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The inventions, machines and contraptions created by our Art Director, Peter Von Czarnecki are unique. This page looks at just a few of these in greater detail.
At the Forest Hill Chase
Complex "Granny" is landing her first shipment of Pure Maple Syrup, all the way from Vermont. Also at Forest Hill, Peter Von installed an elaborate Pure Maple Syrup "refinery", built from his weekly
forays into scrap metal yards. |
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"Pedal-Powered Trans Pacific Maple Syrup Bulk Carrier"
(or The Granny Plane at Highpoint.)
Constructed from plans first devised by the Brothers Wright of Kittyhawk, USA
for the expressed purpose of transporting the Pancake Topping
known as Maple Syrup from its place of origin in Maple Grove, Vermont, via the Pacific Ocean to
The Pancake Parlour Restaurant at Forest Hill in Victoria, Australia.
The gingham covered aircraft (over a frame of aluminium salvaged from the wreck
of the ill-fated Hindenberg Airship) has been involved in several incidents worth noting, the most interesting of which was the timely
and gallant action which resulted in the demise of that Scourge of the Skies over France, Baron Von Richtofen, none other
than the Red Baron himself, in 1917. It was also involved in the search for the missing
aviatrix Amelia Earhardt just before World War 2. |
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The aircraft gains its motive power entirely from the pedal connected by mechanical advantage to two largish propellors (ex-Hindenberg) which have seen the elderly aircraft and its aged
suffraget pilot, known affectionately only as "Granny", cross the Pacific innumerable times,
always at the mercy of the elements.
The large Oak barrel slung under the aircraft containing the bulk
Maple Syrup was originally in use in William Randolph Hearst's famous mansion "San Simeon",
during the Prohibition Era. |
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"The Maple Syrup Refining Plant"
(also at Forest Hill)
Whilst en route to Australia, the Maple Syrup contained
in the ez-Hearst Oak barrel, slung under the fuselage
of the "Granny" plane became habitually affected by
exposure to the upper atmosphere and subtropical conditions, resulting in a subsequent loss of quality and required further refinement... thus the building of the Maple Syrup Refining Plant.
The Pancake Parlour was fortunate to obtain,
as part of the "War Reparations of 1919 Treaty of Versailles Page 112, an ex-Australian Light Horse
Water Filtration Plant, last used in Beersheba in 1917.
The Filtration Plant, colourfully enough, had been captured by the German Army and was prized for its efficiency and "bush simplicity".
The Maple Syrup, direct from the barrel, passes
through a series of complex filters and purifiers,
each one more effective than the last, but invariably
using the same technology that saw Stephenson apply steam so creatively, until the precious
golden-brown
liquid, as pure as it was when it was gathered from the glorious Maple trees of Vermont, arrives to provide the perfect accompaniment to the Splendid Pancake. |
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"The Pancake Densitometer"
(originally installed at Market Lane, now residing at Doncaster)
This fascinating device measures the density of the pancake (to ensure the uniformity of the product) according to an Act of
Parliment placing the control of the quality of the products of Pancake Establishments under the control of The Health of The Colony of Victoria (relevant department) which by the said act also includes The
Department for Administration of The Shelters for the Insane and Infirm, so to speak. |
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"The Highpoint Iron"
Enclosed in a glass case (for the safety of the patrons)
this rare (and possibly unique) device is, as the
attached plate says, "for the conversion, by means of the application of heat and pressure, of the dimensions
of the Common Colonial Pancake to that of the more popular French Crepe and demonstrates some
of the
features of the last gasp of the Industrial Revolution's
grasp on Mechanical Reality, at the same time working at pressures guaranteed to present hazardous working conditions. The hapless
operator apparently literally "ironed" the Pancake from its old, accepted thickness of up to 10 mm out to acceptable wafer thinness, sometimes "ironing out" the surrounding areas at the same time (if
contemporary Newspaper Articles are to be believed). |
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A useful study, for the interested, is in the archives of the Victorian Police Forces under "Industrial Accidents of the Past Colonial Era, Steam Boiler etc. Fatal Accidents and Inquiries 1882 under
the heading of "Incompetence in Construction Leads to Double Tragedy... An Accident That Need Not Have Happened" by Superintendent A. E. Mowbray (later knighted for his successful campaign to have such devices outlawed).
It should be noted that the device on display, whilst demonstrating fully
its original intentions, has been decommissioned by Sgt. A. M. Scott M.C.
and in no way presents a hazardous situation to the public. |
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Webmaster's note: Various other Inventions, Devices, Contraptions and Machines are scattered throughout the pages of this web site, usually on the page devoted to the restaurant where
they reside. We will add to this collection with more detailed information, additional diagrams and technical data in the future. |
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