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Washington, D.C., circa 1921. "Mrs. McPherson -- interior, Burchell's." The N.W. Burchell grocery at 1325 F Street N.W. National Photo Co. View full size.
The whatzit is part of a cash carrier system, also known as a cash railway. The make and model of the one in Burchell's store appears to be a Lamson Rapid, Single Wire Cash Carrier.
The book, The Story of a Service Idea (1912), describes the history of Lamson cash carriers from hollowed-out croquet balls to Vauco-Pressure (pneumatic) Tubes. Additional info and photos on the operation of the Rapid Wire system at the Cash Railway Website.
In the photo, the trolley is parked with the wooden cash ball in place. The handle is quite difficult to make out due to shadows. Somehow this contraption armed an elastic spring which, when triggered by the handle, launched the trolley (and cash) along the wire tracks with enough momentum to reach the cashier's station.
Interesting place for the telephone.
The mechanical gadget may be part of a cabled system for transferring payments and reciepts to the cashier, similar to the setup seen in Foot of the Market: 1920.
That's an awesome display! everything on shelves so neat and tidy.
I wonder what that mechanical gadget is that's hanging from the wall right near the black post in the right half of the photo?
In 90+ years, those Whitman boxes never changed, even the sampler.
Washington Post, May 27, 1938.Burchell's,
Grocer to the White House,
To End BusinessAfter 82 years of service to the Nation's Presidents, the N.W. Burchell Grocery, 817 Fourteenth street northwest, will close its doors forever Wednesday.
The store was established in 1856 by Norval Wilson Burchell and his brother-in-law, W.M.P. King. at Fifteenth and I streets northwest. Since than it has occupied five locations and has served every occupant of the White House since Abraham Lincoln.
Mrs. Norval Landon Burchell, present owner and widow of the founder's son, announced that the stock and fixtures would be sold and the quarters converted to other purposes.
Just not sure which season it is?
But the dentists viewing this must be alternately appalled and enthralled by the possibilities for decay presented by this mass of sweet temptation.
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