Mighty Hot Here Today

[William]

So, you were in Muskegon? 113 would have been a record. In all my years living here in Michigan I can only remember the temps reaching 101 and that was in a streak of a very hot August where the temps never fell below 90 and during the day were touching 100 for almost a month straight.

Bill

[19&41]

Yes Bill, Muskegon. I worked out of Plainwell. That was 1995.

[Firedome]

For sure the King of HHH as they call it there (hazy hot and humid) are the Southeastern states, approx from Eastern PA and the Mason-Dixon Line down to N and central Florida. Coastal areas of Florida are spared due to off-ocean breezes, my wife's sister lives on a key S of Tampa and it's never that bad there due to that breeze, but the interior of FL can get hot. Balt-Wash and bigger cites in VA, NC/SC, GA, AL, MS &c can be brutal, 95 temp with 90% humidity are not uncommon. As soon as you walk out of the house in the AM you're soaked through in no time. Growing up in Baltimore you learn to deal by using light loose clothing (as little as possible), fans, shade, and sitting on the patio or porch as often a possible. We never had house a/c until after I left for college in '68 but every room had a fan.

The folks moved to Greensboro NC (interior) in late '68 and summer was awful. After my freshman year I worked for a big steel fabricator with huge old dirt-floor buildings, welding and riveting, and had to wear heavy jeans, long sleeve shirt, leather welding gloves, goggles, and helmet all day long with temps in that bldg often approaching 125 and humidity in the 80s and 90s. The only thing that helped were big floor mounted fans at every welding station, and you learned quickly not to venture out of their blast.
It was a hellish Summer but the $ was good for the time. Anyway HHH is a common condition from May to early Oct, and Fall always comes as a relief and relatively short-ish and open winters in the South are the pay-off that makes it sorta worth the summers. I've been told that the British Diplomats who were posted to Wash DC before the a/c era were advised to dress as if they were being sent to a tropical country, a story that makes perfect sense to those who have lived there.

We got to Denver on Tuesday and the weather has been pleasant, high 70s, low humidity, and is forecast to be 70s and 80s for the next week we'll be here... I'll take it.

[William]

Rex, you were just a hop skip and a jump from me. It's too bad we didn't have the forum back then it would have been nice to meet up.

Bill

[electra225]

So, they made Sealed Power piston rings in Muskegon? Wasn't Muskegon the home of Continental "Red Seal" industrial engines? They made Hasings oil filters and other parts in Hastings, and they made Novi Mechanical Governors in Novi. And, of course, the Novi racing engines were named after Novi for some reason. I believe Bud Winfield made carburetors in Michigan somewhere, although I'm not sure where. Lots of interesting industrial stories were from Michigan. I believe I still have the pattern grandpa used to mount a Novi or Pierce belt-driven governor on a Buick Straight 8, running a dual pulley on the generator to power it.

[19&41]

The whole area was a silicon valley for automotive manufacturers. It seemed each town had at least one manufacturing facility of some sort.

[19&41]

When I was done with sealed power, my next job was Sun Chemical. They made industrial pigments that were dispensed into a hopper over a bagging frame. The hopper had a suspension scale monitoring it I had to calibrate. I had to put weights above my head onto a flange that went round the hopper's edge. no matter how hard i dusted the thing. they kept sprinkling powdered industrial dye on my incredibly sweaty head and face. They gave me rubber gloves to wear. I ended up with clean hands but arms and face and neck that looked like Lydia the tatooed lady. That lasted a week of scrubbing. Earlier I was sent to a place that was the messiest place I'd worked. Their product was carbon black, and the joint looked straight out of the 19th century. My hands were carbon black when I left there with 4 more places to visit. I had almost forgot about it when I saw Mike Rowe in there doing his thing. Nas-T

[William]

Yes, Continental Motors was also in Muskegon.

Bill

[electra225]

I drove a forklift for about two years that had a Continental M-330 flathead six in it. Very smooth, competent power plant.

[TC Chris]

So, they made Sealed Power piston rings in Muskegon? Wasn't Muskegon the home of Continental "Red Seal" industrial engines? They made Hasings oil filters and other parts in Hastings, and they made Novi Mechanical Governors in Novi. And, of course, the Novi racing engines were named after Novi for some reason.

Seems to me that Hastings also made piston rings. I put new rings in the '38 Buick about 1967... ordered 'em up at the local parts house and they found some NOS rings that I'm pretty sure were by Hastings.

The story about Novi is that it was a little train stop with a sign showing number 6 in roman numerals--"No. VI"--and that became Novi.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

Hastings did make piston rings, and good ones. For a time, Hastings rings were original equipment in Buick engines. I know for sure the Straight 8's and nailhead V-8's had Hastings rings from the factory. They also made oil filters.

[19&41]

Remember the tough guy?

[electra225]

There was a large Hastings clock that hung in Reed Stahl's parts store back home seemingly forever. He also had a Fram and an AC clock. His parts store has been preserved and restored. There are still parts in there from the 1950's. I'll bet you could go to that old store and find a valve grind gasket set for a Model T. He had parts for everything. Cars, trucks, farm equipment, lawn equipment. If he didn't have it, you didn't need it. Reed never used a parts book. You walked in, told him what you needed, he'd go to the shelf and get it.