Old Technology Section

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Technofreak

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#271728 24-May-2020 22:40

Recently I have acquired some old technology, generally family items that in some cases are over 100 years old that were the very latest tech at that time. For example one of the items I have is one of these

When I was doing some research on it I saw a video about the different "horns" you could buy for these. It made me realise even back then right at the start of recorded voice technology there was a demand/market for ways to improve the fidelity of the audio signal. It made me smile. While crude by our standards today this was their equivalent of our surround sound systems and you could buy upmarket after market additions to improve your audio experience. The more things change the more they are the same. It's no different today.

I also started to think that Geekzone was the perfect place to have a area to to show off/discuss/seek help and advice on owning, maintaining, repairing such devices.

The people that bought these sorts of things were the Geeks of their day.

I think it would be interesting and appropriate to have a area on Geekzone dedicated to old or antique technology.

What do others think?

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#2490803 24-May-2020 22:45

Starting a topic is always a good first step. Is that a wax cylinder player?

Technofreak

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#2490809 24-May-2020 23:17

gzt: Starting a topic is always a good first step. Is that a wax cylinder player?

It came with some Amberol cylinders which I understand are wax.

From what I've been able to figure out it's a 4 minute machine. I've only had it a few days, while I've seen it used some years ago I haven't yet used it myself. I dont want to damage it or any of the cylinders so have been reading up about it.

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Juicytree

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#2491202 25-May-2020 17:08

This has been in my shed for some considerable time. I think it is a transformer or a rectifier, possibly used to provide 240 volt domestic supply to a battery radio.

gzt

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#2491407 25-May-2020 21:33

Do not rotate the knob marked "VOLT" further than is necessary to obtain good volume.

Back when operating a radio receiver was an art and a science. Love it.

nztim

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#2494688 29-May-2020 22:31

I have a few things from the past (70s)

A western electric red princess phone, a set of PYE ISO Tronic FL2500 Speakers, and a Marantz 2325 amp - All still in excellent working condition

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sm1ff

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#2494800 30-May-2020 08:01

How about my sky + .we still use it daily, its a little bit slow and there is nothing to replace it with thats comparable. Had it since 2011 which if I remember was the first year it was out. And sky had a asking price of $599.99 on it. Its been replaced a few times over the years too!

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#2494809 30-May-2020 08:31

Juicytree:

This has been in my shed for some considerable time. I think it is a transformer or a rectifier, possibly used to provide 240 volt domestic supply to a battery radio.

That looks like a type 80 rectifier valve. I played with many of those in my youth.

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DarthKermit

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#2494811 30-May-2020 08:46

Last weekend I was helping relatives of my deceased neighbour clean out her garage and shed. Her late husband left a huge amount of old school tools and things behind.

In one box, there were two die-cast metal telephones with crank handles. These are the type where you cranked the handle to produce an electrical charge so you could then speak to an operator and ask to be patched through to someone.

Behodar

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#2494812 30-May-2020 08:53

DarthKermit: In one box, there were two die-cast metal telephones with crank handles. These are the type where you cranked the handle to produce an electrical charge so you could then speak to an operator and ask to be patched through to someone.

When I was a kid, a family friend had a pair of those: One in the house, and one in the games room. They still worked, and were a novelty to play with!

Technofreak

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#2494817 30-May-2020 09:13

Behodar:

DarthKermit: In one box, there were two die-cast metal telephones with crank handles. These are the type where you cranked the handle to produce an electrical charge so you could then speak to an operator and ask to be patched through to someone.

When I was a kid, a family friend had a pair of those: One in the house, and one in the games room. They still worked, and were a novelty to play with!

The local battery crank phones were also used on party lines where the crank was used to ring the bells on the other phones to call other parties on that party line.

I've got a collection of old phones including a couple of coin phones. I've also got an old NZPO 120 line PABX. My plan is to get them all set up and operating through the PABX.

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Juicytree

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#2494819 30-May-2020 09:18

There are some great Youtube videos of the telephone exchanges that were connected to this style of phone. Technofreak, it may be difficult to patch a crank phone to a pabx 😉

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#2494822 30-May-2020 09:28

Juicytree:

Technofreak, it may be difficult to patch a crank phone to a pabx 😉

just take the circuit board out of an old 746, the hook switch wiring diagram is almost identical to that of the wooden crank phone, Jumper T10, bottom left, to T9 Top right, and solder jumper cables from hook switch of the wooden crank phone to the 746 board, you can receive calls just not make them :)

Take it one step further and get a DTMF pad (upgrade kit to the NZPO phones) and have it external to the crank phone (over a cat 6 cable)

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Technofreak

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#2494826 30-May-2020 09:35

Juicytree:

There are some great Youtube videos of the telephone exchanges that were connected to this style of phone. Technofreak, it may be difficult to patch a crank phone to a pabx 😉

No intention of doing that. There are better fun things to do with a crank phone.

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Technofreak

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#2494827 30-May-2020 09:36

nztim:

Juicytree:

Technofreak, it may be difficult to patch a crank phone to a pabx 😉

just take the circuit board out of an old 746, the hook switch wiring diagram is almost identical to that of the wooden crank phone, Jumper T10, bottom left, to T9 Top right, and solder jumper cables from hook switch of the wooden crank phone to the 746 board, you can receive calls just not make them :)

Take it one step further and get a DTMF pad (upgrade kit to the NZPO phones) and have it external to the crank phone (over a cat 6 cable)

The PABX dosen't handle DTMF, it's decadic pulse or nothing.

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Technofreak

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#2494828 30-May-2020 09:38

Juicytree:

There are some great Youtube videos of the telephone exchanges that were connected to this style of phone. Technofreak, it may be difficult to patch a crank phone to a pabx 😉

I presume you're talking about the drop shutter manual exchanges.

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