Here’s the situation:
My company has been around for a long, long time. I mean, a LONG time. I want to see if anyone here has older stuff in their workplace that is still used on a daily basis.
We have:
two Keypunch machines and corresponding ancient computers that we use to actually punch cards and send them to third world countries (or someplace- who is using these things??)
2 Amana Radar-ranges. These are in our breakrooms and I always feel like I should be wearing a lead shield while heating up my soup. You can literally boil an 18oz mug of soup in 1.5 minutes.
Safety posters from the 60’s. Based on the clothing, I’d say these are from about 40 years ago. They depict messages like “Don’t booze- think of your children!” and “Watch your step!” and such.
Anyone else have ancient workplaces in this day of high-tech stuff? It never ceases to amaze me that I work on high-tech computer stuff all morning, then re-heat my coffee in an actual Amana Radar-range.
I work at an engineering company. Our survey crews have high-tech digital survey equipment that uses Global Positioning Systems. The data files can then be imported directly into AutoCad, which can connect the shots and put in symbols for trees, water meters, etc.
If anyone else needs to use survey equipment, we are given a surveyor’s level. this is basically a telescope with a level bubble. We have several; some are institutional green (50’s) and some are battlehip grey (60’s). They have the name of the manufacturer engraved on them in that stylized script that was popular at the time. They greatly resemle those gigantic outdated microscopes that we all probably used in high school.
Well, at my former workplace, we actually used equipment that brought to mind images of Mabel sitting at the switchboard, plugging in patch cables to make phone calls. We’re talking about 1940’s phone equipment here. What’s more, we ordered more of it–I had no idea beforehand than anyone still made such stuff.
On a personal note, I have one of the few remaining functional video disc players in existence. Note: this is not a laser disc player–it uses a stylus, like a record player for video. This thing predates the introduction of VHS and probably Betamax. I’ve nursed it along over the years with scavenged parts mostly out of perverse curiousity.
Ok, we don’t use them, but one of the buildings where I work has pneumatic tubes. Did I spell that right? Is that even what they’re called? The tubes that shoot canisters (in which you have put pieces of paper) from floor to floor, via magic or air pressure or something.
Until just two years ago, we also had an elevator operator (who, as an individual, was also ancient). He would stop the elevator and open the doors with a hand crank.
Like the thingies the banks use to suck your check into the building from the drive-through lane? Soupo thinks those are “The. Coolest. Things. EVER!” He especially likes the “thoomp!” noise they make when the shuttle first goes in the tube. They are run on the magic of the “sweeper hose”.
Good lord, my parents still has one of those. In my experience the movies don’t seem to age very well. Is there any special technique you use to keep them in good shape?
There were quite a few movies available for them at one time–we still have a crate of them, including most of the early Bond movies, “The Dark Crystal” (which I now have on DVD, yay!), “The Last Unicorn” (which I’m looking for on DVD), a whole bunch of Elvis movies (those were my mother’s doing), ST:ToS episodes (including “The Trouble with Tribbles”, which I memorized at a young age), and a whole bunch of others. When they came out, they were the only game in town, so anyone who wanted to get in on the home video market released stuff on them.
The discs don’t age well at all. They’re better protected than LPs, but they’re also way more sensitive to scratches and skipping. About all you can do to preserve them is store them flat (to prevent warping), always wait for them to completely stop spinning before sliding the jacket in to remove them, and handle them as gently as possible in the jackets (don’t do anything that will make them rotate in the jacket. Keeping the stylus clean helps on playback, but it’s very delicate. Also watch out for jackets that are split at the front edge–they’ll damage the loading mechanism if you use them.
We don’t actually use ours anymore, since I finished archiving the salvageable discs to tape a few years ago.
And just for you Herman Hollerith fans out there:
“He died at the console,
Of hunger and thirst.
Next day he was buried,
Face down, nine-edge first.”
Oh, good. It’s not just us and our slovenly ways. I was actually shocked when I fired up our copy of “War of the Worlds” a while back and witnessed the degraded quality. Kind of a shame, too, because I have a great deal of nostalgia for the ritual of having to get up halfway through the film and flip the movie over.
In fact, our copy of the Longest Day came on two disks, so you’d actually have to change the movie 4 times to see the whole thing.
When we moved back from Tennessee, we didn’t have a microwave (house in TN had a new over-the-stove model, gave ours to my sister). My husband’s parents gave us an old one they had and bought themselves a new one. The old one was a HUGE Tappan. It literally must’ve weighed about 50 lbs and was as big or a little bigger than our 27" TV.
Finally got rid of that behemoth! But, it did work great.
Safety posters from the 60’s. Based on the clothing, I’d say these are from about 40 years ago. They depict messages like “Don’t booze- think of your children!” and “Watch your step!” and such.
Um, Zette, in exchange for the “Don’t booze - think of your children!” poster I will provide you with whatever wordly good you require.
Well, for ancient equipment one only has to spend a little time in the US military. Yes, we had some of the latest high tech gear to be found anywhere, thank god.
But we were issued a lovely piece of gear called a Shelter Half. Consisting of canvas and 3 wooden poles and metal stakes, this was combined with your buddies half to make a pup tent. These same items were issued in World War I, or earlier. No floor and not much room. Thankfully I think it’s being phased out sometime this century…
I am a cabinetmaker,and I still use hand planes.Actually I use them quite extensively.They are really the best tool for the job in many cases.It is also the sign of a true craftman that he is able to cut the wood in the most adventageous way.(with the grain and such)Using knowledge thus aquired,said craftsman is better equipped to cut the wood using the machines.
The thing is,the machines have the muscle to just plow through the wood any old which way,often resulting in a botched job.For those who lack hand tool experience this phenomena is usually just inexplicable bad luck or act of fate,although those few who have not forsaken the old ways always know better.
For a summer job not long ago, I helped to clear some fenceline. Besides the relatively high technology bush hooks used to chop away weeds and brambles, we took great delight in using FIRE to really clean out the messy stuff. Yah don’t get much more low tech than that. No obsidian handaxes, though.
Yes, yes, it’s a smartass sort of reply. Forgive me.
Our building is fairly new, but we have an ancient device installed that very few people know how to use. A few of us more adventurous types figured it out and found that it is often more effective than its modern counterpart. We’ve taken to calling it a staircase.
)
I was actually shocked when I fired up our copy of “War of the Worlds” a while back and witnessed the degraded quality. Kind of a shame, too, because I have a great deal of nostalgia for the ritual of having to get up halfway through the film and flip the movie over. 