tatocorvette
Air-Valve Autobot!
Hello,
I'm very excited to present this. I've been restoring vintage cameras (and other stuff) for years and for me there is always a magic threshold when you are holding any artifact that is around 100 years old or more. As a historian buff I can't help but to think in all the major world events that have happened since "this was built" and also personal family stuff like "Grandpa was a teenager when this or that happened", or "my mother was 1 1/2 years old when Pearl Harbor" stuff like that.
As you know, I've been restoring and working with airbrushes for a while now (It was all Jim's fault by the way
). Many times it is just a cleanup of a not so old but neglected unit, other times it may be something a bit more special. But there is always a satisfaction of bringing something back to life.
This is one of those very special cases.
Brief history:
In the mid 19th Century, the Thayer & Chandler Company was established primarily as an arts and crafts supplier. When Charles Burdick patented what we call now the Internal mix airbrush in 1891, Thayer & Chandler quickly licensed it and started production. Many improvements were quickly patented, most if not all from the mind of Olaus Wold who worked for Thayer & Chandler before creating his own airbrush company. At the turn of the 20th Century, as early as 1904-05, the airbrush was pretty much recognizable as what we know today. Thayer and Chandler named it the "Model A". Their airbrush business grew and was so successful that by the second half of the 20th Century they had dropped from other businesses.
The Model A had an impressive production run of essentially all the 20th century.
Not surprisingly, improvements and changes were constantly been introduced. Some were small, some were major, but all trying to keep the product ahead of the competition.
At a very High Level, we can identify 3 major changes in the body of the Model A:
1. Start to ~1925. Early body design: What we know today as the nozzle head was part of the body.
2. ~1925 to the mid 1960's. The head where the nozzle goes is a separate part from the body.
3. ~Mid 1960's to the end of production (late 90s?). The original cylindrical body was changed to a more stylized tapered towards the front body.
Countless of other changes made their way into production thru the years like materials, handles, cosmetic changes, etc.
My Specimen:
A few months ago I was able to score an early body Model A. Took me a long time to finally be able to work on it.
The case has a seal type sticker that says "Thayer and Chandler Chicago 50 YEARS OF SERVICE" I am still researching on that but I've seen others online. Maybe a gift for an employee?
Consulting with Dave (our spiritual Leader and airbrush Authority), this type of case was used until the early to mid 1930s.
The airbrush is a fixed head model A, indicating it was made no later than 1925 or the mid 1920s. So it is at least 98 years old at the time of this writing (Oct. '23).
It put quite a fight to be disassembled. Parts were really stuck and seized. Had to use some PB Blaster penetrating oil and considerable (but careful) force to get it to cooperate.
The all important nozzle shows some wear, but seems to be in good shape.
Among other things, the needle needed some help.
Picture from my cheap desk microscope.
Except from removing the nozzle, every other part was disassembled including the air valve. Each and every part then became its own individual restoration project thru the course of many weeks with the constant thought of "This is 100 years old. Take it VERY easy, don't overdo it". i.e. "DON'T DO ANYTHING STUPID!" You stupid! Which I almost did. A tiny part went flying off the workbench and took many tense minutes to locate. 
A few weeks later it was looking like this:
The case and the included color cup will eventually be addressed as well.
At this point, it would be a matter of simply put it together, test it and live happily ever after, Right?
Well, there was an issue here. While it works, the needle did not protrude from the nozzle as expected.
Took it apart and rechecked everything several times. At the end (again with Dave's guidance), the needle happened to be the wrong one. It looks suspiciously similar to a Model AA needle. It has no markings like Badger needles so I suspect it is a T&C needle, just the wrong type. I found in my spares a proper Model A needle, that by coincidence had a similar bent at the tip but a bit worse. Repaired it to the best of my abilities. Not perfect but almost there.
The handle is most likely not original to the brush. Not only the style is later than this timeframe, but it fits too tight to the needle tube and the threads are smaller than the body. But it kind of works.
The end result:
May I humbly present the oldest airbrush in my collection, pushing a Century.
Three and a half! The magic number of turns of the regulator to work properly.
If you still doubt it works...
Now it can live happily ever after...
I'm impressed! Did I mention this is about 100 years old?
Special thanks to Dave for his guidance.
As usual, I hope you like and approve.
As always, your comments and questions are appreciated.
Thanks,
Ismael
I'm very excited to present this. I've been restoring vintage cameras (and other stuff) for years and for me there is always a magic threshold when you are holding any artifact that is around 100 years old or more. As a historian buff I can't help but to think in all the major world events that have happened since "this was built" and also personal family stuff like "Grandpa was a teenager when this or that happened", or "my mother was 1 1/2 years old when Pearl Harbor" stuff like that.
As you know, I've been restoring and working with airbrushes for a while now (It was all Jim's fault by the way
). Many times it is just a cleanup of a not so old but neglected unit, other times it may be something a bit more special. But there is always a satisfaction of bringing something back to life.This is one of those very special cases.
Brief history:
In the mid 19th Century, the Thayer & Chandler Company was established primarily as an arts and crafts supplier. When Charles Burdick patented what we call now the Internal mix airbrush in 1891, Thayer & Chandler quickly licensed it and started production. Many improvements were quickly patented, most if not all from the mind of Olaus Wold who worked for Thayer & Chandler before creating his own airbrush company. At the turn of the 20th Century, as early as 1904-05, the airbrush was pretty much recognizable as what we know today. Thayer and Chandler named it the "Model A". Their airbrush business grew and was so successful that by the second half of the 20th Century they had dropped from other businesses.
The Model A had an impressive production run of essentially all the 20th century.
Not surprisingly, improvements and changes were constantly been introduced. Some were small, some were major, but all trying to keep the product ahead of the competition.
At a very High Level, we can identify 3 major changes in the body of the Model A:
1. Start to ~1925. Early body design: What we know today as the nozzle head was part of the body.
2. ~1925 to the mid 1960's. The head where the nozzle goes is a separate part from the body.
3. ~Mid 1960's to the end of production (late 90s?). The original cylindrical body was changed to a more stylized tapered towards the front body.
Countless of other changes made their way into production thru the years like materials, handles, cosmetic changes, etc.
My Specimen:
A few months ago I was able to score an early body Model A. Took me a long time to finally be able to work on it.
The case has a seal type sticker that says "Thayer and Chandler Chicago 50 YEARS OF SERVICE" I am still researching on that but I've seen others online. Maybe a gift for an employee?
Consulting with Dave (our spiritual Leader and airbrush Authority), this type of case was used until the early to mid 1930s.
The airbrush is a fixed head model A, indicating it was made no later than 1925 or the mid 1920s. So it is at least 98 years old at the time of this writing (Oct. '23).
It put quite a fight to be disassembled. Parts were really stuck and seized. Had to use some PB Blaster penetrating oil and considerable (but careful) force to get it to cooperate.
The all important nozzle shows some wear, but seems to be in good shape.
Among other things, the needle needed some help.
Picture from my cheap desk microscope.
Except from removing the nozzle, every other part was disassembled including the air valve. Each and every part then became its own individual restoration project thru the course of many weeks with the constant thought of "This is 100 years old. Take it VERY easy, don't overdo it". i.e. "DON'T DO ANYTHING STUPID!" You stupid!
Which I almost did. A tiny part went flying off the workbench and took many tense minutes to locate. A few weeks later it was looking like this:
The case and the included color cup will eventually be addressed as well.
At this point, it would be a matter of simply put it together, test it and live happily ever after, Right?
Well, there was an issue here. While it works, the needle did not protrude from the nozzle as expected.
Took it apart and rechecked everything several times. At the end (again with Dave's guidance), the needle happened to be the wrong one. It looks suspiciously similar to a Model AA needle. It has no markings like Badger needles so I suspect it is a T&C needle, just the wrong type. I found in my spares a proper Model A needle, that by coincidence had a similar bent at the tip but a bit worse. Repaired it to the best of my abilities. Not perfect but almost there.
The handle is most likely not original to the brush. Not only the style is later than this timeframe, but it fits too tight to the needle tube and the threads are smaller than the body. But it kind of works.
The end result:
May I humbly present the oldest airbrush in my collection, pushing a Century.
Three and a half! The magic number of turns of the regulator to work properly.
If you still doubt it works...
Now it can live happily ever after...
I'm impressed! Did I mention this is about 100 years old?
Special thanks to Dave for his guidance.
As usual, I hope you like and approve.
As always, your comments and questions are appreciated.
Thanks,
Ismael
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