I remember the breaking of the vacuum seal on cans of Maxwell House coffee. WHOOSH and that wonderful aroma released into the room. Mom winding the key to open the can. Then the electric percolator singing and bubbling the brewed coffee.
And, of course, dad’s collection of old coffee cans in the garage holding all his nails, screws, nuts and bolts. Plastic “Storage systems” that interlocked together and lids that could not pop open hadn’t been invented yet. Woe to you if you dropped a coffee can of nuts and bolts, too!
Instead of plastic:
- Glass jars of many sizes
- Wax paper
- other stuff
Variety of wooden crates for shipping, instead of boxes. Actual peanut shells, and shredded farm crop waste, and sometimes “popped corn,” for package stuffing.
Repair shops dedicated to many items and products.
Shoe stores sold shoes that actually fit.
A helicopter doing anything, was an attraction.
Steam shovels used cables instead of hydraulics.
America made a lot of steel and machine tools.
There were many captains of industry.
Yep. Every dad and granddad had a workbench and jerry-built shelves in the basement. “Heavy metal” was all the hand tools from the 20s thru 40s, before electric tools. Hand drills, saws, rasps, tin snips—I still have some of my dad's and granddad's tools in my basement, but they are in steel toolboxes from Home Depot. That's because I have the handmade wooden tool chest with removable tray in my upstairs, a keepsake—along with the handmade wooden doll's house from my granddad.