This here's the Renfield Toasts and Travelers Facts wheel. Renfield brings you the finest!

This 5.5-inch wheel, compiled with the cooperation of Pan Am, gives the flying time from the U.S. to major cities all over the world. And once you get to your hotel, you can relax with a cocktail made from any number of liquors distributed by Renfield. If you want to greet the barkeep in the local lingo, then this wheel is at your service. You'll sound drunk even though you aren't!

Here is the recipe for a Mount Fuji Cocktail, courtesy of the Hotel Imperial in Tokyo:

1.5 oz. Gordon's Gin
3 tsp lemon
1.5 sugar syrup [1.5 of what?]
2 tsp pineapple
2 tsp cream
1 egg white
dash of Cointreau Cherry Liqeuer
cherry for garnish

Doesn't that sound refreshing after what the wheel claims is 30 hours of flying time? Don't complain. Just be glad you didn't have to fly to Singapore. You'd have 21 more hours to go! Is this why Pan Am is out of business?

That's all for today. I bid you air ev ed air che.

Here's another Chart of Knowledge wheel, this time of Asia and Europe. It's packed with information. It looks like the folks at the Chart of Knowledge Company of America drew these maps up from memory. Mongolia is almost as big as China!

This wheel is pretty old. Just look at the countries: Siam, Persia, Jugo Slavia. I don't know what that thing above Tibet is.

This wheel is ten and a quarter inches across. I like the colors on the Europe side. That's about it for this wheel.

This is a lovely little object from the Soviet Union. It's a perpetual calendar and is the size and shape of a pocket watch. You twist the button on the edge to move the inner dial. What appears to be glass is actually plastic.

​I'm curious to know who these were made for. It has a nice little illustration on the back of a Soviet flag with white doves.

Here's a nice little wheel from London. It's of a heavy plastic, about three inches across. As you can see, it's double-sided. I'm not sure what the outer numbers are. Monetary values, maybe?

I like the feel of this wheel. It's sturdy, easy to use and is the perfect size for doing whatever it was made for.

From the First Family of Fine Liquors comes the Schenley Drink-o-Rama! Summertime is Schenley time!

Most of the drinks on this oddly-proportioned wheel (6.75 by 5.25) are gin-based. That's not much variety. To be fair, though, it includes the Seabreeze Cooler: creme de menthe and carbonated water. How's that for distinction? Or perhaps you'd prefer the Hula Cooler? It's made with gin and pineapple juice. That's all. My favorite is the Mid Summer Mist:

​Fill large glass with shaved ice. Pour in 2 ounces of Sir John by Schenley. Fill glass with carbonated water.

What the heck is "Sir John"? It sounds like the self-titled know-it-all mixologist you try to avoid at a BBQ.

Check out out the illustrations on this wheel. I love the guy with the dress shoes, blue knee socks and tiny mustache. And what about the guy with the chef's hat at the grill? That must be Sir John.

I know the word "handy" gets bandied about a lot around here, but if there is one wheel that could be considered handy it's this one. I submit to you The Pork Costulator, yet another service from Country Gentleman magazine (circa 1954).

This 10x10 inch hunk of metal helps you maximize your hog farming returns. C'mon! You can't depend on your hogs' appetites to get you the highest profits! This wheel is like a DIY guide to the swine business. Just feed them the specified amount of corn and watch the profits roll in. Or should I say trot in?

I had no idea that hog farming was so scientific. I figured you just toss them table scraps and bits of shoe leather and the rest takes care of itself. And since when does a hog under-eat? What are they called "hogs" for?

This wheel, from 1931, is the usual geography wheel: capitals, longest rivers, population. This one is ten inches across and made of a very sturdy cardboard. I have to admit, I did spend some time playing around with it. I like geography. This wheel includes the city state of Dantzig and the lispy country of Esthonia.

If you need to lay down some concrete, this is the wheel for you. The copyright date on this is 1965, but the design looks twenty years older than that. It's shaped like a bag of concrete mix, which lends a certain charm to it.

This measures, roughly, five by eight. It's in pretty good shape. But there's not much to it. Cement-pouring guys don't have time for frivolities. Just add water and use.

This unremarkable wheel was, perhaps, a giveaway from the Baptist Memorial Hospital System ("where the patients' needs come first"). It's another first aid device and has some healthcare career information on the back. Is it just me or is there something a bit concerning about requiring only sixteen weeks of training to be a surgical technologist but an entire year to qualify as a hospital chaplain?

The Northeast location and the Southeast location look an awful lot alike, don't they?

(Hey, Nancy: Is this where Bruce works?)

This rather uninteresting wheel was produced by A.H. Hoffman, Inc., makers of plant-growing assistance products. They charged their customers ten cents for the privilege of choosing either their sterilized cow manure or cocoa shell mulch ("has pleasant chocolate aroma"). Just turn the pointer to the plant you've got and it tells you which product to use.

Or does it? Very often, you can't quite make out which of the products the tiny arrows are pointing to. Nice job, A.H!