powerrabbit

I have a set of those barn platform weights Bill. Given to my Father back in the early 1960's by one of my Mothers farmer cousins. We used them to weigh up the barley in the hessian sacks from the combine at harvest, bringing in the sacks on the trailer from the field and weighing them up to make sure each had 1 cwt of grain in them so that we could accurately determine the yield and also to weigh up if we sold any sacks of barley. You can use these to weigh anything in a sack using the eqivalent weight on the opposite side to the platform and when the top boards were perfectly level then you had the correct weight in the sack. There are several around me who still use them who sell bags of spuds, turnips and swedes.

i have a few models from this company from the 1980's, all in 1:43 as that seems to be their prefered scale. Although yours here looks similar to a Deutz I think they are actually Belarus tractors, the real deal being manufactured outside Moscow in Belaurussia in the N.W of the region. I'll show this to my Sister-in-law, she's Russian and will be able to translate what's on the box.

This candlestick is an interesting and rather rare example of a mid Victorian 'students' desk lamp. the bottom is heavily weighted and the top 'reflector' and chimney part lifts off, the candle is inserted by pushing down the top bayonet sleeve and turning, like fitting a bulb, under the candle in the stem tube is a long coil spring which as the candle burns pushes up the candle. No candle wax runs as the wax burns as well.

Yes, when I found it on a stall at an antiques fair the candle stub that was still in it was upsidedown. That tin Bill dates to the late 1960's. no barcode on it which puts it pre-1980's at least. I still have several tins of that type in my 'larder', both square and round ones, early 1960's Quality Street and a Lucky Numbers sweet tins that my Mother used to keep her cake in. These tins used to hold 5lb of sweets and not the 1k like they do now. But then, they do say that the World is getting smaller! (and lighter)

Here's a couple more. The one with the red candle is silver plated and the matchbox is contained in the base. The brass one is older and has stamped on it 'Soho Dunny light, Soho Foundry Soverign Hill Ballarat.

Something else here that might be of interest, I have a small collection of chamber sticks, or 'go-to-bed' candle holders as some call them. Back in November around the Armistace time of the month there was a whole day of TV programmes on the Great War, WW1. One of the programmes showed a lot of photos of the time of soldiers in the trenches, one photograph showed a soldier in the trenches on his 'bunk' and on the 'shelf' above his shoulder was placed a candle in a holder, the holder was the exact same as the one I have here that I picked up for 20p at a boot sale. It's nice to be able to accurately date something.

I know we've been discussing these in another topic but my recommendation for general farming books and DVD's currently are those of the recent TV series 'Wartime Farm'

The china house is interesting, must say I've never seen one. You could still use it as a pastille burner, pastille being a scented substance that you set light to, smoulders and gives off a scented smoke, purpose made pastille burners were produced in the same form, houses or a cottage back in Victorian times and earlier, here's one that has been in my family ever since I can remember, you put the pastille in the hole at the back. They can be found in varying sizes, this one is just a shade under 4" high to the top of the chimney.

I know this is going off track a bit but my early memories of these types of programmes Sue and still hearing the theme tune/song rining in my ears are of 'The Virginian' with Clint Eastwood, 'Bonanza' and also 'The Lone Ranger', all had their heros' that every young boy aspired to. Must also not forget the talking horse 'Mr. Ed'. A horse is a horse of course of course. Hi Ho Silver!

That's a nice bracket clock Bill, I'm a little jealous! Roy Rogers' wife Sue was Dale Evans. Gene Autrey, as you rightly say Sue, sang the theme to the TV programme 'Champion the wonder horse'.

If you think your house is a bit 'buisy' Bill, you ought to see mine! I haven't clicked on your first YouTube link but seeing that old grainy monochrome still of Andy Stewart takes me back, how appropriate for the time of year. Back in the 1960's my Mother would wait with trepidation for New Years Eve BBC television broadcasting the Andy Stewart show and also the ITV rival 'Hogmanae' programme hosted by Kenneth McKeller, she would look at the rest of us with 'that look' if we so much as rustled a sweet paper while it was on. Back thenh we only had BBC and ITV, yes, just the two channels! I used to have an old 'His Masters Voice' wind-up gramaphone that an uncle gave me when I was but a little lad, early 1960's it was, it came with a pile of 78's, many of which I forget what they were now but the ones that stick in my mind were Gracie Fields, 'Wish me luck' and others, another title that sticks in my mind is 'Bibbidy Bobbidy Boo' and Mantovani 'Swedish Rhapsody'. Sadly the spring broke and I got fed up of turning the turntable with my finger at the right speed so it and the 78's ended up in a jumblesale. Wish I'd kept the 78's.

24Gns Bill back in 1954, the year I was born, would have been quite a lot of money, average wage then being about £7 a week would mean it would take nearly a months full wages to buy it, put that against today and in relative terms with modern equipment the modern equipment equivalent is a lot cheaper. A nice find, no great value but where would you find another in such good condition complete with all the paperwork it would have come with from new?, it was obviously well cared for and cherished.

China eggs were used to put under a broody hen in order to keep it broody until enough fertile eggs were laid by the other chicken to make up a clutch bof a decent size. If a broody hen has no eggs to sit then she will not stay broody. A broody hen will incubate any eggs, goose, duck, turkey, pheasant etc, a practice that goes back millenia. Now the clocks. Bill, the first is a British made clock by Perivale of The Perivale Clock Manufacturing Co Ltd of Perivale Road Wandsworth Middlesex. There will probably markings around or within the stamped 'losenge' on the backplate that will date it precisely but it will have been made during the 1930's. Chiming once on the half hour and the number of hours on the hour. Second one is probably another British made clock made by Smiths. This one has Westminster chimes which will chime 1/4 the 'tune' at 1/4 past, 1/2 on the half hour, 3/4 at a quarter to and the full chime on the hour followed then by 3 of the hammers striking the number of hours. To get both chiming correctly, wind them up, move the minute hand to the half hour and wait for it to strike, if it strikes once then that's right. Next move the minute hand to the 12, let the clock strike, counting the number and observe what number the hour hand is pointing to. if both are the same then it's timed ok, if not, move the hour hand to the number that the clock struck, if the hour hand is tight, just ease it forward gently and then move it and then just push it back on again to tighten. If the clock strikes the hour when the minute hand is at 6, undo the hand nut in the middle, take off the washer, ease off the hand and put it back on pointing to 12, You can do this for both clocks if needed. Having said that, with the Westminster it should syncronise itself, at 3 there is a slot with a little lever, this lever should first be moved up to 'silent' first and after winding it and setting the correct time and pendulum swinging, set the lever to 'chime' and it will, probably a part chime followed by chiming the nearest hour, after that it tets itself. Again, made in the 1930's. Both are very nice clocks and should have a very nice mellow sounding chime. Oak cases that you can initially clean up to remove dust and old paint spots with a damp warm cloth with a little washing up liquid, allow to dry and polish up using a spray furniture polish.

If we're going to start 'the smallest spirit level' competition then I suspect this one will probably take some beating. This little all brass one is exactly 3"1/8 (79mm or 7.9cm) in length. I use this one all the time, very handy size for setting up my clocks levelling them up. The computer mouse gives a good size scale comparison.

Just picked up a copy yesterday and scanned through it. Not a great Ford fan myself but no good being at all biased, you have to cater for everyone over time and it's the variety that keeps peoples interest. I've been following the David Brown continuum from Anthony Heath, at least those D.B. enthusiasts reading these articles will learn first hand rather than reading it from those who think they know! I enjoy reading through the magazine every month, so much so that I have, you will be glad to know Rory, number one issue up to date. 141 CT magazines look a fair pile all together and are beginning to bow the shelf a tad! I shall never dispose of any as I do go back through them from time to time as an archive of information, it's surprising when certain questions are asked of me how many past copies come out for reference. In this respect, none of the magazines from the first on to me are 'out of date' they will never be that.

The pocket knives are interestin, I recognise the second one with the 'turnbuckle' ring in the front to lock the blade, it's an Opinel. I have a fair collection of pocket knives, a couple of those small celluloid covered handle ones, generically called pen knives. I like the types that have horn and bone handles. The marbles in the main are old Victorian ones, especially the red/yellow swirl one, the buff coloured ones look like very early clay marbles. In the box with the razorblades, those round shiny ring things under the razorblades are expanding shirt sleeve keeper uppers, my father used to wear a pair when he went out in his best shirt, you pull your shirt sleeves up so that the cuffs don't come down over your hands if the sleeves are a bit too long by wearing the bands around your bicepts. I also see in the middle bottom of the tin an old shirt collar stud, early ones were ivory and gold. Wasn't the smiley face on the pencil Bill the early 'Fanta' orange fizzy drink logo? I bet you've been having a lot of fun 'discovering'.

I now have as from this mornings post got the 3 disc DVD of the series so can now watch the whole again on a wet cold winters day. I wonder what they will cook up next.

Perhaps it belonged to a pilot Bill if the hands are 'flying' around! Seriously though, what's happening is that the release dog on the power wheel from the mainspring barrel has broken and not holding the gear that drives the hands and the mainspring is just releasing itself, basically unwinding itself. Probably would not cost much to get it repaired as the parts I would say will be readily available being probably an Ingersol movement, in fact most Swiss made movements share common component parts. I ommitted at a guess to the age as watches of this nature spanned both World Wars.

Here's the horse and cart, the cart is a typical farm tipping cart with the extension sides or 'greedy-boards' as they are known. This cart was made by a local chap who had a timber buisness, he had a sawmill, supplying sawn timber to the local building trade and farmers, was also a carpenter and joiner, he was also the local funeral director and in his capacity as a carpenter joiner made coffins, the card is made from the scraps left over from his coffin making. The horse is a porcelain one, unmarked but it's better quality than those made by Melba so may be Beswick or another maker of equal quality. This horse was obtained from a house clearance/garage sale many years ago and came with a horrible wooden kit timber wagon. Horse measures 13" in total length and stands 11" high to the top of its ears and has a full leather harness.

Apart from the Made in GT Britain on the dial of the first one Bill, I can't quite read what else is on it, it looks to be a late Swiss lever movement keyless nickel brass cased watch from around the 1930's. The second one however is a military issue 'services' watch, issued to the Army to each soldier as part of their kit, the broad arrow on the back is the clue. The letter and number could either be the serial number of the watch or the soldiers ID number to who it was issued, it's worth a fair bit more than the first one being of military interest, It has a Swiss lever movement, again keyless wind, probably by Ingersol.

That one Sue looks like a Kern or Kundo and it does need a cnew suspension spring. I think the size for the clock would be a 00.23" (.058mm) spring, there are different thicknesses and lengths depending on the 'weight' of the pendulum and height of the clock in relation to the pillars. Your best bet would be to take it to your local clock/watch mender and get him to do it, like I said, the spring is very cheap and if you buy them yourself come in a pack of 3 but you would probably never use the other 2 if you did the repair yourself unless you intended to aquire more of these clocks.

I think I'd be correct in saying that the Britains 'Lilliput' series was O guage as well.

Seems that my last post has been doubled. Yes Sue, it is rather pretty, the same clock was available with a black face and pillars , which contrasted well with the gold and the roses, this particular model was available from about the early 1950's to the early 1960's, after that the base and dome were made of plastic. If it was powered by a battery then I would have left it in the shop. This one also has 'Germany' stamped into the backplate of the movement, they were all German movements but prior to the 1950's and the better quality more expensive ones normally carried the clock makers name marks on the movement and the dial.

Going back to the subject of clocks, it's funny how things turn up. I went and did a bit of shopping this morning to re-plenish the fridge and in the town when I go there I always go in the many charity shops in the town, well, you never know! In one of them I picked up this mid-size 400 day (anniversary) rather pretty clock which cost me the princely sum of £3. I've spent 10 minutes cleaning and setting it up and it seems to be running very well It's 6" in overall height to the top of the glass dome.

Going back to the subject of clocks, it's funny how things turn up. I went and did a bit of shopping this morning to re-plenish the fridge and in the town when I go there I always go in the many charity shops in the town, well, you never know! In one of them I picked up this mid-size 400 day (anniversary) rather pretty clock which cost me the princely sum of £3. I've spent 10 minutes cleaning and setting it up and it seems to be running very well It's 6" in overall height to the top of the glass dome.