Wednesday, April 07, 2021
Tuesday, April 06, 2021
traditional hot rodding
In the August '74 issue of Rod Action, is the great story that Harrison Miler wrote about his scrounged-together roadster which combined a '26 Jordan body, a '35 Ford truck grille, a stepped '28 Model A frame, '36 Chevy steering column/wheel and a '39 Merc flathead.
smart way to get people to stop and look, they even had a light in the canopy at night.
Polly’s Restaurant opened in 1941 as the Four Corners Restaurant, named after its location. “The Four Corners” at the intersection of Boston Rd and 110 is also known as Minot’s Corner, and is now the site of Cornerstone Square, a major shopping center. The location was colloquially named after Major Jonathan Minot, (1723-1806) was a Minuteman who lived on the corner of Boston Road and Route 110 in the 1700s, his descendants lived there until selling the home in the 1940s
This family’s house was removed and replaced by Polly’s, known for a WWII airplane on its roof. According to the Westford Gazetteer, two different planes were affixed throughout the establishment’s life.
Above is a possibly a T6. Below, it's replacement, was probably a mock up because the original was blown off by a hurricane, and by then, cheap army surplus planes were a lot harder to come by
The restaurant was originally owned and operated by Costa “Polly” Polesayka (1908-1998). By 1963, it was run by Domenic Del Papa (1917-1996). They had a dance floor and jukebox, and offered breakfasts, fried clams, hamburgers, and other meals common for diner establishments. Due to tax issues in 1964, the land was briefly taken by the town. The tax issues were resolved by 1967, the restaurant being sold to the business’ operator, Del Papa, that year. Polly’s was ultimately closed and sold to Mobil Oil by 1970, and replaced by the Mobil gas station presently at the site.
https://westford.pastperfectonline.com/bysearchterm?keyword=Polly%27s+Restaurant
the origin of the name, Zerk fitting. And WOW, thank you Bishop! The largest privately-owned carved ivory collection in America, plus a $250,000 worth of highly valued gems, art - were stolen from him, by Chicago gangsters!
The Zerk design, named after Oscar Zerk, used a fitting much smaller than the Alemite pin-type and did not lock the hose coupler or hand gun and fitting together.
Instead, the seal between them was maintained by the pressure of a pushing action when the operator applied the coupler to the fitting.
Oscar Zerkowitz. He was a brilliant inventor born May 16, 1878, in Vienna, capital of what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father, Bernhard Zerkowitz, was in the business of textile manufacturing, and the family had been prominent and respected since the time of the Holy Roman Empire.
Remarkably, the clever young Zerk was initially rejected from pursuing higher education, his appeals to the ministry of education were rebuffed, so he wrote directly to the Austrian Emperor Franz Josef with an appeal, got an audience, and impressed the Emperor, who then decreed that the young man be admitted to the college.
After graduation, Zerk relocated to England to study British textile manufacturing and to refine his automated loom. After four years abroad, he returned to Austria at age 27. It was then that the emerging automobile industry caught his eye.
Soon, he had designed both a six-cylinder engine and proposed a form of automatic transmission. Apparently impressed by reports of the steam cars of the White Motor Company, in 1907 Zerk arranged to visit the United States to study one firsthand.
He sailed for America aboard the RMS Lusitania, and it was during this voyage that he was inspired to improve the system of lubrication then in use on automobiles—grease cups and oilers.
Arthur Gulborg was a son of a co-owner of a small die-casting plant in Chicago. His job was to relubricate the die casting machines by refilling their oil cups several times a day.
This labor-intensive task led him to invent the grease gun (screw type) and grease fitting in 1916. He invented the fitting, a braided metal hose having a special end connection, and screw-type grease gun.
Gulborg and his father named it “The Alemite High-Pressure Lubricating System” after the Alemite Die Casting and Manufacturing Company where the idea was first formed.
In 1918, the Gulborgs approached the U.S. Army with this invention. Several test installations were made on white trucks in army service. Gulborg’s invention vastly simplified the task of lubricating army trucks. On July 10 of that year, it became standard equipment.
By 1922, Alemite introduced the “Button-Head” system to serve on a more rugged, heavy-duty lubricating system for many industrial applications.
The “Junior Button-Head” system was used to lubricate motorcycles and “Standard” and “Giant” versions of the button-heads were used in a wide range of industry including heavy construction equipment. The automobile industry, however, was the greatest immediate potential for sales.
Within five years of Gulborg’s patent, the passenger car became equipped with an Alemite hand grease gun and hose assembly. Grease guns became familiar to the general public, and most automobile lubrication was performed by the car owners. In 1924, the Allyne-Zerk Company of Cleveland, Ohio was purchased by Alemite, and the Zerk line of lubrication fittings and hand grease guns was added to the Alemite line.
This became known as a push-type system.
In 1930, Alemite introduced new hydraulic fittings. Today’s hydraulic fittings are very similar to the original version and remain the most popular grease application system in the world.
In 1924, Allyne-Zerk was purchased by Stewart-Warner, which also owned Alemite, a market leader in lubrication technology ("Alemite" actually became a verb meaning "to lubricate" for a while in the 1930s), and Zerk became a stockholder and consulting engineer.
In 1929, Zerk created a refined version of his lubrication nipple and assigned the patent to Alemite.
Zerk pulled back from business somewhat in 1939, moving from the hustle and bustle of Chicago to Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he heavily remodeled a mansion. He dubbed his new residence "Dunmovin" and resided there until his death in 1968, at which time, about 20 billion zerk fittings had been made
Oscar Zerk had invented leg slimming hosiery, quick freezing ice cube trays, fail safe brakes for trolley cars, and refrigerators for cars. He is also credited with designing and patenting stamped metal wheel covers (modern hub caps, not the coffee cup size original wagon type hub caps
https://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/584/grease-gun
https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/oscar-zerk
https://m.facebook.com/RememberingKenosha/posts/1036184726502034
In what may be the biggest heist in the annuls of Kenosha crime — a quarter of a million dollars worth of highly valued gems, art and collectible items — wasn’t stolen from a museum or jewelry store.
It was taken in 1954 from a mansion occupied by one man: Oscar Ulysses Zerk. That $250,000 would be worth $2.3 million in today’s dollars.
About 6:30 p.m. three gunmen entered an unlocked side door of the residence and silently made their way to the master bedroom.
In the ensuing investigation, Zerk estimated that 500 to 1,000 separate items had been stolen. None of it was insured.
By March 1, part of the loot was recovered in Melrose Park, a suburb of Chicago
One of the armed robbers was Americo DePietto, his fingerprints were found on a silver-plated bowl from the robbery.
DePietto, 39, was out on $10,000 bond after his arrest in connection with a brutal murder of a cab driver in the summer of 1953, a Chicago grand jury had failed to indict him on the cab driver murder charge: five of the witnesses had disappeared.
Although he had been arrested 26 times in Chicago, the slippery DePietto had never been convicted before. He was found guilty of assault with intent to rob or murder Zerk. He was sentenced to 1 to 10 years in the Waupun prison.
The other was Nick Montos, 38, another Chicagoan on the FBI’s Top Ten list for a robbery in Georgia in 1952. Zerk said it was possible Montos was one of the men who tied him up, but he couldn’t be sure.
That November, DePietto, Montos, Montos’ girlfriend Lila Mae “Doodles” Nail and Cicero nightclub operator James Mirro were charged with possessing the loot taken in the robbery. The four pled guilty, and all went to prison.
Thanks Bishop!
what a clever, and perfect, design for an oil can.
easy for the illiterate to understand, visually appealing to everyone who everyone that is tired of seeing the same old oil can designs, and easy to fill crates with while maximizing the amount of product shipped, by loading a flat with upright cans, then fill in the spaces between the upright cans with upside down cans.
https://www.proxibid.com/Rare-Marathon-Oil-Derrick-One-Gallon-Can/lotInformation/60419367
it looks like someone decided they'd had enough of trying to see the potholes before they damaged their suspension and alignment, and made it a LOT easier to avoid them, by using a little white spray paint. It's a really helpful step in the right direction. Now, if the damn city would use a damn pothole filling machine
Monday, April 05, 2021
I bet there was a story with this... Why don't more people keep the stories with the photos?
Thank you guys for identifying the M2 Cletrac... I haven't posted one of those in many years. I forgot what they were
Thank you Thomas M for clanging my tip jar via postal mail!
Awww shucks, thank you!
"I rode streetcars of the trolley type, trolley buses, steam hauled passenger trains, noisy New York City, subway cars, and more conveyances"
Wow, that's a lot of variety!
I'm glad you're enjoying the stuff I've posted! Thanks for the tip!
if you want to hear an interesting history podcast on an 1890's bike ride around the world, that a woman in Boston undertook, which was all publicity and fakery, I just found a cool podcast about Annie Londonderry
She DID actually bike about 7000 miles. But actually took a ship from port to port, for publicity interviews and to raise money, about 5000 dollars.
THAT is actually astonishing. Made up an "around the world in 80 days" type bet - STORY, which never happened, used it to get sponsors, a free bike or two, and money.
for the podcast: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/stuff-you-missed-in-history-cl-21124503/episode/annie-londonderrys-dubious-bike-trip-around-60716456/
https://www.wiredforadventure.com/historys-heroes-fearless-woman-cycled-the-world/
https://www.gct.com/community/the-inside-scoop/the-buzz/flying-solo-annie-londonderry?icid=isc-nav-ed-lk_5_20200929_flying-solo-annie-londonderry
https://totalwomenscycling.com/lifestyle/10-facts-annie-londonderry
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/annie-kopchovsky-londonderry-cyclist
https://www.gct.com/community/the-inside-scoop/the-buzz/flying-solo-annie-londonderry?icid=isc-nav-ed-lk_5_20200929_flying-solo-annie-londonderry
https://totalwomenscycling.com/lifestyle/10-facts-annie-londonderry
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/annie-kopchovsky-londonderry-cyclist
On her journey, Kopchovsky was reportedly nearly killed by a runaway horse and wagon in California, and she collided with a drove of pigs in Iowa, falling and breaking her wrist. A first-person account of the trip was published in the New York World on October 20, 1895
Sunday, April 04, 2021
I'm sure you know of the Mobil Economy Run, but had you heard of Gilmore's Economy Runs? They had one from LA to Yosemite in 1939, and one from LA to the Grand Canyon in 1941, in the next post
The Econo-Master engine of the low-priced Oldsmobile Six lived up to its name in the Gilmore-Yosemite Economy contest of '39
AA observers credited the Oldsmobile with 21.39 miles per gallon in the grueling 315-mile run, the best average made by any car in its field.
Above, the winning Oldsmobile is shown following the winding mountain road 40 miles from its goal. Due to icy roads and adverse weather conditions, only 16 of the 29 contesting cars finished within the time limit.
https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/51061
In 1939, the Gilmore Oil Company of California recognized the fun in fuel economy and held the first annual Gilmore Economy Run-- which was a half day event that ran from Gilmore Stadium in Los Angeles, CA to Yosemite. The rules were simple: You were weighed and you were put into a class based on size of your car and cubic inches of your engine. The person who got the best gas mileage won, and in 1939 they approached 30mpg.
I've never seen photos of the Gilmore Grand Canyon Economy Run before, it was 595-mile drive from Los Angeles to the Grand Canyon.
Hudson, Lincoln, Nash, and Mercury
Equipped only with standard transmission and drive gear ratio, the Mercury established a remarkable stock car economy figure of 23.35 miles per gallon which bettered the marks of 15 of the 22 other finishing cars, a majority of which carried overdrives. Mercury consumed no oil.
The Lincoln won, Marshall Martin was the driver
https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/search/?q=Gilmore-Grand+Canyon
read all about the Gilmore years online in the Google Books:
The Mobilgas Economy Run: A History of the Long Distance Fuel Efficiency ...By Dave Hermanson
1924 photo of a HISSO powered Mercedes factory race car built in 1908, sold to Spencer Wishart, who finished 4th in the first INDY 500 in 1911. Raced with the HISSO V8 in the mid 1920's, then it was put in a car museum in 1939, but museum's fail for lack of money so it was offered in sealed bid auction, for 1.2 million, to someone in Germany that pulled the HISSO and restored it back to 1908.
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