Posted 3 years ago
dav2no1
(836 items)
1930s - 40s Washington State Tax Tokens
Been waiting a long time to post these. The ones on the cards are educational reproductions(1988). The rest are all real old ones. One is marked 1935. I think I posted some green plastic ones awhile back.
If you don't know what a tax token is, see the explanation in the picture.
dav2no1, Cool. :-)
It's an interesting little corner of history:
http://www.taxtoken.org/faq.htm
I'm especially interested in the ones described as being made out of fiber, perhaps because I've learned that some vintage Singer sewing machines actually have one fiber gear:
https://pungoliving.home.blog/2019/03/26/textolite-fiber-not-metal-in-a-vintage-all-metal-machine-should-you-be-concerned/
https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Electronics/40s/Electronics-1946-06.pdf
I wonder whether the fiber tax tokens were made from "textolite."
keramikos..I see where you going with that. Might be cheap fix, if it's the correct size to fabricate a gear. Thought I posted my green one or ones. I'll have to dig them up tomorrow. Another collector I know has a pile of them that I've been meaning to buy.
dav2no1, I don't think those tokens are anywhere near large enough to serve in that capacity.
If you look at some of the pictures in that pungoliving piece, it's a pretty honking big gear. For a sewing machine, that is.
I was mostly slack-jawed to learn that the famously all-metal vintage Singers had a non-metal gear. In trying to research it again, I tripped on the CW S&T post where I originally discovered that little Singer factoid:
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/298859-singer-sewing-machine-antique
Why ever Singer decided to use a non-metal gear, I don't know.
Anyway, the timing seems about right. GE trademarked Textolite in 1936. Just because they trademarked it in 1936 doesn't mean it wasn't already in practical use before then.
Only hypothesizing here -- I have come across the occasional gear-train assembly that uses one 'fiber' gear (sprocket, etc) somewhere, I believe intended to be the 'sacrificial' one that could give its life (and be 'replaceable') to protect the others in case the mechanism became 'jammed' somehow...??
AnythingObscure, That sounds like a good theory. :-)
More about that "sacrificial gear" concept:
*snip*
The Purpose Of Sacrificial Parts
The reason machines use sacrificial parts is simple, to ensure a certain part breaks before something bigger happens. Generally speaking the part is designed to shear off or snap. This normally happens with rotating or reciprocating parts. For example if a shaft is spinning on a machine and something causes it to bind the first gear in contact with it is often a sacrificial gear. This means it is the first piece to break but luckily it is also the cheapest. It is normally made out of brass meaning it is softer than steel. When this part breaks it prevents the binding force on the shaft from snapping other gears, or torquing on other parts of the machine.
*snip*
https://cliffindustrial.com/sacrificial-parts
The provider of this tidbit of information would be only too happy to fabricate a replacement sacrificial part for people. I wonder if they'd fabricate a Textolite replacement? };-)