I've finally bought a "Half Crown" puncture repair tin for my WM20 tool kit display. Sorry if it was anyone on here that I was bidding against. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

You paid how much ? One went unsold at £20 last month ! :grinning:

What shape are your scissors, Ron ?

Hi Ron, you were bidding against me for one.

Rob

email (option): robmiller11(a)yahoo.co.uk

Very sorry Rob. I was never going to get into all this!! But now I guess I'll be looking for the parts like Rik has to go inside??:thinking_face: Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Ron, these are the contents ! :-




60 square inches suggests that they were expecting to do a lot of patching. On bicycles, I usually find that the rubber solution goes off long before the patches run out.

Inspired by Rik's pictures I'd like to add these: the Dunlop tyre repair tin as used on the Royal Enfield WD/C and WD/CO, and the John Bull tin as used on the WD/RE.

email (option): wd.register@gmail.com

Unfortunately, the 1939 Brown Brothers catalogue (Thanks for the loan, John O'Brien !) neither lists nor displays the contents of the Dunlop tins.



It's a puzzle to me that the War Office seem to have used either the 2/6d Romac (Early Norton and WM20) or the Dunlop "Small Motorcycle" (1940 onwards Norton and Royal Enfield, at least) but never the square Romac "Motorcycle" kits. The small Dunlop cost 1/- and the Romac Motorcycle was 1/6d. I've tried scaling the period photos and the 2/6d Dunlop "Large Motorcycle" is ruled out.

I've got pretty well the complete tool kit displays for the M20, Royal Enfield four stokes, Flying Flea and James ML. Nothing much for Norton, Matchless, Triumph, Velo Etc. This could turn into a whole other hobby....Which is a worry :scream: Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

I bought a different Dunlop repair kit at Shepton Mallet, a similar size and shape to the post war Military kit and Romac Rount tin.

Were Dunlop scissors unbranded?

Rob

email (option): robmiller11@yahoo.co.uk

Dunlop offered several cylindrical tins. My impression is that the style of yours is 1920s or early 1930s. This is from the 1939 Brown Brothers catalogue.



What were your conclusions on the Romac tin ? No red paint but "Accessories" rather than "Industries" so perhaps a wartime economy tin ? They too had used the cylinder pre-war for the kits that involved larger strips of patching material.

The round Romac tin is an oddity, it could be for the wartime civilian market or just postwar?

Rob

email (option): robmiller11@yahoo.co.uk

I suspect the former hen as the change from "Motor Accessories" to "Industries" seems to have taken place during the war years. Perhaps as early as 1941.

When I cleared a lot of stuff from the emporium that was Clares motor works in S London there was boxes of those red oxide tins, all empty, all new, I grabbed a few, the remainder got squashed. Who'd a thought they would be of interest one day?

Someone was selling them and some gold coloured ones on ebay for about a tenner a while ago, they are late 40s dated on the outside, I think their value was in the NOS contents including a pair of Romac scissors.

Rob

email (option): robmiller11@yahoo.co.uk

Peter Lenaerds in NL sent me this other Dunlop info. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Thanks, is there a date on it?

Rob

email (option): robmiller11@yahoo.co.uk

I'll ask him Rob. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

The cover of the book is dated 1929. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Thank you Ron, and good call Rik.

Rob

email (option): robmiller11@yahoo.co.uk

I got lucky on eBay this evening.



It lacks the 2/6 of the pre-war type and seems to match the M20 parts list illustration.









It seems logical that if the tins were for Government contracts, the 2/6d price tag was not needed.

Strange that they put Half A Crown and 2/6. Back then, everyone knew that Half A Crown and 2/6 were the same thing. So effectively it still has the price on it.

For many, many years as I grew up, spark plugs were also 2/6. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Nice example Rik

I hadn't noticed that Rons had the 2/6' printed on it, my red/black ink example doesn't either.

All my later ww2 black ink examples don't have 2/6' marked, but one has a small round paper sticker with (ROMAC 3').

I also have a few shorter tins

2 different "Junior" tins, a red/black example with 1/6' and a black only without.

2 different smaller still, one marked "Shilling 1'" and one originally unpriced but "1/2" inked onto the side, both black ink only.

And I still regret not buying the half a crown tin I saw at Beaulieu several years ago which had a complete wrap around paper label.

Rob

Rob, I half wondered whether the 2/6 disappeared as the price had increased during the late 1930s but they probably wouldn't have been allowed to call it the "Half-a-Crown" if it cost more.

The Brown Brothers catalogue for 1939 though still lists it at 2/6d. I'll have to have another go at a time line for these. There are so many variations !

I'm happy with the 2/6 on for a late 1939 Norton but a mid-war BSA probably shouldn't have it. Norton had changed to the Dunlop tin by the latter part of 1940.

I just bought a pair of the pointed Romac scissors on ebay. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

These scissors came free. They're the only contents though.