Jan. 17, 2004 - 22:00 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

Its Interesting

Mentally rambling around in the time when I was a kid.

Mechanical things, especially when moving, always caught my eye and interest.

I remember a candy shop down town, in its front window there was a shiny, polished machine that fascinated me, operating endlessly (at least as long I had time to watch) pulling taffy. I had to ask what that stuff was in the machine and finding out it was taffy my day was made.

On Curtis Street in front of a pool hall a man had a machine running that sharpened razor blades. Looked like two small rollers covered in razor strop leather. It was worth a look as well as peering into the pool hall looking into it to see the lights shining on the tables and men moving around doing something, what, I didn't know until I asked my Dad. Then I wanted to play too.

Around our town were popcorn machines of various kinds. One machine lived in a fancy cart, designed to be pulled by a horse but sitting on the parking by a spot that many people used to board the trolleys. Glass windows all around, popcorn spilling out of the machine. What a glorious smell emanated from that pop corn wagon. There were other places with popcorn machines too wich emitted that mouth watering smell. That was long before one could buy bagged popcorn in the supermarkets. Fresh popped corn can still be bought in theaters, that is if you have enough coins to buy a tub of it.

One big indoor market, composed of a bunch of little, separate businesses had a machine that pared potatoes, sliced them, floated the slices into the hot grease and finally being salted and put in bags. Potato chips they were. Endless fascination watching that one.

At a shoe shine parlor they had a hat blocking machine, a hat twirling on a holder spun by an eletric motor tended by a man doing mysterious things. A shoe shop just down the street was a place of entertainment. It had many machines and several employees who didn't chase one away if they wanted to spectate. That was back in the days when heels would be put on shoes, shoes half soled, and other leather things done. A sewing machine that could sew leather was a marvel to me.

We lived a half block from a car line and five blocks from another, my folks did not have a car in my early years so a trolley trip was a treat. I can still hear in my mind the humming sound of the electric motors. And using a transfer, a person could reach an amusement park.

They were paradises of movement. Carrousel, Ferris Wheel, Miniature Railroad which ran around Lake Rhoda, a thundering roller coaster.

And to top it off the Funhouse the epitome of fun movement. The Roulette wheel, a flat coned wooden device that the operator could control its speed of rotation. Curved sides that a body could slide off the wheel and not be hurt. Operator would keep edging the speed up until there was only one kid left on it. Sometimes two of us would link hands across the the center and we would be the last on unless some kid would break our hold and we would slide off.

The Lemon Squeezer, a round cage spinning around an axle, an operator would control the speed of that too, the aim of most of us kids was to fight centrifugal force and reach the middle and hold on to the center shaft. Dizziness for certain.

A crazy contraption called The Ocean Waves, in motion all the time. Both sides slanting up to the a fairly long middle. A thing of two sides each one could accomodate one foot, only thing was the the two were 180 out of phase with each other and the level would keep changing. Keeping footing coordinated took a bit of skill.

There were slides and other stuff that weren't mechanical. But the prime place to be was in The Barrel. It was in three sections, the center section rotating in the opposite direction from the ones on either end. I guess the diameter inside was a bout ten or twelve feet. I gained proficiency as the years went by and could do it forward or backing up, I guess it would have been possible for me to do it blindfolded as I had the Barrel memorized. It was a favorite place of mine.

Then outside the Fun House were the bumper cars, which were a world of fun and right next to them was the Loop-O-Plane. I would guess the arm was about 14 feet and had a carriage on the end holding two people. When it was started it rotated in a 28 foot circle. Often change and vomit would fall from the carriage when it hit the top. Made our little chests pop out when we did the ride with no trouble or tremble.

There were other rides that did strange things, one I called the Whip which had cars pulled in a closed path, connected to the moving chain with a spring loaded, long bar which pivoted. The spring would bring the car back close to the chain for the long run. At each end when the cars would whip around it was exciting. That amusement park had a world of funny, exotic machinery.

Near my cousin's house was a water pumping station which had machinery with huge wheels driven by belts, if I remember correctly, driving shafts into cylinders. I received a bit of hydraulic lore from my uncle there.

Even as a kid there were so many machines of fascination, and you know, if its bright, shiny and moving Its Interesting . . . . . . . . . .

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