Friday, February 27, 2009



I love old buildings and in some parts of town they are disappearing very quickly. This is the old Fallsway Spring and Equipment Co., which is on the corner of Eastern and South Central Avenues here in Baltimore. This is one of the very few old warehouses left in that area and so many were torn down for redevelopment before I could photograph them.

Most of the information I could find on this building just points to the fact that they are going to be redeveloped into condos. I gathered that this company made springs for trucks, as evidenced by many referrals on the web. Apparently the company is now located out of the city as now one web directory lists a Towson address for them, yet the Fallsway company’s own web site is down.

As for springs, they are generally metal wire wound into a cylinder, cone, or coil. They control force by compressing or expanding. In early history springs were items that were simply flexible. The first springs that humans manufactured are considered tweezers that were made during the Bronze Age. Springs were essential in the development of catapults. For this purpose, a Greek inventor named Ctesibius of Alexandria experimented with a combination of metals (tin in copper alloy) and hammering that allowed bronze to be bouncier. (3rd century BC) Later, the Romans pioneered the use of padlocks, some of which depended on leaf springs. (Opening the lock caused the leaves to compress.) Peter Henlein of Germany is said to have pioneered coiled springs in the 15th century. Clock makers wanted a simpler way to replace the weights within clocks that were a complicated way to keep accurate time. This innovation led to portable and more accurate clocks that ship’s captains and others in transportation could use. Spring manufacturing really took off during the Industrial Revolution as makers had the ability to mass produce machined parts.

If you are despondent because the Fallsway Spring company is closed, here is how to make your own springs. This is an extensive site put together by someone who doesn’t give him/herself credit. Mach 5 Motorsports has instructions on how to install them, but both sites caution about the danger of each activity.

Other Resources

Springs from “How Products are Made”

“A Brief History of Clocks”

Sunday, February 22, 2009

The Stairs at Mount Royal Station



One raw and rainy afternoon this past week I walked by the staircase that leads down to the old Mount Royal Station (now part of MICA). I’ve always liked these stairs. They are old, wooden and a bit steep. They make me feel like I should run up and down them like a little kid.

Like many everyday things, no one really knows the origin of the staircase. They do date back to at least 6000 BC. People needed a device to travel over rough spots in the terrain, so they used what looked like a cross between a ladder and a staircase. (Picture a tree trunk with notches for people to step on.) Staircases then were mainly used outdoors. Soon, the Chinese pioneered the use of outdoor stone stairs because they believed that they would form a link between the land and the heavens.

In the Middle Ages castle architects made use of spiral stone stairs. These were excellent for defense as the man in the top position could swing freely while the man below (if right handed) could not because of the support column.

Mount Royal Station was built in 1896 and the stairs belong to what the Eleve Stairs website calls "the golden age of stairs". Many follow the standards of architect Peter Nicholson, who outlined his formula for stair construction in his books, such as The Mechanic's Companion (1831). He believed that stairs should not only be practical because they needed to facilitate movement around the building, but they should also be elegant and well made. Many of his theories are still in use today.

Sources:

Eleve Stairs

The Mechanics Companion by Peter Nicholson (1831)

Engineers Guide to Baltimore

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Fire Hydrants



Last Sunday in Baltimore there was a large water main break. On Monday I had to walk to the library so I thought I'd walk by the affected area to see what it was all about. This is one of the hydrants the workmen opened, probably to clear silt out of the lines. This prompted me to look up the history of fire hydrants.

There is no clear inventor of the fire hydrant. For the most part, before they were invented people kept large vessels filled with water around. Cisterns were common in America even after hydrants had been around for 60 years or so. Firemen were helped by the introduction of municipal water supplies, which were simply buried wooden pipes. When they needed water, the firemen would dig up the street and punch a hole in the water main. Then they could pump out what they needed. After it was finished they sealed the hole with a "fire plug". This changed a bit when a large part of London was destroyed in an 1666 fire. The city added pre-drilled holes and plugs for easier access, and this led to the eventual development of hydrants. In America the hydrants we know of today were developed in the early 1800s. With innovations made just before the Civil War, hydrants of the 1860s looked very much like they do today.


Sources:

A Brief History of the Hydrant

The Fire Hydrant by Curt Wohleber

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Mount Vernon




I took this photo on a stormy afternoon where I could take advantage of the dark sky behind the church. That didn't quite happen, but I do like the angle I got while trying to crop out cars.

To the right is the Peabody Conservatory. Construction on this building started in 1859. It was built in 2 parts-a recital hall that was completed in 1866 and a library that was finished in 1878. The concert hall looks much like it did in the 19th century and seats about 600 people. I was in this concert hall a few years back. During the book fair there was a free recital so I went in to both see the hall and to enjoy the music.

Like the Peabody but I have been inside the Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church, and the tall spire in the background of this photo is part of it. The building is made of six kinds of stone, including green serpentine, gray stone and sandstone. It was completed on November 12, 1872. I taught art for the YMCA and one summer our camp landed in the basement of this church. (The kind people hosted us after our original site fell through.) There are several small rooms in the basements that made great classrooms and it was very comfortable teaching there. One room even had a pretty fireplace in it. Upstairs, the organist would practice on certain days and some kids were impressed and thought of the organist as more like the Phantom of the Opera. According to the church's web site the music is made by a M.P. Moller organ that consists of 3,287 pipes! The pews in the church are made of American Walnut and can accommodate about 900 people. Every time I walk by the basement windows now I think of all the little kids from that summer.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Winter Grasses



Last week it seemed that our neighborhood was plagued by ice. When I walked to work one morning I realized that I spent a lot of time contemplating the sidewalk. I examined it in more detail than I ever wanted to as I negotiated the ice, so I figured that my photo for the day should include something of the sidewalk and be close to it. The bit of grass looks a bit beaten down, as we all can be in the dull part of winter.

This grass appears to be Slender foxtail grass. It is a perennial that commonly grows in sidewalk or roadside cracks. It flowers in July and grows from 4"-15" tall. If you look at the leaves they have a spiral twist to them. It is considered a weed but cows love it. Though in his 1869 Farmer's and Planter's encyclopedia Cuthbert William Johnson, Esquire observed no cows enjoying it and only small birds ate the seeds. Otherwise, he claimed that Slender foxtail grass is "One of the most inferior species of this grass. The herbage it produces is comparitively of no value whatsoever." Other than to be photographed, that is.

Sources:

Weed Gallery;Foxtails

Fox-Tail Grass

Johnson, William Cuthbert. The Farmer's and Planter's Encyclopedia. J.B. Lippincott, Philadelphia.1869. Google Book Search 12 February 2009