Book Conservation
I often find the zombies with headphones on in museums rather annoying. But I’m even more glad this idea below never took off. I found this in Popular Science, April 1931. Although this report pitches the idea as making it more convenient for museum visitors, most likely it is also a form of using automation for cutting staff costs.
This French style cobblers hammer is interesting for two reasons- the very short handle, which actually gives a lot of control and I did observe an iterate street cobbler using an identical one, and the unusual method of head attachment. Earlier French cobblers hammers often has straps that extended down the handle. Salamon, in his Dictionary of Leatherworking tools pictures one. In this case, there is not a wedge that holds the handle in the eye, but a hole is drilled through the wood and the thick wire extending up through the sides of the eye are bent over to peen the metal to the wood. I haven’t been extremly rough with it, but it seems a fairly secure method. I purchased all of these in Istabul, Turkey in 2008.
Simplex Sigulllim Veritas. I bought this in Nepal in 2002. It functions beautifully, is made from the simplest of materials and costs virtually nothing to manufacture. A bolt, two nuts and a scrap piece of wood. But the man I purchased this from specialized in making or reselling these- he had hundreds, and it was a very common item in restaurants. To use it, it is turned upside down and the the bottle cap inserted at the end,then the head of the bolt lifts the bottom it off. I think I paid about 5 cents for it and it even comes with a hang hole.
Peachey Conservation 