Kansas Historical Museum

Once or twice a year we go to the  Museum of Kansas History in Topeka,   https://www.kshs.org/p/kansas-museum-of-history/19578

On Kansas day we get to meet a huge crowd of kids from across the state. 1,2000 to 1,400 kids come through, Mostly they are grade school and Jr. High kids. We pull in extra helpers to meet the demand

Some kids walk on by, many stop and are fascinated. Parents and teachers sometimes make a seam if they happen to hit at a slower time.  Some kids swing by and do it a few times.  The sneaky ones go to a different operator each time. Because of time limits we can't do treasure pouches, we just have them sew a seam across a folded piece of fabric.  Some get creative with that and have done a monogram.

Nontraveling Hand cranks

Some of these are just too finicky to take on the road and get used by unknowing hands.. Other don't work but look pretty interesting.

This one came from Mexico.  We have no idea who built it. ( Do any readers know?) The crank mechanism would need parts made for it to get it to work.  The pawfoot base is fun and Leon loves the way the back opens up. He also likes the visible planetary gears.  It is a vibrating shuttle machine with leaf tension.

This is a Singer 28  made in 1910.

Another pawfood. This one appears to be a Davis.  I thought the blue tape on the bobbin winding wheel was a hoot.

This hand crank hinge was repaired somewhere in it's history.

getting around, gear and carts

When we do demos we often will take 4 sewing machines, 1 pennyfarthing, multiple tables,  a cart, folding chairs, a little step, a canopy and sewing supplies. Loading a car is a 3D tetris game,

At the Mother Earth News fair, we knew we would be traveling a distance from the car and over some interesting obstacles.  A church trolly from  the funeral industry provided a great fold up base with big wheels. Then the cart acted as a second table.  When I saw the trolly  at an antique store I knew we had to have it.  Iris wasn't so sure, till I got it all together.

The Kansas Historical Museum loans us a cart and provides chair and tables.  Yay for them

Other hand cranked items.

Other hand cranked toys. These have not traveled yet, but it may happen in the future.

The first one here is a rotary cutter for roll up window shades. The Star company started in 1907 and is still making modern versions of the same product.

This  is a Craftsman breast drill. We were quite surprised to find a level on it.

 

 

 

 

Torque vs. Speed can be adjusted here

 

 

 

2 speeds can be chosen here.

 grindstone

 clamp loose

Sharpen your tools anyone?