It's assumed that this journal was read at the Ballarat School of MinesA small illustrated journal with advertisements and pictures. pages 328-356 (and 26 pages of illustrated advertisements). Illustrations include machinery, corn crushers, condensers, chlorination plants. stea, hammers, steam engines, steam pumps, lamps, saw bench, leather belting, casks, barrels, machinery, boiler, cohran and co, birkenhead, stern, cowles syndicate company, electric smelting works, aluminium manufacturing, w t glover and co, rope machine, steam travelling crane, webster wood fibre machine, automatic govenor expansion gear, international exhibition edinburgh, beacon light, air propeller, well boring tools and pumps, cochran and co.'s launch, tug and boat building yard, s.s. jeanette, cochran boiler, cochran and co's boiler shop, stern wheel steamer, s.s. esperanca, cowles syndicate co, milton, w.t. glover & co.'s patent compound rope making machine, bendh drilling machine, steam launch, bicycle, well-boring tools

Before drills and braces, T-shaped augers were used to poke holes into wood, while smaller gimlets were used to start them. Auger handles were usually made of a piece of hardwood that was sanded, rounded, or even contoured to give the user a firm grip. Bits on spoon augers essentially carved a hole in the piece of wood, and had to be periodically removed to clear the chips. Spiral-bit augers were precursors to modern drills, whose bits cleared the hole of chips as the user drilled. A significant advance on the auger was the brace, which was originally designed with a single, permanently fixed bit at its end. Eventually, though, braces were designed with sophisticated chucks to accommodate replacement bits, as well as bits of different sizes and for various purposes. Chucks were patented as vigorously as the braces themselves The braces themselves also evolved for particular trades, from furniture makers to surgeons. The operator holds the ‘head’ in one hand, positions the drill in the wood , applies pressure and rotates the ‘centre piece’ to cause the drill to pierce the wood. A steel revolving hand tool for boring and screw-driving with wood handles * pioneers, early settlers, market gardeners, moorabbin, bentleigh, cheltenham, brighton, tools, craftsman, carpenters, , blacksmiths, builders, farmers, metalwork, woodwork, screws

Context: A brace is a hand tool used with a bit (drill bit or auger) to drill holes, usually in wood. The pressure is applied to the top and the tool is rotated with a U-shaped grip. Bits used to come in a variety of types but today the more commonly used Ridgeway and Irwin pattern bits also rely on a snail point (called the snail), which is a tapered screw point shaped the same as a wood screw thread, which helps to pull the bit into the wood as the user turns the brace handle and applies pressure. The designs used today come from an original idea and pattern invented by John S Fray. Company History: John S. Fray (1833 ) immigrated to Bridgeport Connecticut USA from England in the 1850s and established a working relationship with Nelson Spofford, who held an 1858 patent for a bit brace (the tool could be augured in a continuous circular motion by hand). He established the John S. Fray Co. around the same time and immediately began producing the Spofford bit brace. Fray himself held at least two patents: one awarded in 1869 for a boring brace attachment, and another awarded in 1883 for a tool handle. By 1889, the firm was located at the industrial complex that sits between the former International Silver Company and the former Bridgeport Chain Company on Crescent Avenue and is identified on the Sanborn Insurance Atlas as a manufacturer of Spofford bit braces, hollow handle awl, and toolsets. The company was in competition with Peck Stow and Wilcox Co. of Southington, and in 1898 was enjoined from making a ratchet bit brace for which the latter company held a patent. By the 1920s, the factory had been purchased by the Stanley Company of New Britain and leased to the American Tube and Stamping Company, a manufacturer of brass, copper, seamless, and bicycle tubing, which also ran a rolling mill to the south on Stafford Avenue (now demolished). The Stanley Company bought both mills in 1926, perhaps as a strategic move to be located along the Bridgeport Harbour, through which much of the raw material used in its operations throughout the state came. By the 1950s, the Crescent Avenue operations had been moved to other sites in Connecticut, and Stanley again leased the building to a company called Cornwall and Patterson, a manufacturer of piano hardware. Today the building appears to be vacant. An early carpenters tool made by a well known early manufacturer from America who instigated many innovations to the making of tools. His early pattern for the improvement of a tool that could be used for the boring of holes in wood was a significant step forward. His design for a boring brace attachment and later a specific handle is still in use today and his original brace and bit is now sought after by collectors of antique tools. Spofford Carpenter's Bit Brace metal has bit attached. Wing nut holds bit in place but nut missing. holds bit in place. 285mm long x 160mm Noneflagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village

The series from which the photograph is drawn provides a snapshot by a commercial photographic studio of specific street works in Kew as well as providing examples of public works infrastructure being commissioned by local government in the 1970s. The photos originally formed part of the Engineering Department's files in the City of Kew before being donated to the Kew Historical Society.In addition to its historic importance as a record of a particular streetscape in Kew in 1970, the photograph also provides an historic record of public works by local government during the period.Public Works Street Maintenance, Gellibrand Street, Kew, Company supplied photograph of cable laying in Gellibrand Street. Inscribed above photo: "Boring through obstacles to pass cable. Cable extends from winch to cutting tool in both directions to permit a to and fro cutting motion. Gellibrand St. Drain 23.4.70." Company information: "General Descaling / Company / 1st Floor 66-68 Albert Road/ South Melbourne 3205 Victoria / Telephone 699 1455 / 699 1635."general descaling, drains, gellibrand street (kew)

The series from which the photograph is drawn provides a snapshot by a commercial photographic studio of specific street works in Kew as well as providing examples of public works infrastructure being commissioned by local government in the 1970s. The photos originally formed part of the Engineering Department's files in the City of Kew before being donated to the Kew Historical Society.In addition to its historic importance as a record of a particular streetscape in Kew in 1970, the photograph also provides an historic record of public works by local government during the period.Public Works Street Maintenance, Gellibrand Street, Kew. Company supplied photograph of cable laying in Gellibrand Street. Inscribed above photo: "Boring through obstacles to pass cable. Cable extends from winch to cutting tool in both directions to permit a to and fro cutting motion. Gellibrand St. Drain 23.4.70." Company information: "General Descaling / Company / 1st Floor 66-68 Albert Road/ South Melbourne 3205 Victoria / Telephone 699 1455 / 699 1635."general descaling, drains, gellibrand street (kew)