Hardwood ruler graduations begin at 1” Mark on one side (end at 118”) and 2” on reverse (end at 119”.). So length is 117”. Not yer everyday ruler! Graduations on top of one side are by 1/4 inch, but elsewhere are by 1/8”. Pray tell, what wuz its original purpose?
Someone on a machinist forum just posted two catalog pages from catalogs of different dates. Here’s one, other is similar: So brass ends were cut off, probably by someone doing overkill in a wwii scrap drive, since original item was apparently a full 120” long.
So brass ends were cut off, probably by someone doing overkill in a wwii scrap drive, since original item was apparently a full 120” long. That was back when patriotism meant more than just hanging a flag on the porch. People actually made some real sacrifices & I doubt that you could get the same from the majority of people today most of who would ask what's in it for me?
Ha! And I just finished writing about my family's contributions to the war effort - which included donating the front and rear bumpers from our cars, limousines, and hearses. Some hub caps as well.........................and all of those very cool metal bedsteads from the 1920s................. Will I EVER finish my memories of WWII?
I just found out that I have some connection back to 1750 in the NJ, NY area. I had NO idea. THIS is VERY exciting to me!!!
Hi, My grandparents clock which was made for their 1911 weddings had a nice metal plate with the date and reason. They pried the plate off for the war effort. Now the clock looks like it is missing the key windings.
I'd like to believe that when things are at their worst, you guys are at your best , and rise to the occasion . !
I KNOW this is off bit from the topic, but it does relate to the tangent discussion - It is a bit from the history of my life during the war years. Some things my not make sense as any related explanation is from earlier in the paper. I will eventually post the entire paper on my forum - BEFORE it is sent to my editor for publication............ youse guys are special and get to be bored before the general public.................................. Civil Defense My grandmother was a founding member of American Women’s Voluntary Services, and both my mother and my aunt were members. All of them were closely involved with or held positions in Bundles for Britain, Junior League, Civil Defense and the American Red Cross. Blackout Curtains Because of my parents and grandparents positions within the civil defense and military, we complied with ALL rules and regulations, including having blackout curtains made for every window and the skylight (some friends painted their skylights black for the duration). We knew that the chances of a German air attack were practically nil, but we had to keep up the fiction that the civilian population was involved in the war, so we had the curtains made (I think a seamstress came in and did them in the sewing room) for all eighty-six windows and glass doors (I remember the count because it fascinated me). Nothing could be done with the mostly glass conservatory, but the door leading into it was curtained. Sometime after they were completed we had to have an “inspection” during which they took photos to show to other householders, encouraging them to do the same. I lead them around the house and that is how I FINALLY got to see the rooms that the servants lived in. Actually, my father and grandfather thought that New York should have been totally blacked out during the war because so much shipping was targeted when the U-boats could see the silhouettes of ships heading into and out of the harbor against the glow of New York at night. We had to be satisfied that the city was “dimmed”. You are Target ONE, so Make do With Less! That was the mayor’s warning regarding bombs and air raids. The government’s way of garnering home support for the war was to scare the daylights out of all civilians, and they kept up the “Germans are going to bomb you” farce. For a short while there was a plane spotter located on the roof of our house at night. So please forgive the seemingly flippant attitude toward this farce, but once again we had to Set a Good Example. So we created an air raid shelter. The Lumber Room in the cellar was not an acceptable location because it had a window on the street side of the building. Bricking up the window was not an option as it provided the only ventilation. We finally emptied the Storage Room in the cellar, had the century old ventilation pipe cleaned and re-capped with some sort of filter, whitewashed all of the walls and ceiling, installed nine bunk beds, and hung a gas mask on each bedpost. For a house that could at times boast thirty-five occupants, including two old ladies in their eighties/nineties. Eighteen single beds………directly under a billiard table………..directly under a grand piano………. The original plan called for lockers of food and medical supplies to be stashed under the bottom bunks, but the ceilings were so low that we had to cut the legs down so if anyone ever HAD to occupy a top bunk they would be able to roll over in bed without scraping their nose on the ceiling. So the lockers were stacked all over the place, creating an even denser feeling of claustrophobia. There were a few times we actually had to go down there during pre-arranged drills, but as far as I know, the mattresses on the top bunks were never even unrolled. The one time we actually thought we had to USE the shelter, when a US army plane crashed into the Empire State Building (not far from us) we completely forgot about sheltering in the shelter until afterward. Scrap Metal When the call came for scrap metal we stepped up with a full scale “House Hunt”. Grandmother drew the line at the iron fencing and the fountain in the back yard but she declared anything else fair game. I know that two of the metal beds up in the servant’s quarters were replaced with beds from the lumber room (probably antiques), the copper wash boiler in the laundry went, the row of (antique) copper and brass hot water cans was sacrificed along with some wash tubs, a disused water tank was dragged out of the furnace room, Mrs. Joseph pulled out all of the pots and pans she hadn’t used in years, my father’s old set of golf clubs, some tin toys (probably two generations old) left the nursery for their first and final trip, a couple of iron benches from the terrace legged it in to the pile, a plant stand from the conservatory made its departure, and we combed closets and the storage rooms and cupboards for old flat irons, pails and buckets, half a roll of chicken wire, one of the two garden rakes, cookie and candy tins (the button tin!), and I don’t remember what else. I do remember that when the man with the truck came to get this pile we had made in front of the house, he asked why we didn’t have any food cans…………..as if we were not “doing our part”. In a grand gesture (after someone famous did it) we donated the front and rear bumpers off of all the cars and hearses…………..something else we eventually regretted. Cigarettes came with actual metal foil in the packet, not the metallic coloured paper they use today, and there was a big metal urn on the floor in the Lower Hall, outside the Billiard Room, to deposit the foil in. I remember we had to save the empty toothpaste tube and turn it in to get a fresh tube. Broken paper clips and safety pins, broken fountain pens, used razor blades (kept in a jar), caps from soft drink and beer bottles, broken zippers from clothing, cosmetic and medicine tins, all of it was saved in bins in the cellar. Scrap Paper Once I had seen a news reel showing how munitions had to be wrapped in oiled paper to be shipped, I went on a patriotic tear concerning paper. Of course things like the newspapers and magazines were easy. But, what about the pages from old books? The paper wrappings from so many things such as toilet tissue, parcels that came in the mail (they had good string too!), envelopes and letters, telegrams, flyers, matchbooks (which were eventually hard to come by), bills from the ice and coke company, chewing gum and candy wrappers, even ticket stubs! All of it was saved and squirreled away in the cellar to be picked up and recycled. I was rabid about this paper situation and you can imagine my embarrassment when it was revealed after the war that literally tons of paper had been taken out to sea and sunk because they had too much of it, and because so much of it was unsuitable for recycling. In reality, it was just another ploy on the part of the government to get the civilian population involved in supporting the war…………………and it worked………. Rubber Drive Here comes one of the few things we were guilty of……….We had advance knowledge about the pending rubber shortages and that knowledge came just as we had decided that using canvas shower curtains that needed to be changed and discarded each month was no longer practical or feasible. We had decided to get rubber curtains for all of the shower stalls and bathtubs that had shower heads. My grandfather was stationed in Washington D.C. at the time and just days before the announcement about the rubber situation a package arrived in the mail (it might have been delivered by roadway express, I don’t remember). It contained 12 rubber shower curtains! But we had three bathtubs that required three curtains EACH (the sort that pull completely around the free standing tub) and seven shower stalls………………. We needed sixteen curtains. We had twelve. I was given the chore of testing my mathematical talents, and finally devised a way that the curtains for the shower stalls could have one end cut off and those ends could be sewn onto other curtains to make them large enough to enclose the tubs. They were all a bit skimpy and you had to stretch them just right to prevent floods, but it worked. Our feelings of guilt at having gotten rubber for personal use were the impetus for the seemingly drastic lengths we went to when the call came for rubber to be recycled. Toys, bathmats, lengths of garden hose, tennis balls, baby changing mats, rubber boots, raincoats/slickers, sneakers and deck shoes (another cause for regret), rubber bath shoes, and even the bladders from fountain pens all went to the war effort. The only rubber to be found in our house was given to us by the War Office – in the form of little foil wrapped packets left on the nightstands of guest servicemen who would be taking in the “sights and sounds” of New York. Other Stuff that we saved! The Cooler in the larder took on a new job when we stuck a covered pail in there for all of the used meat bones. Even after they had been boiled for soup and stock they were saved to make glycerin for explosives. Grease from cooking was saved to be used in place of oil, lard and butter for further cooking, and when it began to “taste funny” it was poured into a covered pail in the cellar which was emptied when the butcher made a delivery (I think the butcher paid us for the grease). Clinkers – the unburned ends of coal – were sifted from the furnace ashes and re-used in the fireplaces. This was messy because of the ash and dust, but necessary due to the rationing.
This is all fabulous! Some of it I knew and thanks for sharing it!!!! I want the first available inscribed copy!!!!
