# Your Fave Dead-end or Obsolete Technology? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 21, 2003, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924 "2003-09-21T05:12:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Live\_Better\_Electrically](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@Live\_Better\_Electrically](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Live_Better_Electrically)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/41 "2003-09-22T14:48:01Z")
I think [videodiscs](http://www.cedmagic.com/selectavision.html) are really cool. A lot of people mistake them for laserdiscs, but they were a stylus-read video format in the '80s–essentially 12" video records housed in big plastic caddies. They must have been the apex of phonograph-style analog A/V technology. ---
**Author:** ![Live\_Better\_Electrically](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@Live\_Better\_Electrically](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Live_Better_Electrically)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/42 "2003-09-22T14:51:07Z")
And don’t forget the [in-car phonograph system](http://ookworld.com/hiwayhifi.html). ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/43 "2003-09-22T15:02:43Z")
Silent movies . . . [by the way, Restoration Hardware sells\* three-speed\* record players!!] ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/44 "2003-09-22T15:06:39Z")
Flintlock firearms. ---
**Author:** ![CaptBushido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@CaptBushido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptBushido)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/45 "2003-09-22T17:20:09Z")
You need an explanation for NES??? You HAVE to be over 30: **Nintendo Entertainment System** The original… ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/46 "2003-09-22T17:35:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zenster \* > \*\*Nixie tubes! > > Clock-pots! > > Hill holder clutches! > > Key punch machines! > > Candlestick telephones!\*\* I don’t even know what those things are. And tube amps abound. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/47 "2003-09-22T20:28:18Z")
I miss dialing a phone number. Winding wristwatches. I love my record player also! I will only listen to Dave Brubeck on my 1951 HI-FI! ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/48 "2003-09-22T20:41:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Labdad \* > \*\*My grandmother’s '47 Chevy had windshield wipers powered by a vaccum motor, i.e. the motor that operated the wiper arms used the vacuum from the engine. The major difficulty plaguing the vacuum motor was its inability to maintain a constant wiper blade speed. As the engine vacuum was lowered (when you went up a hill for instance), the wipers would slow down or even stop. Of course, as a kid I thought this was incredibly cool! \*\* Yeah, I had a '41 Plymouth with vacuum wipers. They’d stop when you stomped on the gas; I always used to say that anyone who’d try to drive uphill in the rain probably had it coming anyway :rolleyes: Our '64 Rambler has vacuum wipers, too, but American Motors added a diaphragm to the fuel pump which augments the vacuum, so driving uphill in a downpour isn’t quite so lethal. Of course, by then everybody else had gone to electric wipers–Ramblers are kind of retrotech vehicles… ---
**Author:** ![Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuji_Kitakyusho)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/49 "2003-09-22T21:03:56Z")
Letters. Despite our “instantaneous global communication ability”, email, satellites, and internet messaging, some manner of elegance and power in the written word has been lost now that we don’t typically spend much time to “compose” our thoughts before communicating them. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/50 "2003-09-22T21:54:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bruce\_Daddy \* > I don’t even know what those things are. Nixie tubes = multifilament neon gas display device (see link above) Clock-pots = clock dial faced ten-turn electrical potentiometer Hill holder clutches = linked brake and clutch for incline starts Key punch machines = puts holes in IBM punch cards Candlestick telephones = old style upright telephone with separate earpiece and microphone sections Yup, we’ve got ourselves a young’un here. I’m really, really confident you also knew all about the interchangeable Cinelli Bi-valent hubs. ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/51 "2003-09-22T22:29:27Z")
I’m not too choked up about pneumatic tube systems. We have one here at the hospital and every time I hear the “clunk” I know it’s not going to be good news. My favorite would be **gramophones**! Even better than record players. I have a small portable one, no horn alas, to play my 78s. No electrical plug, no batteries, purely mechanical. How cool is that? A bit hard to find needles though. I think automats, as mentioned previously, would be neat too. ---
**Author:** ![culov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@culov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/culov)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/52 "2003-09-22T22:38:05Z")
video phones… the ones dedicated to delivering your picture/voice to another person using a video phone on the other line. Not the shit that you can do with computers now. I remember when those things came out in the later part of the 90’s and i thought they were awesome. Then of course a year later i saw the other option… do it on your computer. but no doubt, dedicated video phones are nice. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/53 "2003-09-22T22:54:29Z")
I had an '86 Subaru GL 4WD wagon 5-spd a few years back. Great car! It had a hill holder clutch. Are those clutches all gone now? I have an old record player (RCA) with speeds of 16, 33 1/3, 45, and 78. The needle flipped over for playing the 78s. (It’s in a box now, so I can’t verify that it flipped to a metal needle, but I think I remember it that way.) My [Technics SL-1200](http://www.djequipmentsource.com/Technics-1200.html) is a turntable. (Yeah, I used to DJ.) Don’t they still sell those new? 126 film cameras. 24 x 24 mm negs in a cartridge. Rollie, Kodak, Fuji, Yashica, etc… all made some very high quality camera systems for this format. Now it’s gone. 616 format, too. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/54 "2003-09-22T23:27:58Z")
If you want to see what a clock-pot looks like, please check out [this](http://www.bourns.com/2/pdfs/apno_test_and_measurent.pdf) site. At the page top are a turns counting dial potentiometer (at right) and a classic clock-pot on the left. Here’s an IBM [keypunch](http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw/Moffit_Field/34594_10.JPG) machine. These people still sell [Nixie tubes](http://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/nixies.html#catalog). Here are some images of [candlestick telephones](http://www.theoldtelephone.co.uk/Telephone_Pages/Candlestick.htm) Here’s a website about a 1941 Cadillac with the [Norol](http://www.geocities.com/mark_allbaugh/41_cad.htm) hill holding clutch. Subaru re-introduced it in their more recent Forester model. > [@](#): > > ‘NoRol’ option to prevent the car from rolling back when letting the clutch out on an incline. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/55 "2003-09-22T23:28:17Z")
IIRC, you can buy 120 rollfilm and re-roll it into the 126 spools. As for clock-pots, I first thought that was a typo of crock-pots, which aren’t really technology, or obsolete. Just a fine way to cook something like potroast. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2003, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/56 "2003-09-22T23:58:00Z")
120 roll film is 60mm across (a little more, but I’m not sitting here with a ruler, so I’m just going by memory.) . 126 was 24mm. But, you can put 120 on 620 spools. I’ve seen different outfits offering that in the past. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/57 "2003-09-23T01:27:19Z")
[Here’s a house that just had a pneumatic tube system installed.](http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/monsterhouse/houses/retrofuture/retrofuture.html) It can even handle sending you a beer from the kitchen. 🆒 Frankly, I miss everything everyone’s mentioned, plus the stuff detailed in [these books](http://lindsaybks.com/prod/index.html). ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/58 "2003-09-23T14:14:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zenster \* > \*\* > Yup, we’ve got ourselves a young’un here. I’m really, really confident you also knew all about the interchangeable Cinelli Bi-valent hubs. \*\* 😃 Well, I just read it as interchangeable \ hubs, and it sort of makes sense. Thanks for the other stuff! ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/59 "2003-09-23T16:28:56Z")
Pneumatic tube transport thingies are alive and well in warehouse markets like Loew’s, Home Depot, Sam’s, BJ’s, etc. Of course they are also available in drive thru banks. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924/60 "2003-09-23T23:08:21Z")
Oops… you’re right about 126 being different from 120/620. But, color print 126 is still available! Check out [http://www.filmforclassics.com](http://www.filmforclassics.com) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fave-dead-end-or-obsolete-technology/202924.md?page=4)