Category: Birmingham

The Birmingham Buddhist Vihara.

The Birmingham Buddhist Vihara Photos – Page 1

Here are photos I took on my first visit to the Birmingham Buddhist Vihara on 17/09/22.

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The Birmingham Buddhist Vihara Photos: Page 2.

The Birmingham Buddhist Vihara Photos: Page 3.

Peace: Buddhism – Part One.

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The Birmingham Buddhist Vihara.

The Birmingham Buddhist Vihara Photos – Page 2

Here are more photos I took on my first visit to the Birmingham Buddhist Vihara on 17/09/22.

Blog Posts

The Birmingham Buddhist Vihara Photos: Page 1.

The Birmingham Buddhist Vihara Photos: Page 3.

Links

The Birmingham Buddhist Vihara.

The Birmingham Buddhist Vihara Photos – Page 3

Here are more photos I took on my first visit to the Birmingham Buddhist Vihara on 17/09/22.

Blog Posts

The Birmingham Buddhist Vihara Photos: Page 1.

The Birmingham Buddhist Vihara Photos: Page 2.

Links

The Museum Collection Centre: Photos – Page 10

Here are more photos I took on my first visit to the Museum Collection Centre on 17/09/22.

This is the Leonides engine made by Alvis Car and Engineering Company Limited of Coventry. It was fitted to the Bristol 171 Sycamore, the first post-war British commercial helicopter. It was also used by the military until production ended in 1959.

Read about the Alvis Leonides here.

Read about Alvis Car and Engineering Company Limited here.

Read about the Bristol 171 Sycamore here.

Difficulties in finding enough water in the 1920’s to refill the boilers in Steam Vehicles led to many authorities providing standpipes which needed a key for access. This one came from Birkenhead.

This PD2 is the only survivor of a batch of 50 Leyland Titan Buses with bodies by the London coachbuilder Park Royal. They were supplied to Birmingham City Transport between 1949 and 1952 and consistently associated with the Roseberry Street garage. The batch was unusual in having a number of features not generally associated with BCT design including a different staircase layout and window style.

The bus was one of the few that ended their working lives at the Quinton garage where it was withdrawn from service in 1969 and rescued from the scrap yard by Bob Shaw. The restoration was prolonged but, after a change of ownership to Nigel Stribley, mechanical work started in earnest, first at the Aldridge Transport Museum (where it is now) then elsewhere when the body restoration was also carried out. It took 47 years before it finally took to the road again. It was placed back at the Museum in 2017 where work is continuing, particularly on the interior.

Although not part of the Museum Collection Centre, this bus was there on the day I visited and its photos and information is worth sharing.

Read about the Leyland Titan here.

Read about Leyland Motors here.

Blog Posts

The Museum Collection: Photos – Page 7.

The Museum Collection: Photos – Page 8.

The Museum Collection: Photos – Page 9.

Links

All the above images are copyright of Frank Parker.

Birmingham Museums Collection – Find out more about Birmingham’s collections including art and design, human history, natural science and science and industry categories. Each category contains sub-categories full of useful information and great photos.

Birmingham Museums Trust’s Digital Asset Resource – Official website. There is no registration or log-in required to use this website for out-of-copyright collection images Download free Public Domain image files up to 3mb in size with free Creative Commons licenses. You are entitled to unlimited downloads. Also download free Audio Files complete with a license. These can be downloaded for non-commercial use only and attribution is required.

BirminghamMAG – Official YouTube channel. Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery provide world-class museums at the cultural heart of Birmingham.

Birmingham Museums – Official website.

Thinktank: Birmingham Science Museum – Official website.

Birmingham Museum And Art Gallery – Official website.

Aston Hall – Official website.

Blakesley Hall – Official website.

Museum Of The Jewellery Quarter – Official website.

Sarehole Mill – Official website.

Soho House – Official website.

Weoly Castle – Official website.

The Museum Collection Centre: Photos – Page 9

Here are more photos I took on my first visit to the Museum Collection Centre on 17/09/22.

Single letters made from molten metal and assembled in a Frame were a feature of printing in 1965 when this Monotype Casting Machine was produced. It was used in West Bromwich.

Read about the Monotype Casting Machine here.

Read about Typesetting here.

This machine is from 1925 and was used to compose print for newspapers, magazines and books it can produce Roman and Italic lettering as well as borders and ornamental backgrounds. It can also produce different typefaces and other alphabets.

Read about the Leyland Titan here.

Read about Typesetting here.

This was another favourite of mine visiting museums back in the day. This was in the Birmingham Museum and Art gallery.

This cash register was made by the National Cash Register Company of Dayton, Ohio. This one was used in a corn and seed merchant’s shop in Hitchin until 1971.

Read about the National Cash Register here.

This cash register was made by the National Cash Register Company of Dayton, Ohio.

Read about the National Cash Register here.

Chinese Chair And Cushion

This was a gift from the Friends of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. It is beautifully carved and made of an antique Chinese wood called Huanghuali (also known by its Binomial name Dalbergia odorifera).

Read about Huanghuali here.

Read about Dalbergia odorifera here.

This is a Kodak studio camera mounted on a Semi Centenial No. 2 Stand. Kodak was a subsidry of the U.S. based Eastman Kodak Company and opened its first office in 1885.

Read about Kodak here.

Developed in the 1600’s, the magic lantern is an early type of image projector. It uses a concave mirror in front of a light source to gather light and project it through a slide. The light rays cross an aperture and hit a lens., which in turn throws the enlarged slide image onto a screen.

Read about the magic lantern here.

This doll’s pram was made by James Lloyd and Company, Hurst Street, Birmingham in the early 1900’s.

This is classed as a Victorian Double Pram. It is made from wood and leather.

Pram

Blog Posts

The Museum Collection: Photos – Page 7.

The Museum Collection: Photos – Page 8.

The Museum Collection: Photos – Page 10.

Links

All the above images are copyright of Frank Parker.

Aldridge Transport Museum on Facebook.

Birmingham Museums Trust’s Digital Asset Resource – Official website. There is no registration or log-in required to use this website for out-of-copyright collection images Download free Public Domain image files up to 3mb in size with free Creative Commons licenses. You are entitled to unlimited downloads. Also, download free Audio Files complete with a license. These can be downloaded for non-commercial use only and attribution is required.

BirminghamMAG – Official YouTube channel. Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery provide world-class museums at the cultural heart of Birmingham.

Birmingham Museums – Official website.

Thinktank: Birmingham Science Museum – Official website.

Birmingham Museum And Art Gallery – Official website.

Aston Hall – Official website.

Blakesley Hall – Official website.

Museum Of The Jewellery Quarter – Official website.

Sarehole Mill – Official website.

Soho House – Official website.

Weoly Castle – Official website.

Aldridge Transport Museum – Official website. The museum is home of Aston Manor Road Transport Museum (A.M.R.T.M.).

Wikipedia – Official website. This is a free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

Grace’s Guide – Official website. This is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 149,969 pages of information and 235,611 images of early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.

Luxury Prams – Official Website.

The Museum Collection Centre: Photos – Page 8

Here are more photos I took on my first visit to the Museum Collection Centre on 17/09/22.

A selection of early vacuum cleaners made by Cimex International, Hoover and G.E.C.

Read about the Vacuum Cleaner here.

Read about Hoover here.

Read about the General Electric Company here.

This Wheeler & Wilson Sewing machine was first patented in 1867. It was a domestic machine and it was used in Hall Green, Birmingham.

Read about Wheeler & Wilson here.

The two reliefs above were displayed outside Dunkley’s shop in the Bull Ring, Birmingham until it was demolished in the 1950s. Dunkley’s made prams and wheelchairs for the elderly and people with disabilities, and the Goat and Pram was its trademark.

Read about Dunkley prams here.

Read about Dunkley’s here.

Read about William Henry Dunkley here.

This Hornsby-Ackroyd oil engine built by Ruston & Hornsby in Lincoln (1893) required help from a blowlamp to start it as Compression Ignition of diesel oil was not possible for some time.

Read about the Hornsby-Ackroyd oil engine here.

Read about Ruston & Hornsby here.

Made by Taylor and Challen, Birmingham in 1888, this press is from the factory of Gordon & Munro Limited.

Read about Taylor and Challen here.

This hand-operated machine from circa 1830 was made in Manchester but it was used in the Birmingham Works of Branadauer & Co. to make the Dies needed for producing Pen Nibs.

Read about Planing Machines here.

More versatile than a Planing Machine, Shapers were used to produce flat surfaces on shaped metal objects. Angled cuts were possible and some grooves could be cut without using a Milling M/c.

Read about Shaping Machines here.

Machines like this were used in the early days of the Motor Trade to make curved metal shapes by distorting flat sheets. One use of this was would be to hand-produce separate Mudguards.

Read about Wheeling Machines here.

Sir Joseph Whitworth was famed for the accuracy of his machine tools in the mid-late 1800’s. He is regarded as the founding father of Mass Production in England as interchangeability needs accuracy.

Read about Drilling Machines here.

This Draw bench is from the workshop of Joseph Fray Limited, Albion Street, Birmingham.

Read about Joseph Fray Limited here.

Silver and Gold are very Ductile metals. Smiths still use benches like this one to reduce the diameter of the wire and to produce different shapes by pulling the wire through a Draw Plate. The Rope is not original.

Read about Draw Benches here.

This Bench was used in the Grand Hotel in Birmingham circa 1920 as part of the Bottling and Manufacture of bottled water. Bottling your own water is still a common practice today in Hotels.

Read about Work Benches here.

This Albion Press, from 1841 but built to a much earlier patent (1773), was used by Herbert and Young in their Printing Works. The strong construction methods helped put even pressure on the plate.

Read about the Albion Press here.

Blog Posts

The Museum Collection: Photos – Page 7.

The Museum Collection: Photos – Page 9.

The Museum Collection: Photos – Page 10.

Notes And Links

All the above images are copyright of Frank Parker.

Birmingham Museums Trust’s Digital Asset Resource – Official website. There is no registration or log-in required to use this website for out-of-copyright collection images Download free Public Domain image files up to 3mb in size with free Creative Commons licenses. You are entitled to unlimited downloads. Also, download free Audio Files complete with a license. These can be downloaded for non-commercial use only and attribution is required.

BirminghamMAG – Official YouTube channel. Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery provide world-class museums at the cultural heart of Birmingham.

Birmingham Museums – Official website.

Thinktank: Birmingham Science Museum – Official website.

Birmingham Museum And Art Gallery – Official website.

Aston Hall – Official website.

Blakesley Hall – Official website.

Museum Of The Jewellery Quarter – Official website.

Sarehole Mill – Official website.

Soho House – Official website.

Weoly Castle – Official website.

Wikipedia – Official website. This is a free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

The Museum Collection Centre: Photos – Page 7

Here are more photos I took on my first visit to the Museum Collection Centre on 17/09/22.

This gas lantern is from Bilston station.

Read about Bilston station here.

This gas lantern is from the station used by the royal family when they visited Sandringham.

This cast iron plaque carries the crest of the East Lancashire Railway, which operated as an independent company in the Accrington, Blackburn and Burnley areas between 1844 – 1859.

Read about the East Lancashire Railway here.

This is thought to be the oldest surviving 10 1/4 Garden Railway locomotive in the world. Built in Birmingham, 1900, by Grimshaw for Captain Holder’s Pitmaston Moor Green Railway.

Read about Holder here.

Read about Pitmaston House here.

This is a model of the 0-4-0 locomotive Mary. The original was built by W.G. Bagnall Limited, Engineers, Stafford.

Read about W.G. Bagnall here.

These two clocking-in machines were made by the International Time Recording Company around 1920. They were quite laborious to operate.

Read about the International Time Recording Company here.

This Flavel Windsor, Model No. 536, Gas Fire is shown here without the ceramic elements which radiated the heat out into the room. This Fire is part of the West Midlands Gas Collection.

Read about Flavel here.

Part of a designer 1950’s fitted kitchen.

The two Gas Ranges above were some of the many made by Birmingham foundries about 100 years ago. They were part of the West Midlands Gas Board (later to become British Gas) collection given to the city in 1962.

Read about the West Midlands Gas Board here.

Cannon of Bilston in the West Midlands introduced their first gas cookers in 1895 and became a leading brand in this domestic kitchen appliance. This particular gas cooker style was in popular use by the 1950’s in homes across the country.

Read about Cannon here.

Washing Dolly

This is an early attempt at trying to make washing easier at a time before washing machines. The dolly was used to agitate laundry and placed in a tub with hot water and soap. This one was made in Tyseley, Birmingham.

Read about the washing dolly here.

Before the 1950’s most houses had a mangle to domestically squeeze excess water from washed clothes. This one was made by F.J. Cocks, 6 Worcester Street, Birmingham.

Read about the Mangle here.

This mangle was made by J. Bentley of Birmingham and dates back to around 1875 – 1925.

Read about the Mangle here.

Mangles

This Timesaver Washing Machine, circa 1910, comes fitted with a Wringer (also known as a mangle). It was principally made of wood. This machine came from the Stourbridge area.

Made by W. Summerscales & Son (later to be changed to W. Summerscales & Sons) of Coney Lane Mills, Keighley, Yorkshire in 1865 this design won awards at agricultural shows around Northern England in the 1860’s and it was exhibited at the International Exhibition in 1862.

Read about W. Summerscales & Sons here.

This machine was made in Birmingham by the General Electric Company (G.E.C.) in 1935. It was powered by electricity. The growing use of electricity both at home and at work ensured a great demand for G.E.C.’s products and the company expanded both at home and overseas.

Read about the General Electric Company here.

Blog Posts

The Museum Collection: Photos – Page 8.

The Museum Collection: Photos – Page 9.

The Museum Collection: Photos – Page 10.

Notes And Links

All the above images are copyright of Frank Parker.