since6

So here we have a vintage Philco tube radio:




And here we have the chain guard on my early 70s Gitan Junior Racer.




While a juxtaposition of products both were following the design cues of the age, airplanes, jet planes, rocket ships, they abounded in auto hood ornaments post WWII and industrial design.

We were in flight and our imaginations were racing to the moon.

Do share your favorites from this time.

Take care.

Wildwood 

Shaken not blended

Wildwood 

The old Edison phonograph dates to the year of a famous Kitty Hawk flight, 1903. The hammered pewter shaker feels almost Middle Earth in one’s hands.



Mammy,..... Mammy...... I'd walk a million miles for one of your smiles, my Mammy!

since6

Lovely Wildwood and like so much of this design there is a tactile feel when you take good design up in your hands. Why I always encourage people to go ahead and touch my vintage bikes, feel the soul of the builder.

79pmooney

But, but. but ... So not period correct! Every bike of that era, every photo of a bike of that era and likewise every painting, drawing or other reproduction of those machines included pedals! In fact, the pedals were often a completely inseparable part of the bicycle package, "welded" on permanently with a long and arduous oxidation process.

T-Mar

Art Deco.

repechage

20th Century Limited by Dreyfuss. Styling, nose to tail.

Wildwood 

Uummmm,........... OK

Must be analogous to my encouraging people to drink what comes from the shakers, I'm told it can induce a feeling of giddiness.

Phil_gretz

The Gas Cannon - uses nichrome wire through which an electric current is switched, to ignite a blend of acetylene gas and oxygen, producing an explosive rush of gas that drives the 1" wooden projectile. A child's toy, circa 1906. The acetylene is produced by dropping calcium carbide chunks into a water sump, with the gas trapped by the inverted soup can.

crank_addict

^Dig that gas cannon.

Reminds me of silly games as kids. We had a dynamo removed from an old wooden Bell phone and had a 'shocking time' especially with my sister's girlfriends. We would have, say four or five stand in a circle holding hands, the kids at the end would hold each wire and connected to the dynamo. Give it a half crank and wee~zap~scream! Lol

T-Mar

Some people prefer Dreyfuss' designs, while others prefer Loewy (sp?). Personally, my favourite streamlined steam locomotives have always been the semi-streamlined F1a and F2a Jubilee used by Canadian Pacific Railway. Of course, a lot of that has to do with national pride and it certainly didn't hurt that I grew up less than a mile from mile zero of the CPR. If I had to step up to a Hudson class like used on the 20th Century Ltd., I'd stick with CPR and their Royal Hudsons. I never did find out who designed them. One of these days, perhaps during my next sabbatical, I hope to build a Jubilee using the chassis of one of my American Flyer Atlantic locomotives.

madpogue 

Beavis & Butthead's great-grandparents. Imagine anyone marketing anything like this as a "children's toy" today.

repechage

My parents received a congrat telegram from Loewy upon my birth and another when I turned 1 year old.
Actually I liked Norman Bel Geddes. If you are doing Styling, might as well go bonkers.

Phil_gretz

Pish posh. It's an excellent toy. Teaches kids about electricity, explosive gas generation, ignition, kinetics, ballistics...

My daughters played with it, and they were 6 and 9. Of course, we have genetically superior levels of common sense. You know, stay behind the firing line and all that...

madpogue 

All those natural selection processes and maturing/teachable moments are gone from kids' lives now; no wonder the next generations are so spoiled / coddled.

You kids, get off my lawn!

smontanaro 

The initial pix reminded me somewhat of this unusual newell post in a fixer upper house we just bought in Kansas City MO. Edit: My son, who is doing much of the work on the house (we bought it for him) says it was built in 1908.

madpogue 

"City of Tomorrow"

Motor vehicles and pedestrians on separate levels -- quite the visionary (or, as a lot of modern urban planners would evidently think, "nut").

OTOH, he also envisioned a "pass through" city, that many of our cities actually became, which cost a lot of urban neighborhoods their soul:

T-Mar

Separating pedestrians and vehicular traffic on different levels was not a new idea. During the late 1890s bicycle boom, the proliferation of cyclists was such a public concern that several urban planners proposed elevated cycle paths. They were planned for a number of cites and some even got built. However, the "boom' was short lived and the projects got shelved, though the idea resurfaced in some European cities.

FBOATSB

Actually, you can still buy evolved versions of these today. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big-Bang_Cannon
Still use acetylene and spark ignition. I still have the one I got when a youngster, (60s)

madpogue 

^^^^^ Alas, a thousand shots costs more than a penny now.

repechage

Think Cloverleaf Corporation from the movie, Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Or, the money behind the purchase of the Red Cars of Southern California...