Tag: Patient things
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Scrollwave
Random thought. Scrolling through media on the web is the modern equivalent of tuning across the bands on shortwave. Shortwave broadcasting was killed by the web, much more firmly and directly than other media. With a good receiver and good propagation conditions, you could find every kind of entertainment or news in every language, plus…
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Back to Magic Lanterns 2
Last week I returned to the subject of Magic Lanterns, the intersection of science and entertainment. Now I’m imagining another development of magic lantern tech that was easily possible in the era of the lanterns. Fluidic analog computers came along in the 1930s, AFTER electronic analog computers. This sequence was common. Many machines could have…
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Nothing new.
Something randomly reminded me of the remarkable Tyler family history. President Tyler’s grandson Harrison Ruffin Tyler died earlier this year. Grandpa married a trophy wife and had a son when he was 75, then the son did the same thing and had Harrison when he was 63. From a 2012 interview with Harrison: = =…
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Third Shift Workers Day (habitual reprint)
Today is Third Shift Workers Day! From the linked items I couldn’t tell for sure which day is the Official Day. They range from May 7 to May 13. This is fitting, since graveyard shift blurs the boundaries of dates. I’ve always been happiest and steadiest on graveyard shift. I worked graveyard at motels in…
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The Optophone’s daughter
Perusing more library-related journals, ran across another descendant of the Optophone. This one was developed by RCA in 1948, working with the VA to find a way to help newly blinded vets. The VA resurrected the Optophone again in the 60s with equally frustrating results. = = = = = START QUOTE: The electronic pencil…
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Mini-notary
I’m studying more of the weird and wonderful punch card systems that flourished in specialized businesses, along the same lines as the McBee and Stanomatic. Some of the books delve into library equipment, which included a few clever gadgets along with a lot of familiar stuff. Adjustable shelves and bookends haven’t changed since 1890, but…
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Morse Day!
[I tried to write the title in code, but WP insists on condensing the spaces so it’s unreadable.] Today is Morse’s birthday! Since we tributed his original invention a couple years ago, we’ll just reprint. = = = = = START REPRINT: Last week I took a linguistic look at Morse and cranks and eccentrics.…
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The fleet rule
Listening every night to those auto dealer training films. They assumed forced obsolescence as a basic fact of the universe, and relied on the manufacturers to keep it moving. The Conservative Prospect was troublesome because he liked simplicity, liked to do his own maintenance, and disliked constant change. New thought: This is a pretty good…
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Colorful GenRad
GenRad specialized in both light and sound. I’ve been featuring sound for a long time, now let’s do light. Polistra and friends are processing food, using a GenRad color comparator to check the quality of tomatoes. The Comparator was simple to use. You’d place the object on top of the viewport, then turn the filter…
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One huge point
The latest article by Charles Hugh Smith makes one HUGE point that I haven’t heard before. It resonates deeply. The one huge point: AI is winning because the people in charge of making decisions NO LONGER HAVE A QUALITY HUMAN PRODUCT TO COMPARE WITH. The deciders don’t know how shitty the new offshored or AI’d…
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Bell’s photophone experiments
In the 1880s Bell and his collaborator Tainter performed some experiments using light and heat to generate and carry sound. They wrote up the trials in a little monograph Upon the production of sound by radiant energy. Bell was the consummate speech scientist. He thought like a larynx and experimented like a larynx. A larynx…
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GenRad and pinfeed part 1/4
Last month’s tech history piece on the Standard pinfeed invoice machines reminded me that chart recorders also used the same pinfeed system, along with the more familiar dot matrix printers. The Standard began as THE STANDARD: Chart recorders bring me back to old home territory, GenRad. General Radio in Boston started as a regular maker…
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GenRad and pinfeed part 2/4
Continued from Part 1 re-introducing GenRad. = = = = = GenRad’s chart recorder followed a common pattern, with the usual GR extras to satisfy peculiar needs. The common pattern was a pinfeed drive for the paper and a solenoid controlled by negative feedback pushing the pen back and forth. The pen was driven by…
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GenRad and pinfeed part 3/4
Continued from part 2, the more modern chart recorder. = = = = = Moving a pen back and forth requires a fair amount of force. It was always possible with mechanical signals like an aneroid barometer, or strong electrical signals like a telegraph. Morse’s 1840 telegraph used a moving pen. But a delicate signal…
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Genrad and pinfeed part 4/4
Continued from part 3. = = = = = In between GenRad’s strange photo-film oscillograph in the ’20s and its own pinfeed chart recorder in the ’50s, GR collaborated with Esterline. The Esterline pinfeed chart recorder was the standard in many industries. It was tough, portable, and simple to use. GenRad made a signal conditioner…
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