High Road to China, 1977

Below, some stills from the motion picture included in the book:

Jodrell Bank radio telescope, 1961

Levels

Clifton Fadiman (General Editor).  The Treasury of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.  Viking Penguin, 1992

Vanished tool makers: Henry screwdriver bit

An old flathead screwdriver bit for a brace, marked "Henry."  Likely British, but who knows?

Coulter

This was the part of the plough that makes the vertical cut in the soil.  See “A” in the the diagram below.  It originated with the ancient Romans.

Corner Brace

This was a type of brace used when a hole needed to be drilled in a tight location, such as a corner.  The design of the brace permitted the user to turn the handle through its full sweep when a wall or other obstruction might otherwise interfere with this action.  The basic design was first patented in 1884.

The Millers Falls No. 502 was manufactured between 1906 and 1957, and then between 1965 and roughly 1981.

Irwin chalk line

This is a chalk line, used to mark a line with powered chalk.  It could also be used as a plumb bob.  What is interesting is that it made by the Irwin Auger Bit Company of Wilmington, Ohio. In 1884 Charles Irwin owned a pharmacy in Martinsville, Ohio. A local blacksmith who was a customer of Mr. Irwin's came up with the idea for a solid center auger bit. He sold the rights to this invention to Mr. Irwin and a year later, after patenting the auger bit, Charles Irwin, along with four other business partners formed the Irwin Auger Bit Co.  The company was acquired in 1993 by American Tool Companies, previously named Petersen Manufacturing and best known for the invention and production of “Vice-Grip” locking pliers.  In 2002, American Tool was acquired by Newell Rubbermaid, and in 2003 American Tool was renamed the Irwin Industrial Tool Company.  It’s hard to keep track of all of this!  As an aside, in 2008 Irwin ended 80 years of American production of Vice-Grips when it closed the DeWitt, Nebraska plant and moved production to China “to keep the Vice-Grip name competitive.”

Rodale's New Shelter April 1985