Web Page No 2444

29th January  2018

First Picture: Hand Warmer 1960

 Second Picture: Insides of a Hand Warmer

Third Picture: Jetex engine

 Forth Picture: Mamod Steam Car

Fifth Picture:  Night Light

Note: Solent Road Reunion in the School 7.30 May 24th please inform me if you are attending as numbers are limited.

Too Dangerous Today

I had the article below from Jonathan late last year and I am sure it will stir a lot of memories, I have added the bits in brackets. The one thing he does not mention is digging up live ammunition in Langstone Harbour, then taking it home and placing it in a vice and hitting it with a hammer to see if it would explode.

I don't know what prompted this memory but do you remember those pocket handwarmers we had as children. They were made of stainless steel by the Aladdin Company who I suppose made the old paraffin heaters we also had as children. You would dribble in some methylated spirits and then "LIGHT" them and "PUT THEM IN YOUR POCKET!!!!!" (On doing a bit of research the fuel was lighter fuel not methylated spirits. To light it look at picture two: the coloured bit was removed and the reservoir filled and the coloured bit put back on. The wadding was then lit and the burning action drew the lighter fuel up rather like a wick. The top was the put on and the whole thing put in your pocket. To put it out just reverse the lighting procedure.)

Good grief can you imagine health and safety allowing that today. You can still buy them on ebay for a couple of Pounds. 

I am trying to think of other dangerous toys from our childhood that would almost certainly be banned today.........ah yes, remember those "Jetex" rocket motors that you could buy at model shops to propel a glider into the sky to come down hopefully still in range if you also installed a timer that set the tail rudder at an angle to put it in a turn to spiral down to earth. You placed a combustible pellet in an aluminium case the size of a large thimble and lit it .......stand back!!!!!!!!! (The original pellets are now much sort after by collectors so look out for those with the characteristic red-and-yellow Jetex packaging, as in picture four also note that they show their origin as the Jetex works, in Totton in near Southampton).

I still have a model steam car that I let my grandsons play with under supervision made by  Mamod......there is a little tray under the boiler that you place a solid fuel block in and "light" it burns and heats the water in the boiler to steam that drives the mini pistons and propels the car around the room. Hmmmmmmmmm (Don’t forget steam engine like this were made in Ken Wells’ metal work classes and he even wrote a book on how to make one!)

( I will cut in again here as those small paraffin powered nursery lamps have come to mind. The one that I remember had a blue tank with an opaque glass funnel on the top and was set up on the top of a cupboard in my room when I had measles in about 1952. It had a screw in wick holder and it was filled with paraffin. A very unsafe item I would have thought to place in a child’s bedroom) 

All this and we have not even mentioned the Chemistry Set with all its add ons!

Keep in touch

Yours

Peter

gsseditor@gmail.com

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News and Views:

ON THIS DAY 29th JANUARY 1960-1965

On 29/01/1960 the number one single was Why - Anthony Newley and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was not listed and the box office smash was North by Northwest. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

 On 29/01/1961 the number one single was Are you Lonesome Tonight? - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was The Russ Conway Show (ATV) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £not very interesting and 13.25 were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the week was Bootsie & Snudge (Granada).

 On 29/01/1962 the number one single was The Young Ones - Cliff Richard & the Shadows and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

 On 29/01/1963 the number one single was Dance On - The Shadows and the number one album was Out of the Shadows - Shadows. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

 On 29/01/1964 the number one single was Glad All Over - Dave Clark Five and the number one album was With the Beatles - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Steptoe & Son (BBC) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 29/01/1965 the number one single was Yeh Yeh - Georgie Fame and the number one album was Beatles For Sale - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.