Dump Finds: Rayo Lamp, Typewriter

As of late last year we were banned from pulling items for our town dump’s metal and wood recycling bins.  The stated reason was ‘public safety’ but it was fairly clear from the expressions on the faces of a few of our town’s selectmen during the discussion that the whole idea of ‘taking things from the garbage’ was abhorrent to them.

One of them related the story of seeing some folks remove a ‘soiled mattress’ from one of the dumpsters.  He feared that the town could be held liable for ‘disease’ if this form of reuse were allowed to continue.

While we generally love and respect the Victorians and their technology here at the Steampunk Workshop, we do think that our public officials need to have a more modern understanding of epidemiology.

Truth is, that those folks were very likely local farmers taking that mattress to pad the stall of a sick or birthing animal – and now that resource is no longer available to them.

Fortunately, we still have a shipping container called the ‘Swap Shop’ where people can leave interesting and useful items.   That’s where I found this lovely Rayo mantle lamp. Its complete save for replaceable items like the wick, chimney and mantle.  It looks as though it can be put into operation with only a few minor repairs.  Also found last week was this Woodstock typewriter and these pieces of upholstery fabric. 

Thank you to those thoughtful folk who placed these items in the Swap Shop rather then throwing them into the recycling bin where they would have been lost forever.