This Brulin & Company (now known as Brulin, Inc.) first aid wheel has a nice, simple and dignified design. There are a lot of similar wheels out there that have the same blueprint. Tomorrow, I'll show you another that is way fancier.
Brulin was established in 1935 and business is still booming for them today. It's curious that they established two main offices in such disparate places as Indianapolis and Oakland. It's not much different today. They just moved the Oakland office ($$$) to Stockton ($). They manufacture cleaners for aircraft parts and industrial kitchens -- and everything in between. A lot of what they sell comes in big drums. Here's a description from their website for Maxima 128, a cleaner designed for animal care facilities: Don't need canine parvo effectiveness? Try the disinfectant cleaner with attitude. This wheel was brought to you by the thoughtful folks at General Electric. It measures 5.25 inches across and achieves nothing aside from being a glorified business card. But it's amusing, nonetheless. This one's in very good shape.
When we first started collecting wheels, I really wanted to find this one from 1967. I had seen it in Reinventing the Wheel. Well, it took no time to locate one and here it is. My usually in-depth internet research turned up nothing about Heather Enterprises or Thurston Moore. Look for yourself if you're interested.
One of the great things about the country music stars back then are their names: Skeeter Davis, Porter Wagoner, Sheb Wooley, Red Novine, Ferlin Huskey. This is wheel shows you the stars' birth dates, birthplaces, record labels and their fan mail addresses -- a handy reference for the rabid fan. The Staroscope is ten inches across. This handsome little 3-disc volvelle is 7 inches and is made of a lovely, coated and lightweight board. I could describe this as being in absolutely perfect condition, but I guess it would have just about killed R. Peck to scrawl his name on the back instead of the front!
What is this wheel for? I kind of know what this is, but this place can explain it better than I can: http://www.paper-paper.com/weight.html What I don't get it why it has to be so complicated. There are a couple of nice details that make this wheel appealing (to me, at least ). One is the pale turquoise inner disc with its slanted arm and red lettering. It's a striking combination. Second, look closely at that disc and you'll see two little divits in the extension part (look along the line of numbers)math at help you numbers you need. The teeny, tiny print at the bottom indicates that someone copyrighted this wheel in 1940. Here's a wheel that was produced by a company that still exists! The Phonetic Word Wheel is quite large: 11 inches. The instructions say:
Interest is stimulated by the competitive or game element among children, e.g., the number of Jack word vs. the Dick words. Handled wisely it offers as much enjoyment as instruction, further details of which are left to the ingenuity of teachers and parents. But it who wants to use it wisely? You can make all kinds of fun words with this, like flern, brickle, zopped,play, and queach. This is wheel is in pretty good shape except for where someone slapped a big piece of cellophane tape across the back. |
AuthorI have a cat. Archives
September 2019
Categories |