This small portable lantern would have been used when camping or in a room or outbuildings to provide a small amount of light, perhaps similar to the light provided by a torch today.This item is retained for display purposes. This is a lantern with a metal base, a funnel-shaped column and a white perspex top covering a light. The column and base have a metal handle attached by a screw. Under the base is a metal covering which opens to a space that held a battery (now missing). The bottom metal lid is now detached. The base and column have been painted red but they are now quite rustedvintage lighting, warrnambool history

This item was used to measure accurately the length of cloth on a bolt of material without unwinding it. It also measured lace, all types of textiles and spools of ribbon. It is surmised it would have been used in general stores or department stores in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This item was discovered in the late 1980s behind an old safe at Swintons Stores in Timor Street in Warrnambool. The item appears to have been used extensively and would have been very useful during a stocktake. It may have been used in the Swinton Stores which were first established in Timor Street in 1865 with one section of the stores selling furnishings, furniture, clothing and clothing materials. The item was manufactured by A.E. Putnam of Iowa, U.S.A. There was a patent registered in 1896 and a later 'improved' model with a patent date of 1907. This item is of considerable interest because of its rarity and survival, its connection to Warrnambool General Stores in the past and its value as a research tool in local social and economic history. The possible connection to Swintons Stores is important as this business operated from 1865 to 2024 and was one of the longest-surviving family businesses in Australia. This is a rectangular-shaped wooden pole with one slightly flattened side and numbers marked on each side in patterns resembling brick walls. At the top of the pole are two wooden pieces attached to the pole by metal clips held by screws. The two wooden pieces are attached at a slight angle to the pole. The lower wooden piece is movable along the pole and has incised numbers. The wooden pieces are rectangular in shape with a large curved piece cut out to form the shape of a pennant. The maker's name is incised into the metal on the top attached wooden piece. Putnam's Cloth Chart Copyrighted 1896 Patent Pend'ggeneral stores in warrnambool, swintons stores in warrnambool, vintage measuring instrument for cloth

This bean slicer was made about the 1920s by the British firm of Spong & Co. This firm was founded by James Osborn Spong in 1856 in London. James Spong invented over 100 labour-saving devices during his lifetime and his firm became well-known for its production of domestic labour-saving and safety devices, especially its grinding machine and its bean slicer. These domestic items were to be found in most households from the 1880s to the 1950s prior to the advent of electrical items that carried out similar labour-saving processes. This bean slicer is of interest as a reminder of the many labour -saving devices that were available to most women early in the 20th century, even those in the rural and more remote areas in AustraliaThis a heavy metal bean slicer with a circular piece with a rounded cut-out at the top for the insertion of the bean and an attached bolted handle with a wooden top. Attached to the circular top is a circular revolving piece with three cutters. Welded on to the top piece is a metal clamp with a large screw for attaching the slicer to a table or bench. The slicer is painted green and has the name of the manufacturer etched on the top piece.Spong & Co Ltd Made In England No 632 Bean Slicervintage bean slicers, spong & co london, vintage household items

This lantern was made about 1930 by the Nier Feuerhand Company of Germany. Hermann Nier began making miners' lamps and household lanterns in the 1870s in East Germany and in 1893 he and his brother Ernst founded the Nier Feuerhand Company. By 1930 this company was the world's largest producer of household lanterns and after an interruption in World War Two it was re-established in West Germany and continued until the 1990s with the trade name still in use today. Feuerhand lanterns were used extensively in countries such as Australia because of his strong lighting qualities and its ability to stay alight in external conditions.This lantern has no known local provenance but is retained because it is a fine example of the type of household lighting used in Australian homes, farms and businesses in the 19th and early 20th centuries.This is a kerosene lantern with a metal base and frame holding a plain glass mantle open at the top. A metal handle is attached to loops at the top of the frame. There is a wooden handle at the top to assist in the removal of the glass mantle. The base has an opening with a screw top for the filling with kerosene or other heating liquid and also a rotating wheel on the side for controlling the size of the flame. The glass has printing and a logo etched on to it and the base has printing and a logo. The item is very rusted but appears to have been painted brown.Feuerhand Made in Germany No. 327vintage lighting, feuerhand lanterns