Talk about something which makes you feel old... 1

[JohnRBaker]

I was just reading the June 9, 2011 issue of the Machine Design magazine (yes, they still publish a hardcopy version which is mailed gratis to members of the engineering community) and there was an article about how NIST, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (once known as the National Bureau of Standards), was doing some 'spring cleaning' and have come across many obscure and unknown insturments which they have posted pictures of, along with many easily identified artifacts, in what they are calling the 'NIST Digital Archives', subtitled: 'MUSEUM ARTIFACTS of the National Institute of Standards and Technology'.

What intrigued me was that they are asking for the public's help in identifying some of these mystery devices so I immediately checked out the website (link provided below) and was happily reading the descriptions of each item, most of which are of known origin and usage (and acknowledged as such), but a few are stubbornly odd and truly obscure as to what they were intended for. But as I said, I was enjoying myself, being a museum addict (I have my own online museum, link provided in my signature below), until I encountered item NO. 23 in the list of 'NIST MUSEUM ARTIFACTS'. Now hold on here, if this constitutes being an 'artifact' what does that say about all of us who KNOW exactly WHAT this item is and HOW to use them since these were part of OUR own tools of the trade not all the long ago (or at least I would like to think that it wasn't that long ago)?

Anyway, here's the link:

http://tinyurl.com/6xb7trq

And for those who would like a little hint as to what item 23 was; "To an engineer, a compass wasn't always something which kept you from getting lost."

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.com/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[jmw]

Wood box with one dial on top.

It's obviously a variable something or other - Capacitance? Egg timer?

But why didn't they just open it up and see? I know I would.

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[cvg]

drafting set, are they kidding?

 

[MintJulep]

Heck, I've got better stuff in my basement.

 

[lacajun]

I don't mind being a relic. It means I'm that much closer to Heaven. Not that I want to push my time here though.

 

[btrueblood]

Had to agree, saw the article somewhere else, and immediately thought, "box with dials on top - why don't they fiddle with it, hook up a voltmeter, something..."

 

[drawoh]

JohnRBaker,

I did a construction project in my back yard a few years ago. I discovered that the lumber size tables in my college mechanics of materials textbook are out of date.

JHG

 

[rhodie]

I've got a Pentium I, 60 MHz clock/16 MB RAM (complete with floating decimal point error)that should make this list.

That thing was a pariah when it was brand new!

 

[cvg]

I can remember when I would have given my left #&! for that machine upgrade. Started out with a 286 with the math chip and 512K memory. I felt lucky to have a hard drive and RGB monitor. The secretaries had the word processing machines with 10 inch floppy disks, no hard drive at all and green monochrome. Even that was an upgrade from college where we used a dial up modem (dial the phone, place the phone handpiece on the modem and seal it good so it could hear the screeching) then ride your bike three blocks across campus to the computer building to drop off the punch cards or pick up a printout.

 

[SomptingGuy]

Casio fx180p (with original batteries from 1980).

- Steve

LinkedIn

 

[JohnRBaker]

Hey, that 286 was better than what had to use in high school and college and the first few years working as a design engineer:

Note that when I bought mine back in the early 60's (while in high school) I got a metal one (exactly as shown in the image above) since I wanted it to last a lifetime (I keep it my desk drawer in case of power failure). Note that that in nearly 50 years, it has not lost any any of it accuracy ;-)

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.com/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[lacajun]

JohnRBaker, I have one of those from HS chemistry. I was sure glad to use it, too, as she wouldn't allow calculators in class and I couldn't afford one anyway.

 

[SNORGY]

I guess I am old too. I have pretty much the exact same set as Item 23 except in mine the lining inside the case is red.
My first computer was a Turbo XT with not one but two 5.25 " floppies, 10 MHz clock speed, 640 KB RAM and an 8087 coprocessor. I installed my own 20 MB hard disk.
Since that time I have developed spreadsheets that couldn't even fit on a 20 MB hard disk.
But regarding Item 23...
That was back in the days when the engineer seldom saw more than 3 drawing revisions between conceptual design and IFC. To ask the designer for more revisions than that was tantamount to risking one's life. Guess what? The designs at the end of the day were just fine. So much for the value added of CADD.

Regards,

SNORGY.

 

[SLTA]

I had a toy math game that looked like an owl, sort of like a calculator, as a kid. About 10 years ago I opened the Smithsonian magazine and there it was as their newest artifact. Great.

 

[MiketheEngineer]

I remember:
As a college freshman - we HAD to take a slide rule course. By the time I was a junior - I had a TI SR-50 that cost $250!! About the same cost of a semester of college!!

Atari with tape recorder for program and data storage
TRS-80 with 8'' floppy disks
IBM 1170
IBM 360 and 370 that fit in a HUGH building
Tape storage
Punch cards
Phones that had a dial
Party lines as in phones - not as in fraternities.
Phones that were really attached to the wall. At least you couldn't lose them
Electric erasers
Vellum and ink
Drafting boards
Architectural and engineering scales
Survey chains - had to be able to "throw" in order to pass the course.
Drawing triangles
10 cps (character per second) modems. We were in heaven when we got 30 cps!!
Linotype machines - yes - I worked in a printing plant one summer and the operator made the most money because he controlled the flow of much of the plant.
VW's without a gas gauge - my first car. Had a one gallon backup tank. A/C was all the windows OPEN
Cars that had points and condenser. The last three guys under 40 didn't even have a clue about what I was talking about.
Appliances you could find parts for and actually fix.
Cars you could fix yourself!!
A real newspaper - even two a day - delivered
Ice cube trays
Coffee percolators
Clothes lines
A real "tire" swing
A dictionary

I guess I could go on and on...... I wax nostalgic.

 

[GregLocock]

Obviously we are behind the times

A real newspaper - even two a day - delivered Ice cube trays Coffee percolators Clothes lines A dictionary

Well Ok, I use a french press as percolators are an invention of the devil.

Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

 

[cranky108]

Does this mean I have to replace my 8-track car player?

I notice memory devices keep getting smaller. First the 8" floppy disk, then the 5.25", then the 3.5" floppy, and now the thumb drive.

Can we still buy the latest 45? Or is it now the latest thumb?

Or if we lose our hard drive, will we lose 10 years of photos?

 

[drawoh]

... Or if we lose our hard drive, will we lose 10 years of photos?

An excellent question. My digital photos are archived onto high quality CDROMs. At some point, I expect I will have to transfer these to some other quality archival media, and I will feel old when I get around to doing it.

I have a scanner that digitizes 35mm slides and negatives. I will have to take good care of this. Digitizing all of my film will be a project for after I retire, if ever.

JHG

 

[cranky108]

I believe someone told me that CDROM's only have about a 5 to 10 years life.

I also save photos onto CD's, but I also keep copies on my hard drive.

Funny thing is my new computers never seem compatible with some of my games. So I have several old computers just so I can play my older games. I would think backwards compatibility would be a nice feature on new operating systems, but apperently not.

 

[JohnRBaker]

I have nearly 50 years of photo's (31,000+ images) stored on a combination of DVD-ROMS (2 sets, one in my gun safe and the other set locked in my office file cabinet 21 miles away) and an external hard drive. The DVD's are for archive backup and catastrophe protection, while the external (2TB eSATA) drive if for everyday access. And before you ask, I have a database, complete with thumbnail images which I created myself using 'FileMaker Pro' which provides me with keyword searching using any number of fields, including dates (month and year), names, places, events, media type (35mm Slides, 35mm B&W Negatives, 35mm Color Negatives, APS, Digital, etc), cameras, etc. A search of the entire library can be done in a matter of seconds on my Dual-CPU/Dual-Core G5 Mac Tower (it's still going strong and is great for digital photo work).

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.com/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.