Inventions whose time has passed

[Dale_M]

The plastic insert which would adapt 45 rpm records so they would fit on the spindle of a phonograph designed for 33 1/3 rpm records.

[centurionguard]

Remember when you were a kid growing up in the 1960's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZL6RGkPjws

http://www.retroplanet.com/blog/retr...ys-the-slinky/

[Inego de Loyola]

Originally Posted by centurionguard

Remember when you were a kid growing up in the 1960's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZL6RGkPjws

http://www.retroplanet.com/blog/retr...ys-the-slinky/

Are you suggesting the slinky is outdated? It has only evolved to better mesh with modern technology.

[Bobby Jim]

Originally Posted by Dale_M

The plastic insert which would adapt 45 rpm records so they would fit on the spindle of a phonograph designed for 33 1/3 rpm records.

Ooh, that's a good one! Ideally the phonograph had the speed selection switch, so you didn't have to play your 45 at 33 1/3. My parents' old one also had 78 rpm on the speed selection, which I remember made Michael Jackson's "Thriller" a lot more thrilling.

[Bobby Jim]

Originally Posted by didymus

I just thought of another one -- slide rules!!

These low-tech calculators were used for geometry, trig and calculus. If/when civilisation crashes there will be a mad scramble for them just to do the engineering for rebuilding bridges &c.

Unlike push-button calculators it took real skill and practice to use a silde rule:



Of course, for school, teachers needed ones visible to the entire class:



When calculators capable of doing all the slide-rule functions (sq.rt, cu.rt, sine, cosine, secant, tangent, &c, &c) they cost hundreds of dollars.

That's a good one. There was some real precision engineering that went into designing and manufacturing those things, not to mention skill in learning how to use it. I remember coming across my dad's old circular model, similar to the one in front on the right side. I put a little effort into learning how to use it, but I've long since forgotten. At least on the simple ones, maybe you still had to remember things like sec = 1/cos.

The slide rule was the portable complement to the big tables of logs & trig functions that you could find in math books & references, where it would give you the value out to 4 decimal places. I used to be pretty good at interpolating between values on those.

[Holly3278]

Dial up and dial up modems are pretty much gone now too and if they aren't, they're on their way out.

[LegoGE1947]

Originally Posted by Bobby Jim

Ooh, that's a good one! Ideally the phonograph had the speed selection switch, so you didn't have to play your 45 at 33 1/3. My parents' old one also had 78 rpm on the speed selection, which I remember made Michael Jackson's "Thriller" a lot more thrilling.

My cousin and I as kids used to get the biggest kick out of playing 45s at either 78 or 33 rpm and seeing how different they sounded at those speeds. Such laughter you never heard in your life!!

[JoeMike]

Originally Posted by LegoGE1947

My cousin and I as kids used to get the biggest kick out of playing 45s at either 78 or 33 rpm and seeing how different they sounded at those speeds. Such laughter you never heard in your life!!

Ditto, but throw in 16 rpm!

45s by Les Paul and Mary Ford sounded AMAZING at 16 rpm!!

(that was originally created for Chrysler Corp's car record players, but when it didn't catch on, they continued to use the format for narrations and similar stuff for a while.)

[LegoGE1947]

Originally Posted by JoeMike

Ditto, but throw in 16 rpm!

45s by Les Paul and Mary Ford sounded AMAZING at 16 rpm!!

(that was originally created for Chrysler Corp's car record players, but when it didn't catch on, they continued to use the format for narrations and similar stuff for a while.)

I understand that Les recorded some of his tracks at a low speed and then played them back at a higher speed for the final masters which made his guitar sound a higher pitch.

[Bobby Jim]

Originally Posted by LegoGE1947

I understand that Les recorded some of his tracks at a low speed and then played them back at a higher speed for the final masters which made his guitar sound a higher pitch.

Supposedly that's also how the piano part in the middle of The Beatles' "In My Life" was done - besides a higher pitch, it also has a different sound about it, vs just playing it higher.

[LegoGE1947]

Originally Posted by Bobby Jim

Supposedly that's also how the piano part in the middle of The Beatles' "In My Life" was done - besides a higher pitch, it also has a different sound about it, vs just playing it higher.

Have you ever heard of Buddy Merrill who at one time was a guitarist with Lawrence Welk? In the mid 60s Buddy went solo and made several LPs using much the same techniques and sounds Les Paul used such as dubbing, and multiple recordings mixed together, playing at different speeds etc. One of his best was "Holiday for Guitars" on Accent (GNP Crescendo Records)

[Little Mary]

Remember intercom systems that used to be installed in homes? Did anybody ever actually use those? We never used ours...

With that said, we live in a two story house with the master b/r on the first floor. If it's late and I need to talk to my teens about something quick....like "Do you have a clean shirt for tomorrow?" I just text them.

Seems wrong somehow, but it sure is convenient.

[Catholic90]

Originally Posted by Little Mary

Remember intercom systems that used to be installed in homes? Did anybody ever actually use those? We never used ours...

With that said, we live in a two story house with the master b/r on the first floor. If it's late and I need to talk to my teens about something quick....like "Do you have a clean shirt for tomorrow?" I just text them.

Seems wrong somehow, but it sure is convenient.

I text my kids sometimes when they are elsewhere in the house or in the yard!

(I used to text my kids when we were all in the same room when DH was very sick and very angry to avoid riling him up further with words!)

[Luna Lovecraft]

sugar nippers

[ValPal]

I miss carbon copies.