North America Archives - Page 7 of 13

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VERY GOOD REFERENCE & MANY ILLISTRATIONS COVERING THIS LARGE SUBJECT WITH VALUABLE INFORMATION. Contact Email: [email protected] Read More...

01 Mar

KIMBER CLEAVER’S INNOVATIVE AMERICAN MARKING PROTRACTOR

By TESSERACT

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KIMBER CLEAVER’S MARKING PROTRACTOR, American, c. mid-19th century, boldly signed “Young & Sons, Philada., Pa.” This very substantial instrument is made of brass, 6-1/2″ x 6-5/8″ (16.5 x 17 cm), with distinctive X-form superstructure carrying the 5″ diameter divided circle, clamp and long tangent screw. The circle has a silver degree scale divided every half-degree and labeled with directional headings (e.g., SW 210°). The circle is mounted with four knobs for rotation and four spring-loaded marking pins. Rotation is Read More...

26 Feb

RARE AMERICAN ELLIPSOGRAPH, c. 1870

By TESSERACT

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RARE AMERICAN ELLIPSOGRAPH — F. BOWLY’S INSTRUMENT FOR DESCRIBING ELLIPSES, c. 1870, signed “F. Bowly’s patent Jan¹y. 14, 1868.” This most unusual instrument is constructed with framework of beautifully grained tropical hardwood, and with linkages and fittings of brass and boxwood. When closed up it measures 16-1/4″ (41 cm) long and only 5/8″ x 1-7/8″ (1.6 x 4.8 cm) in overall cross section. The frame (whose form reminds one of a violin bow) has fixed point and index pointer Read More...

03 Feb

EARLY RECORDING TELEGRAPH REGISTER — THE SAMUEL MORSE / ALFRED VAIL DESIGN

By TESSERACT

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EARLY RECORDING TELEGRAPH REGISTER — THE SAMUEL MORSE / ALFRED VAIL DESIGN, American, c. 1865, signed “J.S. Keeling, 16 Broadway” and “E.M. Pierson” and numbered “1.” This substantial brass device is mounted to a 5-3/4″ x 13″ (15 x 33 cm) mahogany board, with two terminal posts wired to a pair of electromagnetic coils. The main structure is most elegantly designed, with aesthetic recurved shaping of the 5/16″ thick solid brass side plates. The brass mechanism consists of a Read More...

30 Jan

SPECTACULAR FULL-CREATURE PREPARATIONS

By TESSERACT

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SPECTACULAR FULL-CREATURE PREPARATIONS, English, c. last quarter 19th century, the six each mounted under cover glass on a 1″ x 3″ (2.5 x 7.6 cm) glass slide with applied paper label(s). Included are mounts by Norman, Darlaston, and the famous Frederic Enock, displaying Sedge Fly, Gad Fly, Sailor Beetle, Male Earwig, Sheep Tick, plus a Heath Spider. Dramatic mounts in fine condition. Read More...

27 Jan

NOVEL PIE CRIMPER — AN ORIGINAL U.S. PATENT MODEL

By TESSERACT

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NOVEL PIE CRIMPER — AN ORIGINAL U.S. PATENT MODEL, American, 1863, signed in ink by the inventor “Herbert Marshall, Dracut, Mass.” Well crafted of three woods, this 7″ (18 cm) long full size model has a fine turned handle which swivels, curved brace block to follow the curvature of a pie plate, and the cut wheel with repeating patterns of lines and circles to impress a professional looking design on the dough all around the circumference of the unbaked Read More...

22 Jan

Model & diagram of the North American Aviation, Trisonic Wind Tunnel, El Segundo, CA.

By Hatchwell Antiques

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A resin model and diagram of the North American Aviation (NAA) Trisonic Wind Tunnel (TWT), El Segundo, California. Circa 1955. Diagram printed on thick card. The Trisonic Wind Tunnel was built by North American Aviation in the 1950’s. The tunnel was so named because it was capable of testing in three speed regimes – subsonic, transonic, and supersonic, with a maximum speed of Mach 3.5. Aircraft such as the XB-70 Valkyrie, B-1 Lancer, X-15 space plane, Apollo Command and Service Module, the Read More...

21 Dec

Social distancing in 1918: rare Spanish Flu ephemera

By Octavo Books

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Title: “Spanish Influenza” / “Three-Day Fever” / “The Flu” Publisher: United States Government Publishing Office, Washington, DC This leaflet was one of the US Government’s main weapons against the so-called ‘Spanish Flu’, the global pandemic that infected up to one third of the entire population of the planet between 1918 and 1920. The leaflet advises social distancing, self-isolation if infection is suspected, and has information that remains useful to this day on the importance of overall health in fighting disease. The Read More...

02 Dec

Six late 19th and early 20th-Century Probangs

By M and R Gordon

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Six late 19th and early 20th-century probangs. Probangs were used to remove foreign bodies that were lodged in the throat or esophagus. Numbers 1,2 and 6 have shafts made of a flexible natural material. Number 1 has German-silver mountings and when the collar is slid down folds in half. Number 4 is stamped “ARNOLD & SON” and with the broad arrow indicating that it was used in the British military. Nos 3 and 5 are two different version of Read More...

21 Nov

The first photograph of the surface of Venus, 22nd October, 1975

By Octavo Books

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This is the first photograph of the surface of Venus, taken from the Soviet Venera 9 spacecraft on 22nd October 1975. Gelatin silver print, produced by the Keystone Press Agency, New York, with a label in French attached, dated 28th October, 1975. Very good condition. From the NASA website: “Surface photographs from the Soviet Venera 9 and 10 spacecraft. The Soviet Venera 9 and 10 spacecraft were launched on 8 and 14 June 1975, respectively, to do the unprecedented: place a lander on Read More...

21 Nov

First photograph of the far side of the Moon, 7th October 1959

By Octavo Books

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This is the first full view of the far side of the Moon, taken from the Soviet Luna/Lunik 3 spacecraft on 7th October 1959. Gelatin silver print, produced by the Keystone Press Agency, New York, with a label in French attached, dated 27th October, 1959. Very good condition. From the NASA website: “In October of 1959, the Luna 3 spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Luna 3 was the third spacecraft to reach the Moon and the first to send back Read More...

19 Nov

SPENCER LENS CO. MICROSCOPE OBJECTIVE

By TESSERACT

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SPENCER LENS CO. MICROSCOPE OBJECTIVE, American (Buffalo, N.Y.), , mid-20th century, 95x, N.A.1.25, Hom. 1-1.8 mm, # 574493. Very fine. Read More...