# Tools that are no longer made ... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 1, 2011, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tools-that-are-no-longer-made/569795 "2011-02-01T17:17:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tools-that-are-no-longer-made/569795/41 "2011-02-01T22:36:07Z")
Looking through old tool catalogs from the late 1800s and early 1990s, I’m sure you could find plenty of tools that are no longer manufactured. Whenever I’ve seen such catalogs at estate sales and the like, I swear the names for some of these implements were pulled out of thin air. “Yeah, that’s a three quarter inch split jack wrench, that’s a johnny-boy rod, that there’s a nut lasker, and that’s a half-core lay punch with an Unger grip. They ain’t don’t not make 'em like they used to.” ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tools-that-are-no-longer-made/569795/42 "2011-02-01T22:55:42Z")
All I can really think of are specialized tools that were specifically manufactured for use with unique items, with precise size, weight or power requirements. Does anyone think they can find a jig used in the assembly of, say, the wing structures of an extinct aircraft, maybe a B-29? A jig is by every definition a tool. It isn’t an end product in itself, like a Saturn rocket. I’m sure a suitable replacement could be made, but I can’t imagine that such items are still being sold, whether new or old. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tools-that-are-no-longer-made/569795/43 "2011-02-01T23:19:53Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Are [tube testers](http://tone-lizard.com/Tube_Testers.html) still being manufactured? When I was a kid, these things were popular - the local electronics shop had one, but so did the Katz drug store. Now the only things that use tubes are guitar amps and a small percentage of audiophile and studio gear. I doubt it. Most tubes are replaced well before they are worn out. ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tools-that-are-no-longer-made/569795/44 "2011-02-01T23:35:10Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > All I can really think of are specialized tools that were specifically manufactured for use with unique items, with precise size, weight or power requirements. Oh … awesome idea of yours here … therefore: “B” size batteries. We still use other sizes, AA, AAA, I have “D”'s in my flashlight and “C”'s in some other, ancient, equipment. But I believe Uncle Cecil covered this, we just don’t need the amps “B” cells provide to run motors anymore. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tools-that-are-no-longer-made/569795/45 "2011-02-01T23:41:44Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Now the only things that use tubes are guitar amps and a small percentage of audiophile and studio gear. there are high power devices that still use tubes. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tools-that-are-no-longer-made/569795/46 "2011-02-01T23:44:45Z")
> [@Arkcon](#): > > Oh … awesome idea of yours here … therefore: “B” size batteries. We still use other sizes, AA, AAA, I have “D”'s in my flashlight and “C”'s in some other, ancient, equipment. But I believe Uncle Cecil covered this, we just don’t need the amps “B” cells provide to run motors anymore. B batteries were high voltage to be the plate supply for electron tubes. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tools-that-are-no-longer-made/569795/47 "2011-02-01T23:50:02Z")
What about really old computer parts? I am thinking things like mercury delay lines or magnetic core memory? For that matter, there is probably a lot of analog computer technology that isn’t made anymore. When I was taking Computer Solutions of Differential Equations in the seventies we went to see an old analog computer used to solve differential equations. The requirements didn’t go away, but it was too cheap to simulate the functions on a digital computer. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog\_computer#Electronic\_analog\_computers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_computer#Electronic_analog_computers) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tools-that-are-no-longer-made/569795/48 "2011-02-02T00:04:33Z")
Going back to computer storage … Personal anecdote … In college in the late 70s I had a job for a professor to pull data off some existing mag tapes which were 200 or 556 BPI. See [IBM 7-track - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_7_track) for background. We also had a bunch of irreplaceable data on Remington-Rand (“RemRand”) cards, which were a 1940s-1950s competitor to the IBM-format card that all of us from that era are familiar with. IBM won, RemRand lost. See [Punched card - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punched_card#Powers.2FRemington_Rand_UNIVAC_card_formats) In 1979 there was exactly one place in all of greater Los Angeles which still maintained a stable of ratty ancient equipment which could read the 200 BPI tapes & the RemRand cards and rewrite them both on modern ultra-high density 6250BI tape. 10-ish whole **Mega** bytes baby on something big enough to break your toe if you dropped it. Woot!. Greater Los Angeles. The center of Aerospace for the entire planet. A city with hundreds of mainframe data vaults full of engineering & scientific data. Not to mention a bunch of plain old payroll records. One company was all that was left to handle all the old formats. That place was a weird time warp of ancient peripherals & some crazy old coot who kept them all running (sorta). Each job was a gamble; maybe we’d get good data and maybe the whatchamacallit relay would hang. He had a bunch of home-made (or at least home-improved) circuit assemblies to play the role of the computers & controllers which had long since gone to the big data center in the sky. Now that PC parts are made by the billions, there’s gonna be a lot more 3-1/2" floppy drives still around decades after they left the mainstream. So reading a 3-1/3 floppy will be readily doable for some time to come as well. Back when 1000 units was a long production run for a model of read/write device, the last one dissappears & all the matching media becomes junk a lot sooner. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tools-that-are-no-longer-made/569795/49 "2011-02-02T00:11:49Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > What about really old computer parts? I am thinking things like mercury delay lines or magnetic core memory? Williams-Kilburn tubes, which were CRTs with high-persistence phosphor used as memory and display devices beginning in the 1940s. The ‘high-persistence’ means W-K tubes are the exact _opposite_ of where CRT technology stands today: They’re useless for TVs and computer monitors, because the phosphor stays lit too long. However, that’s what you want if you’re using the phosphor to store bits of data in a vacuum tube computer, or to display the contents of memory in that computer. Plenty of people are making CRTs today. I doubt anyone is making CRTs _that would be useful W-K tubes._ (Another guess might be core memory but, knowing NASA and some of IBM’s customers, I have a suspicion someone still has real uses for a few hundred kilobytes of core.) ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tools-that-are-no-longer-made/569795/50 "2011-02-02T00:20:08Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Tape measures marked in cubits. [Bill Cosby voice] R-i-i-i-i-ight! [/Bill Cosby voice] 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tools-that-are-no-longer-made/569795/51 "2011-02-02T00:21:54Z")
Do instruments of torture count as tools? I bet a few of those are no longer in production - unless the manufacture of replicas and movie props disqualifies them (but then that could happen for anything) ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tools-that-are-no-longer-made/569795/52 "2011-02-02T00:24:06Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Williams-Kilburn tubes, which were CRTs with high-persistence phosphor used as memory and display devices beginning in the 1940s. The ‘high-persistence’ means W-K tubes are the exact _opposite_ of where CRT technology stands today: They’re useless for TVs and computer monitors, because the phosphor stays lit too long. However, that’s what you want if you’re using the phosphor to store bits of data in a vacuum tube computer, or to display the contents of memory in that computer. > > Plenty of people are making CRTs today. I doubt anyone is making CRTs _that would be useful W-K tubes._ > > (Another guess might be core memory but, knowing NASA and some of IBM’s customers, I have a suspicion someone still has real uses for a few hundred kilobytes of core.) Well, for that matter, Nixie and Magic Eye tubes are extinct, also. ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tools-that-are-no-longer-made/569795/53 "2011-02-02T00:52:01Z")
Flat irons, the kind you get a couple of, heat them up on the stove, then pick up with a detachable handle and iron away with till they go cold, when you put it back on the stove to heat it up again and grab a fresh hot one. Now it’s entirely possible that they are made as retro decorative items, but I can’t imagine they are made as tools any more, even for historical re-enacters (who would probably want to use the many originals still sold in antique shops). ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tools-that-are-no-longer-made/569795/54 "2011-02-02T00:53:49Z")
Log Flume. They still use yarders, skidders and helicopters to get logs off a mountainside, but diverting a stream into a big watertight trough hasn’t been used in a while. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tools-that-are-no-longer-made/569795/55 "2011-02-02T03:07:22Z")
> [@buckgully](#): > > My god, my jaw just locked itself shut after seeing that extraction key. > > How about old quack medicine products? Things like the Radium Emminator: [Museum of Radiation and Radioactivity](http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/quackcures/radiumemanator.htm) > Which is a device intended to infuse your water with uranium. > > Really. People thought it was healthy. There are a whole bunch of products like that from the same time period. > > I suppose you could say that modern day radiation therapy for cancer is similar, but that’s a real reach. In a sort-of related vein, we’d probably have a hard time finding one of the shoe store x-ray machines. But sure, it’ll be tough to find a tool that nobody makes. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tools-that-are-no-longer-made/569795/56 "2011-02-02T05:38:21Z")
> [@RadicalPi](#): > > According to the Wikipedia, this isn’t true ([Saturn V - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_V)): > > A popular urban myth has the blueprints for the Saturn V either lost or purposely destroyed. The blueprints and other plans still exist on microfilm at the Marshall Space Flight Center. Most people have no idea what they mean when they say, “blueprints”, and that is true in this case. NASA Marshall may have the source control drawings (SCD) and specifications (SCS) for the Saturn V, since it acted as its own prime integrator for the rocket launch vehicle, but it certainly doesn’t have the actual manufacturing drawings that The Boeing Company, North American Aviation (since absorbed by Boeing via Rockwell), and Douglas Aircraft Company (since absorbed by Boeing via McDonnell Douglas) produced, nor would they have any supplier and subcontractor drawings as suppliers tend to guard their own engineering packages as propriety information lest the contractor provide them to a competitor who would then undercut the original supplier. Furthermore, the tooling for building components for the Saturn V engines and structures are long gone, and many of the specific materials and manufacturing processes are no longer available or in use. It is fair to say that the Saturn V is a “tool” that is no longer available in any recognizable form, although the Rocketdyne J-2 engines used in the S-II and S-IVB second and third stages are still available from Boeing in updated form. If one was going to build a heavy lift vehicle today, it would not be particularly rational to return to the Saturn V, even if tooling and drawings did exist. Higher performance engines and flight methods have been developed that would be implemented in a modern super-heavy rocket systems. The most rational choice would be to base a design on existing hardware like Shuttle-derived equipment (allowing partial reuse of STS launch facilities) or the Soviet Energia rocket. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tools-that-are-no-longer-made/569795/57 "2011-02-02T09:32:52Z")
Back in the 70s, when I was doing typography, our storage medium was paper tape. The keyboard punched little holes in the tape, and the actual typesetting device read the holes. And lots of graphic tools, like wax machines. Are proportion wheels still made? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tools-that-are-no-longer-made/569795/58 "2011-02-02T10:17:25Z")
> [@Noel Prosequi](#): > > Flat irons, the kind you get a couple of, heat them up on the stove, then pick up with a detachable handle and iron away with till they go cold, when you put it back on the stove to heat it up again and grab a fresh hot one. > > Now it’s entirely possible that they are made as retro decorative items, but I can’t imagine they are made as tools any more, even for historical re-enacters (who would probably want to use the many originals still sold in antique shops). You need to imagine a little harder! In India, for example, there are still large numbers of shade-tree _dhobiwalas_ or laundry workers who clean clothes in the river and iron them outdoors, where there’s no access to electricity. I’ve seen some _dhobis_ using the externally heated flatirons, but most seem to use the slightly fancier self-heating charcoal irons where there’s a reservoir of burning charcoal in the iron itself. You can order them [online](http://basantappliances.com/laundry_special_iron.html), even. Ah, the joys of using two-decades-old technology to purchase millennium-old technology! ---
**Author:** ![Vorpal\_Blade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/9de0a6/32.png) [@Vorpal\_Blade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vorpal_Blade)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tools-that-are-no-longer-made/569795/59 "2011-02-02T15:51:15Z")
> [@Arkcon](#): > > This is going to be a tricky one. Somebody at NPR has posited this particular question: Name a tool that is no longer used… Curta mechanical calculators ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tools-that-are-no-longer-made/569795/60 "2011-02-02T16:31:03Z")
You know, upon reading the NPR article again, I realized that it is talking about TECHNOLOGY that has gone away, not tools. So, I would suggest the hydrogen airship. And the [baby cage.](http://www.google.com/patents?id=tdhTAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4&source=gbs_overview_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tools-that-are-no-longer-made/569795.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tools-that-are-no-longer-made/569795.md?page=4)