The smaller side of the museum focuses on the village of O’Leary, a really small town in the North Cape Coast area. Many of the items in this area we’ve seen elsewhere, but some of them were really worth a look-at.
Recognize this game?
The 1st table hockey game was invented in Toronto in 1932; makes sense since hockey is so popular in Canada. In 1954, Eagle Toys began making games like this one. It was the first to feature tin players wearing NHL jerseys.
See how the players can only spin in 1 spot? In 1956 Eagle introduced the rod-and-slot game we know today.
These are gem pans. I haven’t heard of them either.
To use it, cooks would first grease the pans with a lot of lard and then put them in a hot oven. When they’re really hot, the cooks would take them out, fill them with cake batter, and return them to the oven as quickly as possible. The gems cooked even faster than cookies. Interesting.
This is an iron with a removable handle like what we saw in a previous post, but now we’ll learn the rest of the story.
In 1871, Mary Potts from Ottumwa, Iowa (my home state), patented this sad (Old English word for “solid) iron with a detachable handle. This way the time it takes to iron clothes can be cut in half since the handle can be moved from a cooled off iron to a hot one that’s on the stove. Since I love to iron (and watch movies at the same time), this attracted my attention.
The Emerson Iron Lung for polio victims
An iron lung works by raising and lowering the air pressure inside the chamber. When the pressure is low, the patient’s lungs breathe in. When it’s raised, they breathe out.
While the first one was developed in 1928, the standard became the Emerson. Developed in 1931 by John Haven Emerson, it was simpler and cheaper to make and buy than earlier models. During the polio epidemics of the 1940s and 50s, entire hospital wards were filled with people in the machines.
This small village grew up around the railway station built here in the early 1870s, and the first building built was the station. The first settlers began arriving in the early 1880s.
The community was named after one of the first residents, Michael O’Leary, who settled here in the 1830s.
farming machinery
The museum’s large, back room was filled with farming equipment that had been used locally. So glad they have a place to store these old pieces so we can see them.
machinery . . .
and more machinery
This horse-drawn Deering Ideal reaper was introduced in 1897. It used roller bearings to reduce friction and draft, resulting in an easy-running, light-weight machine that had no equal.
This Ideal could harvest 10-15 acres per day, about 8 times as much as could be done using a cradle scythe.
This Ideas was used on an old farm in Nova Scotia.
defining terms
When grain was harvester by hand, a handful of stalks, called a sheave, would be tied with a piece of straw. A bundle of 12 sheaves was called a stook. Several stooks would be stood upright against each other and left in the field until it was time for threshing.
sheaves and stooks
standing around watchingOR working hard – which do you see?
Isn’t this always the way? One person works hard while the others watch.
Tomorrow we’re off to the land of Anne of Green Gables.
