Wayback Machine 1935: Building a Healthy House
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 12. 4.07
"BY SOLDERING together 1500 quart oil cans, Edgar Speer, Ohio mechanic, has constructed a novel playhouse for his small daughter.
By laying the soldered cans on their long axis and offsetting each course at the end, Speer has achieved a log cabin effect. Large enough to accommodate three or four full grown men, the cabin is 6-1/2 feet long, 4-1/2 feet wide and 6-1/2 feet high. The project took about 2-1/2 months of Speer’s spare time. The work was done with a common blow torch and soldering iron."
Of course it will be lead and VOC free. I wonder where she is now? ::Modern Mechanix
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Was that last line meant to be sarcasm, because even today, solder is largely lead-based. Can you imagine the amount of solder used to attach all these cans!
What bad day Lloyd? Whats' with all the cynisim?
hey, so it wasn't perfect, but it kept those cans out of the landfill, made his daughter feel loved, and got some publicity the guy. all in all, a pretty decent idea for the times - they didn't know lead was so bad for you yet.
Cut it out. All solder was leaded in '35, and you'd have tons of VOC's unless those cans were cleaned with solvent and well rinsed.
Sure it's clever, if you're 10. But how about extolling some of those wayback moments that were less primitive and more forward looking? We have too much of the primitive to get over yet, too many old ways are still with us.