empire

(The Metal Ware Corporation) Catalogue

                                                                                    

Below are 5 pages from this 

     excellent catalogue 

I normally add a copyright notice to each and every photo that

I use. However, in this case, Richard is not the owner of the of the copyright, and the manufacturer has not been in business for a long time.

If anyone knows about what happens to copyrights when a company or publisher closes down, please write to me, and give me the information, so that I 

can share it with others.

Above:  Dry Cell B32

1930-1942

8"x 6"x 6" (20.32 cm x 15.4 cm x 15.4 cm)

Dry Cell Battery Supplied Power (4 Volts)

Above: Hot Air B40

1924-1941

12 1/8" x 6 1/4" x 5" (30.8 cm x 15.8.75 cm x12.7 cm)

Above: Large Wheel 

1930-1933

15" x 14" x 6" ( 38.1 cm x 35.5 cm x 15.24 cm)

Above: Dry Cell B32

1930 - 1942

8" x 6" x 6"  (20.32 cm x 15.25 cmx 15.24 cm 

2 lbs  (.907 Kg)

Above: Water Twin B42

1926 -1930

9" x 8" x 7"  (20.32 cm x 15.25 cmx 15.24 cm 

12 lbs  (5.44 Kg)

Accessories

Top Left: 6 1/4" x 4 1/4"

No. 32 Variable Speed Unit 

1930-1935

Top Right:

6 1/4" x 4 3/4"

No.50 Water Pump

1939-?

Bottom Middle:

7" x 5" x 4"

1/8 scale B34 Windlass Variable Speed Unit

1930 - 1935

Water B31

1921-1931

7" x 6" x 10"  ( 17.8 cm x 14.25 cm x 25.4 cm

If you want to see one of these machines  working, 

please go to the address below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwQ4umV7rBs

Just copy and paste the youtube address,

Below are 2 additional images that Richard sent me 

after he had proofread his post.

Below:

A wonderful collection of steam

 engines gathered overa long time.

I would like to personally thank Richard for

sending me so many images and taking the time to scan 

or photograph those 1935 catalogue pages.

What an effort!

In closing,

Have a great part of the day or night wherever you may be,

and by all means, feel free to contact me anytime.

I can always be reached at:

toysearcher@gmail.com

and my name is (Mr.) Stacey Bindman

Treasures Found - The Walnutts and Their Mechandise

Monday, September 15, 2014
    Partly sunny and unseasonably cold!

Treasures Found:

The Walnutts and their Merchandise

   I had seen the name of today's auctioneer, and thought that I had written about the husband and wife team before. Their business name is Walnutts Antiques, so how could I not remember a name with Walnutts having 2 letter "T's"?  I searched all my photo files, my 885 posts, my e-mails on my personal e-mail address, my ebay mail, my g-mail mail, and nowhere could I find anything! I know that I wouldn't write a new post without first corresponding with the Cardarpolis, and apologizing profusely. At 65, it's easier to apologize, and e-mailing doesn't allow the recipient of the apology to see me changing red on my face like a chameleon.

    I wrote  to Mr. Tom Cardarpoli , and he gave me the go ahead - plain and simply, without  having worried if I did write about him or how come I wasn't more prudent with people's work, or why am I pestering him again, when he said no 3 years ago and so on. 

Phew, that was a relief!

   Tom Cardarpoli   works with his wife and daughter in their business on ebay. I had gone to their store to see some nice steam engines for sale. But of course, my "usual" important requirements were nice photography, and excellent feedback. The family had both! But  what Tom and family also have are well-written and researched descriptions for their merchandise.  But it didn't stop there. Tom has a website/blog and it's most interesting. There, he has presented some of the items that he has sold,along with nicely-written narratives and descriptions to accompany the photos. 

   The Cardarpoli family sells old and antique photographic images, military, historic memorabilia, and of course toys. If I wanted to spend more time on blogging, I most certainly would be writing about historic memorabilia, and photographs, as well as antiques and period furniture.

Please click here to visit the most interesting Walnutts ebay store

Please click here to visit the Walnutts fine website and blog

The Cardarpoli  website is an excellent site to read and view interesting things. As well, the family has added great website resources for readers and collectors to venture to.

The descriptions that I  added below were just part of the extensive material that Tom & Family wrote for  both of these toys listed on ebay. This is the most I've ever added for descriptions. I thought of adding all of the description, but there would have been a lot of  description for this post,so I kept the descriptions just on the photos.

What I'm always amazed at is that these are toys. Of course, I'm sure pare stns would always be with their younger children to supervise them with these toys, which can burn with a fire source, and produce very high temperatures from steam.

These toys became very popular at the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century. It was the steam engine that propelled the Industrial revolution in England and made Great Britain what it became win that period. As with many "real" things, the steam engine became a 'serious toy for children to play with,and learn the concept of henry could be put to use to run machines.

THese 2 machines appear to be free-standing, and are played with by themselves. However there are stem engine toys that could be attached to small working figures and their "tools of the trade". You could;d actually set up an entire factory of people doing all sorts of jobs. I've even written about that in previous posts!

AS I mentioned earlier, one of the things that that I like about the Walnutts family is their excellent photography.  I'm a "bit" mechanically inclined, so when I see nice photos with a nice description, I can try and figure out just how something works.  

When I wrote previously write about these special toys, I found out that they are still popular among people and they are still made. In fact, I saw one in an antiques store here in Montreal, and debated whether or not to buy it. I didn't. However, it would have been fun to play with (with my safety glasses, long sleeved shirts, outdoors, and far away from Buddy -my dog!

Thanks for dropping by to visit,

and as always, 

have a great part 

of the day or night,

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com