• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Old Tech

Hindmost

Illuminator
Hindmost
Joined
Jan 16, 2006
Messages
3,307
We all replace technology at a fast rate today. I came across an old walkman in a closet and then looked for any old electronic tech from the past. (since I have moved often, I tend to throw stuff out) I found my old transistor AM radio...from the 60s. It still works.

So, what old tech do you have around the house????

glenn


HPIM1259a.JPG
 
My basement is a museum of old electronics.

Atari 2600
Commadore 64
AM/FM only walkmen
Walkment with tapes
Betamax machine
Atari 800XL
Record player


My favorite, for nostalgia reasons, is an electric typerwriter I got for my 9th birthday. At the time, it was the coolest thing I had ever seen. It had a screen that allowed you to view and edit your page before you printed it out. I used it until inkjet printers became cheap enough in the nineties.
 
Old film cameras (I kind of collect them), including my weapon of choice: A Nikon F which is 100 percent mechanical and depends on a battery only for its match needle meter.

My trusty Hewlett Packard 11c calculator.

Turntable, tape deck, VCR. I still have and occasionally play a large collection of 78's.

A good old-fashioned TV antenna on the roof.

And a wood stove.
 
I've got a wood lathe that was old when my Dad bought it about 40 years ago. We also have the chisels that my great-grandfather used to build log buildings in New Brunswick.

Nothing "electronic" about any of it :)
 
A my parents' house, we still have an old Atari 2600. They also have the original Pong system. I should probably grab those on my next trip there so I can claim them before my little brother does.

My parents also have a bunch of our old walkmans. Seeing them reminds me of the days as a kid when I'd put in my MC Hammer tape and mow the lawn.

I had a record player at my apartment during my Junior and Senior years in college. The reason I had it was simply because it was built into the sound system I put on our entertainment center, but there was also the neatness factor of having a record player. We only had one record -- music from A Fistful of Dollars, A Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

My parents still have a record player in the dining room of their home. One of our family traditions is that we play Christmas carols on it while we eat Thanksgiving dinner. It's the only time I'm aware of that it is actually used.

As for more modern old tech, I still have my old Rio MP300 MP3 player that I bought in December of 1999. It was one of the first MP3 players available, and I got an amazing deal getting it for about $50 (it retailed for closer to $200, but I had a 50% off coupon and a $50 mail-in rebate). It had a whopping 32 MB of storage, but it was cutting edge. I was the only one in my dorm with one, and it was so cool. The concept of playing MP3s on a portable device blew my mind.
 
Last edited:
Old technology? A Palaeolithic flint scraper.

Old electronic technology? a "Boots 425 Scientific pocket calculator" circa 1979. It still works perfectly.
 
Horatius said:
I've got a wood lathe that was old when my Dad bought it about 40 years ago. We also have the chisels that my great-grandfather used to build log buildings in New Brunswick.

Nothing "electronic" about any of it :)
Click to expand...

I have a shop full of old Walker-turner tools, and the radial arm saw that my dad bought new in 1954, as well as a pretty nice collectionof antique hand tools, and a hand cranked, coal fired forge, but I didn't think to count them as "around the house." :D

If we're getting out the door, I could also find (somewhere under the snow) my 1954 Ford tractor.

I also have (in the house) the 1909 Bausch and Lomb microscope that my grandfather used in his career as a biochemist. He invented the process by which citric acid is manufactured. Really. He's the guy who figured out how to get it from molds instead of squeezing lemons. How cool is that?
 
bruto said:
and a hand cranked, coal fired forge, but I didn't think to count them as "around the house." :D
Click to expand...


I saw a guy at a local fair with something like that. He said it was developed during the US Civil War, so they could have a portable forge that could follow the armies around. It was pretty cool. Not big enough for wrought iron fences or swordmaking, but you could do horse-shoe or knife sized things in it.
 
Horatius said:
I saw a guy at a local fair with something like that. He said it was developed during the US Civil War, so they could have a portable forge that could follow the armies around. It was pretty cool. Not big enough for wrought iron fences or swordmaking, but you could do horse-shoe or knife sized things in it.
Click to expand...

Sigh. Those little hand-cranked metal blowers are the fashion with all the blacksmiths at olde-tymie reenactments and fairs because they're so cheap and convenient to haul from event to event, but it's amazing the ridiculous stories they make up to justify them.

Here's what a real portable forge from the Civil War was like: http://www.oldsouthblacksmiths.com/fw/fw.htm Bellows, not crank. And huge, and horsedrawn.
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/civil-war-army-forge_Picture2.jpg
 
bruto said:
Old film cameras (I kind of collect them), including my weapon of choice: A Nikon F which is 100 percent mechanical and depends on a battery only for its match needle meter.

My trusty Hewlett Packard 11c calculator.

Turntable, tape deck, VCR. I still have and occasionally play a large collection of 78's.

A good old-fashioned TV antenna on the roof.

And a wood stove.
Click to expand...
Gotcha beat:
Minolta SR-1. Doesn't even have a light meter.
Corona Manual typewriter
Kenwood Turntable (for thos "Big, Black CD's"
Fender Tube Amplifier (circa 1960)
ETA:
That doesn't include the muzzle loading rifles, candle lanterns, Spokeshave and other "primitive" stuff I use for my Fur-trade era Rendezvous hobby...
 
Last edited:
Pup said:
Sigh. Those little hand-cranked metal blowers are the fashion with all the blacksmiths at olde-tymie reenactments and fairs because they're so cheap and convenient to haul from event to event, but it's amazing the ridiculous stories they make up to justify them.

Here's what a real portable forge from the Civil War was like: http://www.oldsouthblacksmiths.com/fw/fw.htm Bellows, not crank. And huge, and horsedrawn.
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/civil-war-army-forge_Picture2.jpg
Click to expand...

The freestanding hand cranked forges were made in large quantity for farm shops. Nowadays you'd be hard put to see a farm workshop without a welding rig. A century or so ago, that shop would have had a forge.
 
Hmmm, didn't think about some of these...I have an old hp15c calculator hanging around. And a turntable--linear tracking. I really need to dig up my old aurora cars from the basement. I have had those for over 40 years.

glenn:)

andyandy: The pirate ducks always get me too.:D
 
I also had an old typewriter that I picked up in college because I thought it would be fun to tinker with. After it sat in my parents' basement for a few years, my father asked me if I was ever going to do anything with it. I told him I probably wouldn't, and that he and my mom could throw it out.

Before they did so, my mom decided to see if it was actually worth anything. She found a collection of typewriter enthusiasts online and sent them pictures. To her surprise, she found out that it was an Underwood from the 1900's (the decade), and that it was a very sought after model. They said it was going to rewrite the history books on that model based on the serial number.

The collectors started making offers, and I ended up selling it to a guy in Europe (Switzerland, if I remember correctly) for $450 and he took care of the shipping. He actually had to smuggle it in to keep it from being emminent domained into a museum. He said this one was going to be one of the centerpieces of his collection. Some of the American collectors who made offers grumbled that they like to see them stay in this country, but nuts to them.

And I was going to throw it away!
 
There are several flint arrowheads (c.1000BC) and two large Roman nails (83-86AD) on my bedroom wall. All are still totally functional.
 
Slide rule
Minolta Hi-Matic 35mm camera - with boxes of color slides, and a broken slide projector
Boxes of vinyl LPs
Hand crank shop grinder
Marlin .32 rim-fire lever-action rifle (about 50 years since last bullets were made)
 
Hickock RF signal generator (circa 1950's)
Pickett slide rule.
TI-99a computer
IBM-XT computer (DOS 6.22)
Commodore C-64 computer
A Farfisa Mini-Combo organ
A box full of Mattel's Major Matt Mason figures and equipment.
A tin-type O-gauge 3-rail electric train set (circa 1930's)
1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual
Adam's Apple
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom