On Sat, 08 Sep 2007 20:56:50 -0500, Tim McNamara
<
[email protected]> wrote:
>In article <[email protected]>,
> [email protected] wrote:
>
>> On Sat, 08 Sep 2007 17:03:31 -0500, Tim McNamara
>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> >In article <[email protected]>,
>> > "Frank Drackman" <[email protected]> wrote:
>> >
>> >> "Tim McNamara" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> >> news:[email protected]...
>> >> > In article <[email protected]>, "Road
>> >> > Man" <[email protected]> wrote:
>> >> >
>> >> >> Are you suggesting that Jobst may have designed products for
>> >> >> Ronco?
>> >> >
>> >> > Maybe Ron Popeil was a silent partner in Avocet.
>> >>
>> >> Can't happen. Ron could never be silent... and they never came out
>> >> with Tire in a Can.
>> >
>> >LOL! But wait, there's more! The Popeil Pocket Pump, with handy
>> >built-in tire lever, spoke wrench and fishing pole!
>> >
>> >Hell sounds like 90% of the mini-tools I see in the mail order
>> >catalogs...
>>
>> Dear Tim,
>>
>> Here's your dream tool, at the bottom of the ad:
>>
>> "Attention, cyclists. The Harris Combination Wrench. A new novelty
>> and practical combination tool for 1894. Wrench, oil-can, pump, and
>> screw-driver all combined in one. Made of drop-forged steel, case
>> hardened. Weight ten ounces."
>>
>> http://www.nostalgic.net/index.asp?S=arc/ScannedLit/TheBicyclingWorld-
>> 3-16-94/ TBW%2D3%2D16%2D94pg27%2Ejpg
>>
>> Not associated with the present-day Harris Cyclery.
>
>Dang, there it is. Carl, you are without peer at finding obscure things
>on the Web.
Dear Tim,
I confess that I don't see quite how the pump part works, but the
built-in oil can is hard to duplicate in today's degenerate market:
http://www.nostalgic.net/index.asp?S=arc/ScannedLit/TheBicyclingWorld-3-16-94/TBW-3-16-94pg27.jpg
The oil-can was once a standard item in any self-respecting cyclist's
tool bag, even for no-chain high-wheelers, since lavishly oiled
bearings were considered essential. You can see the "lubricator"
oiling-port sticking up on the right hub of this high-wheeler:
http://www.eriding.net/media/photos/transport/vintage_bikes/040930_cbr_mp_his_trans_vb_586.jpg
Lots more photos here:
http://www.eriding.net/media/vintage_bicycles.shtml
The high-wheel rider Thomas Stevens mentioned his oil-can in "Around
the World On a Bicycle," but its only use seemed to be as a
witch-doctor prop when faced with the damaged foot of an Indian in
Nevada:
"With owlish solemnity my small monkey-wrench is taken from the
tool-bag and waved around the 'sick foot' a few times, and the
operation is completed by squirting a few drops from my oil-can
through a hole in the blanket."
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext04/awbv110.txt
Speaking of oil, by coincidence, I was looking into this odd old
motorcycle fitting:
http://home.ama-cycle.org/membersonly/museum/images/b9/pump_600.jpg
A friend who's forgotten more about motorcycles than I'll ever know
suggested a hand-pump for a total-loss oil system. As usual, he was
right:
http://www.dansmc.com/4_stroke_oilpump.htm
The article fails to mention one advantage of a dry sump, namely that
you can either gain a little ground clearance or lower the heavy
engine a little by converting from a wet to a dry sump.
That oil-system page has a nice picture of a similar hand oil-pump on
an old Indian, complete with helpful label:
http://www.dansmc.com/oilpump_indian.jpg
Which in turn led me to wonder why the old Indian had two drive
chains, one on each side of the wheel. For a change, my guess turned
out to be right. The near (left) side chain is for the engine, while
the other chain on the far (right) side is for the bicycle pedals, as
explained here:
http://www.hhjm.com/bikes/grace.htm
On a more practical note, the real secret to finding weird and useless
links to amuse others is a combination of 'satiable curiosity and a
quick trigger-finger poised over the add-to-favorites icon.
Cheers,
Carl Fogel