tatocorvette
Detail Decepticon!
Hello,
There are countless posts about the early history of the airbrush, but I think it is worth repeating some of those highlights here for the sake of simplicity.
Brief history:
In 1891 Charles Burdick patented what was to become the internal mix airbrush. An art supply company, Thayer and Chandler, licensed it and puts it into production becoming very popular and challenging the then current Liberty Walkup as the preferred tool for paint atomization. Burdick moved to London to open his own company (Aerograph).
Olaus Wold was an employee at Thayer and Chandler. He really understood the concept and quickly started to work on improvements. He was a genius in this field and numerous patents were awarded. While Burdick patented the concept, it was Wold who pretty much single handedly optimized it. By the turn of the 20th Century, the airbrush was already recognizable as we know it today in models like the Thayer and Chandler Model A.
Around that time, Mr. Wold, probably over a disagreement with T&C management, created his own company: The Wold Airbrush Company. However, it is believed he continued supporting Thayer and Chandler while managing his own company. By the way, Jens Paasche worked with Olaus Wold before starting his own company as well.
Wold offered many different models, some more successful than others.
One of the early models, the Wold A1 was very successful and the model was pretty much in production with little changes/updates until the company closed in the early 1980s.
Not surprisingly, the Wold A1, while having a different nozzle design, was similar in concept to the Thayer and Chandler Model A. After all, both came from Mr. Wold's design work.
It is amazing that over 125 years later, the basic design is still in production. My 2023 Badger 150 (because six 150s are not enough) still uses the exact same hose thread, the air path is exactly the same and you can see the undeniable DNA all over it. Mr. Wold really got it right.
My Specimen:
I recently acquired this Wold A1 from a fellow forum member. It is hard to pinpoint a date where it was made as it had a very long production run with minimal changes.
Based on a quick conversation with Dave, my very rough estimate is that this may be from the 1940's but take that with a grain of salt.
It is in great shape and it included a recent spray test.
Could benefit from a bling polishing, but been a historical piece, I'm not going to take it apart or.......
Never mind...
Each part was carefully polished under the caution that there are no spares available and this is probably 80 years old or so. Air valve was left undisturbed as it is perfectly fine.
The all important nozzle is in great shape
Presenting my Wold A1
So we lived happily ever after, right? Wait!
When everything was put back together, the airbrush had massive sputtering. That's usually a sign of an air leak somewhere. Not really unusual. I started to troubleshoot as usual based on my little experience with T&C Model As. But I couldn't get it right.
I went straight to the top level: Get a hold at Dave
With his guidance I found the leak was in the head's thread, not only the base. So I am slowly but surely getting there.
At this point it is almost there. Still a bit of hesitation getting to the wide end at certain points but slowly getting there.
I was able to do some of the finest lines I've ever done with an airbrush!
This test was with Createx Airbrush Colors diluted 1:1 with Dihydrogen Monoxide. Yeah, I'm a sucker for dangerous chemicals.
I hope you like and approve.
As usual, your comments are appreciated.
Thanks,
Ismael
There are countless posts about the early history of the airbrush, but I think it is worth repeating some of those highlights here for the sake of simplicity.
Brief history:
In 1891 Charles Burdick patented what was to become the internal mix airbrush. An art supply company, Thayer and Chandler, licensed it and puts it into production becoming very popular and challenging the then current Liberty Walkup as the preferred tool for paint atomization. Burdick moved to London to open his own company (Aerograph).
Olaus Wold was an employee at Thayer and Chandler. He really understood the concept and quickly started to work on improvements. He was a genius in this field and numerous patents were awarded. While Burdick patented the concept, it was Wold who pretty much single handedly optimized it. By the turn of the 20th Century, the airbrush was already recognizable as we know it today in models like the Thayer and Chandler Model A.
Around that time, Mr. Wold, probably over a disagreement with T&C management, created his own company: The Wold Airbrush Company. However, it is believed he continued supporting Thayer and Chandler while managing his own company. By the way, Jens Paasche worked with Olaus Wold before starting his own company as well.
Wold offered many different models, some more successful than others.
One of the early models, the Wold A1 was very successful and the model was pretty much in production with little changes/updates until the company closed in the early 1980s.
Not surprisingly, the Wold A1, while having a different nozzle design, was similar in concept to the Thayer and Chandler Model A. After all, both came from Mr. Wold's design work.
It is amazing that over 125 years later, the basic design is still in production. My 2023 Badger 150 (because six 150s are not enough) still uses the exact same hose thread, the air path is exactly the same and you can see the undeniable DNA all over it. Mr. Wold really got it right.
My Specimen:
I recently acquired this Wold A1 from a fellow forum member. It is hard to pinpoint a date where it was made as it had a very long production run with minimal changes.
Based on a quick conversation with Dave, my very rough estimate is that this may be from the 1940's but take that with a grain of salt.
It is in great shape and it included a recent spray test.
Could benefit from a bling polishing, but been a historical piece, I'm not going to take it apart or.......
Never mind...
Each part was carefully polished under the caution that there are no spares available and this is probably 80 years old or so. Air valve was left undisturbed as it is perfectly fine.
The all important nozzle is in great shape
Presenting my Wold A1
So we lived happily ever after, right? Wait!
When everything was put back together, the airbrush had massive sputtering. That's usually a sign of an air leak somewhere. Not really unusual. I started to troubleshoot as usual based on my little experience with T&C Model As. But I couldn't get it right.
I went straight to the top level: Get a hold at Dave
With his guidance I found the leak was in the head's thread, not only the base. So I am slowly but surely getting there.
At this point it is almost there. Still a bit of hesitation getting to the wide end at certain points but slowly getting there.
I was able to do some of the finest lines I've ever done with an airbrush!
This test was with Createx Airbrush Colors diluted 1:1 with Dihydrogen Monoxide. Yeah, I'm a sucker for dangerous chemicals.
I hope you like and approve.
As usual, your comments are appreciated.
Thanks,
Ismael
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