Raymond Loewy

[kb2vxa]

Hey there,

As usual I have the TV on in the background and watching America Unearthed, Scott examines mysterious crosses and swords discovered in Tuscon in the 1920s he mentions the engraving of a Lorraine Cross and the Exxon logo being strikingly similar. It being the symbol of the Knights Templar which are closely associated with the Freemasons and Loewy being a Mason having designed the logo things start coming together. The name struck a chord, >BONG< he designed the GG-1 for the Pennsylvania Railroad http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRR_GG1 and a slew of things I got curious about the man. You may be interested in all the things in your life connected with him so Google for giggles and you may as well start here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Loewy Speaking of the mighty G, here it is one of my favorite locomotives roaring through my home town of Rahway, New Jersey.

Oh crap, the picture sucks raw eggs so the same locomotive in Perth Amboy 1981 will do.

[N2NH]

Hey there,

As usual I have the TV on in the background and watching America Unearthed, Scott examines mysterious crosses and swords discovered in Tuscon in the 1920s he mentions the engraving of a Lorraine Cross and the Exxon logo being strikingly similar. It being the symbol of the Knights Templar which are closely associated with the Freemasons and Loewy being a Mason having designed the logo things start coming together. The name struck a chord, >BONG< he designed the GG-1 for the Pennsylvania Railroad http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRR_GG1 and a slew of things I got curious about the man...

I did know about Loewy's role with the GG-1 as well as the S-1. He also designed the original Air Force One.

http://www.raymondloewy.org/images/gallery/full/606/locomotive.jpg
http://www.raymondloewy.org/images/gallery/full/air_force_1.jpg

[NQ6U]

Didn't Loewy also design the cabinets for some Hallicrafters radios?

[WØTKX]

Museum of Modern Art; (http://www.moma.org/collection//browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A37063%7CA %3AAR%3AE%3A1&page_number=1&template_id=1&sort_order=1)Loewy (http://www.moma.org/collection//browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A37063%7CA %3AAR%3AE%3A1&page_number=1&template_id=1&sort_order=1)

Designed S-40A
(http://www.moma.org/collection//browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A37063%7CA %3AAR%3AE%3A1&page_number=1&template_id=1&sort_order=1)
http://www.moma.org/collection_images/resized/373/w500h420/CRI_210373.jpg

Wow, I'd forgotten him. Always loved his work, and his design changes over the years. His designs were classy, and very functional where needed, but always stylish. And most of his work was quite "cmeercial" as it always looks good, even when strictly for function, like the radios. An old American car company that had cars that were as consistently cool looking, especially for the times. As nice a design as anything from Europe back then.

A metalworking shop teachers of mine did a 3 day class on him, especially the Studebakers. Last day, we got access to the sheet metal, and some straight scrap fenders donated from a local scrap yard. And we had to cut out shapes to make that damn fender look better, by welding shapes on before the 3 hour class was over. :shock:

Bastid. I had a hard time (panic) coming up with an idea with enough time to finish. C+. For "roughness". The idea was good, but I didn't have enough time to finish welding. Barely had time to tack it in place. Sigh.

One of my grandpas (RIP) was Studebaker guy, when the company was in existence.

[K7SGJ]

I like his seasoned salt, even if he did spell his name wrong on the label.

9986

[kb2vxa]

Yup, he designed the cabinets for Halliscratchers but the innards were classic RCA.

[N2NH]

http://www.moma.org/collection_images/resized/373/w500h420/CRI_210373.jpg



Are those knobs original? They look a lot like replacements I got from Lafayette in the late 1960s for my Comstat 25A.

[WX7P]

These.

9991

1953 Studebaker
9992

Coke Machine

[WØTKX]

"Looks Like a Knob"" class of artwork. Yupper. Raymond Loewy had a thing for knobs.

Honorary Posthumous Member Status? Like the Mormons do? :mrgreen:


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xgxVCM7gk1w/T2ie5K_-M2I/AAAAAAAAIM8/4bBJpu046Ow/s640/lucky_strike_hand_1959_01.jpg

http://westfordcomp.com/classics/anscoflex2/march2011/Anscoflex-LIFE-1954-07-19.JPG

[kb2vxa]

No, those are not original knobs and the Comstat 25A was illegal from the factory. For bonus points tell me why.

Loewy didn't design the Coke machine, there were many completely different ones but he DID design the "Mae West" bottle. Great design too, you could use it as a hammer.

One silly question, why a used flash bulb? Rather interestingly Ansco merged with General Aniline in 1939 to become General Aniline and Film (GAF), the dye division was located in Tremley Point Linden right next to my home town Rahway. OSHA didn't exist at the time and employees' urine was blue-green due to aniline dye being absorbed through the skin. (Unpublished info leaked by a short time employee, Jack WA2V SK) No EPA either so when the plant shut down in the 1970s nothing could be built on the site, GAF's legacy is one of the worst Superfund cleanup sites in the country. I wonder what Henry Fonda would think if he knew the dyes in the film he was advertizing made the whole area around Tremley Point Road just beyond CITGO Petroleum Terminal New Jersey's very own Love Canal still abandoned and in ruins. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuJ--B59kAc

[WØTKX]

For your car styling pleasure...

Loewy vs Ghia back in the day... :spin:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/1953_Studebaker_Commander.jpg

http://www.imperialclub.com/Articles/53GhiaSpecial/thomas.jpg

[N2NH]

No, those are not original knobs and the Comstat 25A was illegal from the factory. For bonus points tell me why.

It had 25 channels instead of the standard 23 in anticipation of an expansion of the CB band which didn't take place.


... I wonder what Henry Fonda would think if he knew the dyes in the film he was advertizing made the whole area around Tremley Point Road just beyond CITGO Petroleum Terminal New Jersey's very own Love Canal still abandoned and in ruins. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuJ--B59kAc

Maybe you can answer something I've been wondering about for a few years. When you are on the Staten Island Ferry, just before you pull into the St. George Terminal, there is a hillock on the right on the Jersey Side. You see it as you are passing Robin's Reef. On Google, it is labelled as a golf course, but it looks too small to be a golf course. There is a large American flag visible and a victorian looking building that looks like a small house or office. It would be nearest to Ave J and Lefante Way in Bayonne, NJ, a mile or two north of where you are talking about in the quote above. On the map, it is at 1 Lefante Way. (https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Tremley+Point+Road,+rahway,+nj&ie=UTF-8&ei=UiniUZeLMe754AOtmoDgAQ&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAg)

10009

[kb2vxa]

I don't know about the 25A being designed with future expansion in mind, "22A and 22B" were two of five BRS channels, the other 3 being above 23. FYI my uncle was an independent insurance agent and held a BRS license, he operated on what are now channels 26 and 27, 27.265 and 27.275Mhz respectively. There was a towing service also in Rahway that used which channel I don't remember, just their 30W Couriers. Anyway, the A & B channels were the result of how a crystal synthesizer works and whomever made that prized radio in Yapan forgot that those were not Class D CB channels and designed the selector switch to activate crystals for those channels. This upset the FCC so later versions were made with a gap in the rotary switch so when those blank channels appeared no contact was made. We fixed that real quick, just bridge the gap with a bit of brass shim stock (used on the letter press) from the high school print shop. There were several crystal synthesized radios at the time that had 22A but Comstat was the only one with 22B.

Google may put markers nowhere near where they should be but they get names right, that's the Bayonne Golf Club. You didn't need to ask me, just do what I did and click on the marker, then the link in the pop up box. That takes you to the club's web site, there you will find a video that will fly you around "New York, one of the worlds most violent cities..." and Dan Hicks will show you around the hill with the clubhouse on top surrounded by 18 holes, sand traps, gophers and Bill Murray, all squished into a tiny plot of land between the tanks and the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway. You might want to bring your SCUBA outfit (the wet suit as protection against God doesn't even know what is in the water) and explore what appears to be underwater foundations inside a sea wall, maybe we found Atlantis at last.

B O nne, the armpit of New Jersey where the accent is so thick Sylvester Stallone needs a translator and the hood so tough even Rambo won't go there.

[N2NH]

For your car styling pleasure...

Loewy vs Ghia back in the day... :spin:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/1953_Studebaker_Commander.jpg

http://www.imperialclub.com/Articles/53GhiaSpecial/thomas.jpg

Is the top car the Loewy design? It would be my choice. If you put a big yellow bat over the grill, it would make a decent Batmobile.

[WØTKX]

Yes, and it's a Studebaker Starliner.