A Happy Birbay

At some point having birthdays loses its novelty.  I barely notice 'em unless they end in a zero.  So my recent one was uneventful.  The highlight was artwork from the grand kids.  Hmmm....variations on a common theme here....

I guess this one is a reference to my age.  An old buck with 67 points on his antlers would not be able to lift his head off the ground.  I'm at least doing a little better than that crawling out of bed in the morning!

Delightful imps, the rather saucy nature of their greetings notwithstanding.

The Scrap Brotherhood of Cadott Wisconsin

Here's a little story I ran across.  As usual I was looking for something else.

Cadott is a small town to the east of us.  It was one of those second generation lumber centers.  The first generation were places on major rivers.  When the prime timber available for floating down to mill towns ran out, railroads were built and places like Cadott had periods of prosperity.  Usually these were brief.  Cadott and towns like it, strung out along the rail line, are quiet places now.

But there used to be a mill there.  And in 1880 there was also The Scrap Brotherhood.  This was a "benefit society" for mill workers.  Sort of a mutual aid group that supported each other in times of illness and such.  Jobs did not come with benefits back then.

In 1884 they built "a fine hall" known as Scrap Hall.  It was described as having a spacious stage and a seating capacity of 500.  Dances, dramatic performances, public meetings and such were held there.

Scrap Hall stood at the corner of Main and West, right across from the mill.  I can find it on plat maps starting in 1894, but the best detail is on the 1912 map.

The Brotherhood was well thought of in its time.  A brief newspaper mention from 1892:

Although evidently existing for at least 30 years I can't find out much more.  All members were required to be mill employees, and the occasional mentions exist of dances and such.  

The eventual fate of the Brotherhood and of Scrap Hall is ill defined.  Apparently the Hall was lost to fire at some point after 1912, and a blacksmith's shop was built on the site.  Here's how it looks in 2023.  The building, now expanded, is probably the successor blacksmith's shop and by its position likely sits on part of the foundation of the earlier, and more interesting, building.

FIRST Robotics 2024 - Week Two in Video

 For those of you who prefer video to monologue!

In case you were wondering, we do have enough of those big orange game pieces to make it to Week Six.  After that....maybe we start striking poses on the field elements!

FIRST Robotics 2024 - Week Two Report

Week two started with sub zero weather and a delay in delivery of key components.  That's the bad news.  On the flip side, we are at a stage of needing components for the final build far earlier than usual.  If this design "works" we'll have it rolling with a bit of time left to practice.

Ah, but that big "if".  The current design had three complicated things.  An intake/launch device that reminds one of a pizza box with powered rollers.  A pivoting elevator to move the box up and down/in and out.  And a second elevator for the grand finale climb.

Elevator two has been replaced with something simpler and more fun.  Elevator one is a known mechanism with only a few quirks due to not being upright most of the time.  It will work with modifications.  The pizza box is going to need several iterations.

A few pictures from early in the week.

We had all the elevator parts in stock.  You need precision for this, so the connecting brackets are carefully lined up with these expandable through clips.  They are called Cleco clamps.  I just like to say that word.  Powder coating is lookin' sharp.

Howard, last year's robot, had already been taken apart down the the drive base.  With a new base likely in a few days it was time to pull the motor modules off, clean them up, add new grease and replace a few bearings.  The robot had to live in my garage for a while over the summer.  An unfortunate consequence is a bit of rust here and there.  I'm not sure if robot deconstruction more resembles Nascar Pit Crew or Hyenas versus Antelope Carcass.  Bit of both I guess.  In past years we sometimes held a mock serious Robot Funeral but Covid put us all in a more somber mood.

Software is working with one of our other test bed robots.  It cruises around orienting by these sort of bar code signs.  They are called April Tags.

We got our batch of team designed, laser cut parts in this week.  Here's the base and an elevator mechanism.

The base will stay bare metal, but the other lasered parts....

Of our three weekday sessions, one was OK, two were very good.  Saturdays are when we get about half the work of the week completed.  Wonder what we'll see then?

Saturday started slow but built momentum as the day went on.  We now have three robots "live".  One is just a test bed for shooter mechanisms.  One is our competition machine.  The drive base is done and seems rock solid.  Here's a pic with several of the mechanisms at least laid into place.

It's coming along.  The third machine is the software development base.  The team has made considerable progress on this one.  Watch it lock into its launch location using the bar codes on the field elements for orientation.  This is with no human hand at the controls.

Basically we are on track.  There's now only one mechanism that concerns me and it has at least been started.  Onward.

Axman Redux

It's been a long time since I went over to Axman Surplus in St. Paul.  I've been trying to reduce the amount of random stuff in my basement, and Axman has serious Hoarder potential for those of us who like gadgets and kitsch.

I had heard that the place was broken into during the unrest a few summers back.  Looters in search of items that could be swigged or re-sold probably stood there a moment in silence, then went on to more productive targets.   

Is Axman still the King of Surplus Stores in 2024?

Without filling up my basement workshop (which I do refer to as Area 51) I can still enjoy the creative, ironic signage...

On that last one I think they missed a Cerberus reference.....

A few items at Axman are not for sale, being more permanent décor.  This emotive Jesus has been there for a long time.  His sign used to say "Go Easy on Jeezy".  Still Covid Days in his corner.  Guessing that raising Lazarus is harder than it once was...

Sometimes things get a little dark.  This looks to be a sort of pull over doll's head wig,.  Probably it went with the mannikin heads you often find staring at you from a top shelf.

Not that the Kitty and Shark masks for kids directly adjacent are all that much better.

Yes, Axman is still The King, at least by the standards of shopping entertainment per dollar spent. And I always enjoy the odd stickers and signs slapped on the outside of the building.  I've long suspected they mostly represented local bands who appear and disappear like May Fly hatches.  But I'm never quite sure...

DOGS Should VOTE.  (said to be a reference from a video game called Second Life.  But maybe also a band?)

I actually think this last one is Peak Axman.  A band called PathosMosfet would be pretty cool.  Combine a Emo sort of vibe with the name of an electronic component.  Or is it a reference to a specific brand of Italian made Amp?  Or both?  This time internet gives no answers...

L.C. Millard

The study of small town/small time patent medicine companies almost always leaves you shorthanded.  Usually you have information and no artifacts.  Sometimes it is an artifact and little info.  That's the case with L.C. Millard and his Magic Oil, aka The Great Pain Exterminator.

Here's the bottle.  Paper label only.  I have photos but have not actually seen the item in person.  The style looks late, probably 1910 or so.  But if you look closely you'll see a possible clue.....

And here's that clue.  I think it says Columbian E &F Co.  

Lindle C. Millard was born in Illinois in 1846.  After living there and in Iowa he came to Chippewa Falls circa 1885.  I have not found much about his occupation.  His obituary describes him as "A gentleman of exemplary habits.."  I think he began running a small time patent medicine company circa 1893.  That was the year of the great Columbian Exhibition in Chicago, which commemorated the 401st anniversary of Columbus discovering the new world.  The cryptic words above seem to hint at this event.

My usual source of information on small town doings is the local paper.  And with regard to Mr. Millard it has been slim pickings.  Starting in the early 90s there are periodic mentions of him being in various communities on business.  But it is often vague.  Here's an example from 1897 that caught my eye as he was apparently calling on the tiny hamlet that is near my "up north" cabin.

Regards how he got into the patent medicine trade, and what he did before that, I have only hints.  He may have been the L. Millard who worked in logging camps as a "scaler" in the late 1880s.  As you may have guessed, a scaler estimates the amount and therefor the value, of lumber in a load of cut trees.  This was actually a pretty important job.

In late 1891 L.C. Millard fell and was injured on what he claimed was a defective section of city sidewalk on Cedar Street.  He hurt his back, had to walk with a cane, and attempted to get the City of Chippewa Falls to pay him $5000 in compensation.  This was eventually denied.  Was this the event that took him "out of the woods" and into a more sedentary occupation?

Per the label on the above bottle this was Millard's home and place of business.  This modest dwelling, where he must have filled his bottles, is actually quite near my house.  

When L.C. Millard died in 1912 his obituary gives us just a little more....

The doings of his son Charles up in Alaska get frequent mention in local papers.  And there is a brief mention in July 1913 that his daughter Mrs. Wilson was carrying on her father's work as "..an agent for medicine...".  She was said to be making good and getting ready for a business trip up north.  

Weekly Video Update! FRC 2024 Week One

We've always wanted to do a week by week update during robot build season but until now have just never quite gotten our act together.

Act now together.