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General Vintage Technology Discussions For general discussions about vintage radio and other vintage electronics etc.

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Old 30th Mar 2015, 10:47 am   #101
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Default Re: Obsolete Technologies that baffle the modern generation.

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Old 30th Mar 2015, 11:23 am   #102
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When I was about five my uncle gave me a couple of ex wd balanced armature ear pieces and a long bundle of twin flex, they worked brilliantly as a phone and I was absolutely made up
An ancient Meccano Magazine that I read as a child had plans to make a similar setup using the earpieces from old telephones. Unfortunately I never obtained the required parts as we only had the one phone and it was rented from BT anyway!
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Old 30th Mar 2015, 11:34 am   #103
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Default Re: Obsolete Technologies that baffle the modern generation.

Perhaps the very concept that you could make anything for yourself is alien to the current generation of kids?

I remember having a 'Hobbies' catalogue with an article on building your own radio (1.4v and 90v valves) It involved cutting materials and soldering, so it wasn't just an assemble-a-kit task.

I can't help but think that the majority of people are being brought up to be helpless.

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Old 30th Mar 2015, 12:18 pm   #104
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Default Re: Obsolete Technologies that baffle the modern generation.

In an era of electronic pre-set tuning, digital multiplexes and SDR, even a gang capacitor and reduction drive has an air of, "Eh? What's that about?" to it.

Trying to learn soldering with lead-free solder won't be encouraging too many, either.
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Old 30th Mar 2015, 12:44 pm   #105
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Default Re: Obsolete Technologies that baffle the modern generation.

But you can still buy the old stuff and use it on "Vintage" equipment, as far as I understand? You can use it on non-potable plumbing too, unless they have changed the regs recently.
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Old 30th Mar 2015, 12:55 pm   #106
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Default Re: Obsolete Technologies that baffle the modern generation.

How about tinned food with a key that you have to turn to open it? I don't remember seeing those recently. They all seem to be ring pulls.
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Old 30th Mar 2015, 1:15 pm   #107
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Default Re: Obsolete Technologies that baffle the modern generation.

Spam certainly comes in tins which open with a key, as do some tinned sardines.

Kettles which have to be boiled on a stove baffle some people. During power cuts it never occurs to some people that they can boil water in a saucepan for a cup of tea or coffee.
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Old 30th Mar 2015, 1:30 pm   #108
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Default Re: Obsolete Technologies that baffle the modern generation.

Still a problem to some folk who have mains powered ignition on their gas hob.
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Old 30th Mar 2015, 1:34 pm   #109
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Default Re: Obsolete Technologies that baffle the modern generation.

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Kettles which have to be boiled on a stove baffle some people. During power cuts it never occurs to some people that they can boil water in a saucepan for a cup of tea or coffee.
How many gas cookers have rings that work without mains? Apart from the igniter (which you could possibly work round with a match) many modern gas cookers have solenoid-controlled modulating gas-valves and flame-failure devices which depend on there being AC present.

And of course someone's bound to put a plastic kettle on the gas-ring.
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Old 30th Mar 2015, 1:45 pm   #110
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Default Re: Obsolete Technologies that baffle the modern generation.

Of the two gas stoves I use regularly, one uses a D cell for the ignitor and the other an external 12V supply. Both can be lit with a match.

Heating would present a problem in the event of a power cut, so I'd have to light the open fire.
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Old 30th Mar 2015, 1:56 pm   #111
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Default Re: Obsolete Technologies that baffle the modern generation.

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Heating would present a problem in the event of a power cut, so I'd have to light the open fire.
I have had to give my next door neighbour several lessons on how to prepare and light her wood burner, and she still has problems
Not as easy as pushing a button on a gas fire!

So we can add lighting a solid fuel heater to the list.

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Old 30th Mar 2015, 2:02 pm   #112
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Default Re: Obsolete Technologies that baffle the modern generation.

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How about tinned food with a key that you have to turn to open it? I don't remember seeing those recently. They all seem to be ring pulls.
Corned beef still comes in the key type can, as does Spam.
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Old 30th Mar 2015, 2:06 pm   #113
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Default Re: Obsolete Technologies that baffle the modern generation.

When I cleaned out my late dad's shed, there was his emergency cooker- an old gas bottle with a burner attached. I remembered it as a lad being used for a brew in his old shop, some 30 years ago. lit by a match ,what else.
I've always thought the ignitors on gas stuff a bit dodgy. Wife cleans our hob, and then there's a constant wail of "it won't light" . But cooking wise, we're dual ,as we still remember the days of power cuts.
I haven't seen party lines mentioned yet- and the phantom ringing or occasional bell tinkle, caused by poor mains equipment earth's.
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Old 30th Mar 2015, 2:08 pm   #114
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Default Re: Obsolete Technologies that baffle the modern generation.

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Corned beef still comes in the key type can, as does Spam.
Last time I used the 'key' type Spam can I got the short end off the can just fine but the plug of Spam was still stuck fast in the long piece of the can due to fat forming a seal.

quick fix: use a conventional can-opener to cut the blind end of the can off then push the plug of Spam out.
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Old 30th Mar 2015, 2:11 pm   #115
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Default Re: Obsolete Technologies that baffle the modern generation.

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And of course someone's bound to put a plastic kettle on the gas-ring.
Ha, brilliant! Even with a metal (electric) one the rubber feet would get toasted.

I remember my first away from home place, I bought a nice new camping kettle, took ages to boil on the electric (yes, singular, you could do toast underneath too) ring, the bottom was all shiny new aluminium, a quick blackening using a candle did the trick.

Candles, the posh scented kind, I wonder how many have been bought without the thought of how to light it.
 
Old 30th Mar 2015, 2:17 pm   #116
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Default Re: Obsolete Technologies that baffle the modern generation.

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Corned beef still comes in the key type can, as does Spam.
Maybe your can of Spam has been on the shelf longer than mine, then - mine, like the few others I've bought in recent years, just has a ring pull

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Old 30th Mar 2015, 2:22 pm   #117
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Default Re: Obsolete Technologies that baffle the modern generation.

I wonder if perhaps Spam could in itself be considered obsolete technology, along with Dried Egg, Fish Paste, and Condensed Milk.
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Old 30th Mar 2015, 2:30 pm   #118
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Default Re: Obsolete Technologies that baffle the modern generation.

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I wonder if perhaps Spam could in itself be considered obsolete technology, along with Dried Egg, Fish Paste, and Condensed Milk.
Oh dear, I hope not. Can't say I've ever met dried egg, but the others would all be missed.
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Old 30th Mar 2015, 3:50 pm   #119
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Default Re: Obsolete Technologies that baffle the modern generation.

A few weeks ago I visited someone who was complaining that the toaster had failed so they couldn't have breakfast
I asked why they hadn't cooked it under the grill, only to get bemused stares.

Last Friday I had a phone call from someone who had aquired an old radio.
Their complaint was that it wouldnt receive all the stations shown on the dial.
(I refrained from suggestion they buy a time machine!)


As for the list in Post 97, I have the majority of those items.
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Old 30th Mar 2015, 6:19 pm   #120
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Default Re: Obsolete Technologies that baffle the modern generation.

Could I add to the 'baffling' list [even though they're not electrical/electronic].

Carbon-paper [and the frustration it caused when you were using it in a typewriter and made a mistake]

Spirit-duplicators - the Roneo/Banda things where you typed your script on waxed coarse paper/cloth, saturated the resulting master with a sort-of violet-coloured ink, then printed off 20 or 30 progressively-less-clear copies before needing to stop, take the master off the drum, re-ink and get another 20 or 30 copies. if you got more than 4 or 5 'reloads' out of the master before the wax-coating started to flake you were lucky.

Music-ruled, tractor-feed fanfold paper: In times past I sweated for hours over program-listings and dumps [FORTRAN-60, JOVIAL and Honeywell GMAP assembler if you must know] printed on this.
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