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Monthly Archives: December 2014

Early Motor Caravans

08 Monday Dec 2014

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Neat pictures of old caravans!

Preindustrial Craftsmanship

We live in an age of motor vehicles.  Few of us could consider, for safety if nothing else, taking to the roads in a horse drawn vehicle.  When the automobile seemed here to stay, caravanners in Europe adapted to the new technology.

MotorVans1 The earliest models look essentially like their horse-drawn cousins, just stuck onto a truck chassis.  In this era, I suspect they were topping out at 35 mph.

MotorVans2This is the earliest side-door design I have found which changes the dynamics of the interior layout.  Note that in the vehicles above, the driver is still fully exposed to the elements.  A far cry from our modern experience.  Note the “driving coat” worn by the pilot of this beauty.

MotorVans3This French innovation has boxed-in the driver’s compartment making it suitable for foul weather.  Still, I would be worried about those huge, non-safety glass windows.

MotorVans4And finally, a very practical little…

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On the Sixth Day of Steampunk Christmas…

07 Sunday Dec 2014

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Pretty good series of posts from the Airship Flamel blog. Antique maps do indeed make pretty sweet, thematic decorations!

Airship Flamel

On the sixth day of Steampunk Christmas,

My true love gave to me:

Six Antique Maps.

Map of the California Gold Region. Source: Library of Congress Map of the California Gold Region. Source: Library of Congress

A good airship captain needs a good map to navigate by.  Fortunately, antique maps are easy to find and, framed and matted, make a great gift.  They can be a little pricy, however.

If you want the look of antique maps to steam up your home decor, there are many sources of high-resolution reprints on-line. Provided you want to go completely DIY, two sources pop out:

The Library of Congress

The British Library

Both of these libraries have digitized parts of their map collections and have made them available for download. There are also additional local and state libraries that have digitized their collections (the British Library has many links for the UK), not to mention the historical map collection of the US Geological…

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Don’t You Just Love Christmas Shopping

05 Friday Dec 2014

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Why I rarely go to mauls, especially at this time of year.

Retrorambling

a1115_christmas chopping
“Bring the little ones; let them enjoy this wonderful Christmas Carnival
to their hearts’ content”

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