What Old Technology Has Been Replaced by Modern Innovations?

[Evo]

I thought it might be interesting to see what members can come up with as far as old technology that was replaced by newer technology, or new technology that took things to a new level.

One item per post. You may post another item as soon as someone posts after you, this will give everyone a chance. If you have information or pictures to go along with your item, please feel free to add it.

I'll start - I remember when toothpaste tubes were made out of metal.

 

[Ronnin]

Pull tabs on Coke cans.

 

[Evo]

Radios had tubes in them and they had to warm up for several minutes before the radio would work.

 

[lisab]

Eight-track tapes that would change tracks mid-song. CLUNK-CLUNK!

 

[Poop-Loops]

When the internet was steam-powered.

 

[turbo]

I remember when cars had dashboards made of painted unpadded steel with no seat-belts.

 

[Evo]

I remember when there were no handheld calculators.

 

[turbo]

I remember when writing a computer program meant sitting at a huge punch-card console, turning in the stack of cards, and waiting days for a print-out.

 

[Math Is Hard]

I remember typing too fast on the typewriter, and the little things that hammer the letters onto the ribbon (the type bars?) getting tangled together.

 

[turbo]

I remember having to buy naphtha and flints to keep my cigarette lighter working.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Our first remote control for the TV was connected by wires.

 

[turbo]

I remember when TVs were so rare that people would congregate at the houses of other to watch a special show. All B&W, of course.

 

[rewebster]

 

[Garth]

I remember the good old days before nostalgia.

Garth

 

[Ivan Seeking]

78s...

 

[rewebster]

78s...

are those for Victrolas?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Yes, but most regular record players would play 78s as well.

My grandmother had a large collection of 78s and a Victrola.

 

[rewebster]

Yes, but most regular record players would play 78s as well.

My grandmother had a large collection of 78s and a Victrola.

I don't know how old you are---did you play cylinder records when you were a kid?

my grandparents left one of the players and some of those cylinder records out to be thrown away when I was there one time when I was a kid--I guess that's how some things get more rare

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Heh, no, but there were records for kids that were still made in the 78 format.

My parents had a mono HiFi, but my first real record player was stereo, so it had two hand cranks.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I remember when there weren't any antiques.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Goose Grease!

When as kids we got sick, we were covered in Goose Grease.

 

[tribdog]

I remember when most threads in physicsforums only got three or four replys and sometimes you had to wait all day for someone to say something.

 

[turbo]

I remember when LL Bean was not a catalog store, but was just a funky, innovative old sporting goods store that used to stay open 24 hours a day WAY before that caught on with other stores. My uncle would show up at 8 pm and say "Let's go to Beans", which involved hours of driving each way, because 1-95 had not been built yet. It would turn into an all-night pilgrimage with Thermoses of coffee and a big bag of sandwiches.

 

[tribdog]

I remember when Lucky Charms had three marshmallow shapes

 

[turbo]

I remember when my grandparents bought the first color TV in town, and the only show broadcast locally in color at the time was Flipper.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I remember TVs used to get VHF airwaves only. The chanel changer was a knob that went from 2 to 13. After that there were converter boxes you could get which brought in UHF airwaves. The TVs had horizontal and vertical control knobs and you needed them or the picture would do crazy things. They were black and white. I saw 'The Wizard of Oz' many times before I knew that Kansas is in B&W, while Oz is in color. From time to time, stations would broadcast a placard that said "Please stand by, we are experiencing technical difficulties". In the wee hours of the morning they would broadcast the national anthem, and then go off the air. Later in the morning they would broadcast a placard with a test pattern on it and then the national anthem again and then into the broadcast day.

 

[chemisttree]

Beer cans would rust... er, biodegrade.

 

[Werg22]

I remember the pre-Big Mac era.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I remember when my grandparents bought the first color TV in town, and the only show broadcast locally in color at the time was Flipper.

This is either a backward town, or a garbled memory. Disney's "Wonderful World of Color" started broadcasting in 1961. Flipper began in 1964.

 

[turbo]

This is either a backward town, or a garbled memory. Disney's "Wonderful World of Color" started broadcasting in 1961. Flipper began in 1964.

It could be a garbled memory, but not all the NBC/CDS affiliates started broadcasting in color at the same time, so who knows? At any rate, the very first TV show I saw in color was Flipper.

 

[Evo]

This is either a backward town, or a garbled memory. Disney's "Wonderful World of Color" started broadcasting in 1961. Flipper began in 1964.

Yep, our neighbors had a color tv and that was the only show in color.

 

[turbo]

This is either a backward town, or a garbled memory. Disney's "Wonderful World of Color" started broadcasting in 1961. Flipper began in 1964.

It could be a garbled memory, but not all the NBC/CBS affiliates started broadcasting in color at the same time, so who knows? Very rural area, and we had NBC/CBS years before we had an ABC affiliate in the area. When I was a kid and we got our first TV, there were only two broadcast channels At any rate, the very first TV show I saw in color was Flipper.

 

[jim mcnamara]

I remember turning in bacon fat to get ration tickets(WWII). Never knew why as a kid.
Turns out munitions (propellants) can be made from triglycerides. An interesting note - you needed ration tickets to buy bacon. Or gasoline.

 

[tribdog]

I remember there was a leaded gasoline as well as unleaded.

 

[turbo]

I remember ducking under my flimsy little desk at school in response to air-raid sirens. This despite the fact that our elementary school was less than 1/10th mile downstream from a huge hydro impoundment that would have swept away the whole town (and lots of others) if the dam had been breached.

 

[lisab]

...the only show broadcast locally in color at the time was Flipper.

Hahaha...the first show in color featured a large GREY animal...

 

[Evo]

I remember reading the pamphlets to have a fallout shelter installed in our backyard. My parents decided against it.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I remember ducking under my flimsy little desk at school in response to air-raid sirens. This despite the fact that our elementary school was less that 1/10th mile downstream from a huge hydro impoundment that would have swept away the whole town (and lots of others) if the dam had been breached.

What a memory this evokes. I was in kindergarten and we were marched to the basement of the school where we stood with our faces to the wall and our arms wrapped around our heads. We were told that this would protect us from bombs. The image that formed in my mind was that of cannon balls coming though the walls at all angles and leaving holes in the exact shape of the ball like in a Saturday morning cartoon.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I remember my wife and I lying on the floor while the SWAT teams shot it out with gangs who were returning fire with machine guns.

Oh yes, that was just LA.

 

[Astronuc]

I remember when we had rotary dial telephones, and we had to call the operator, who had to call an operator, who had to call an operator, who had to call our relatives to make an international call. It took about an hour to set up an international call.

I remember coke in bottles for a nickel.

Certainly vacuum tube HiFi amplifier.

Steam engines in revenue service.

Cooking on a wood stove.

Setting the choke on the car, to start it.

 

[chemisttree]

I remember reading the pamphlets to have a fallout shelter installed in our backyard. My parents decided against it.

Our landlord filled in the fallout shelter with sand. I had the best, deepest sandbox, er... litterbox in the neighborhood. I tried to dig to China once.

 

[_Mayday_]

I remember when we only had playstation 2's life was hard looking back.

 

[lisab]

Vacuum tube test machines at grocery stores.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Hand crank coffee grinders.

 

[_Mayday_]

non-HD tv's

 

[Evo]

I remember when we only had playstation 2's life was hard looking back.

non-HD tv's

 

[Evo]

Our landlord filled in the fallout shelter with sand. I had the best, deepest sandbox, er... litterbox in the neighborhood. I tried to dig to China once.

At least it was useful.

 

[turbo]

I remember having a telephone with a hand-crank (for years). You would lift the handset, crank the magneto to send a signal to the operator, tell her the number you wanted, and listen carefully to the clicks after you were connected. One click meant the operator jacked out. Two clicks meant that she jacked out and back in so she could monitor everything in your conversation. When I came back on my first freshman break, my parents had a dial phone. Woot!

 

[Evo]

I remember the only portable hair dryer was a large round plastic box that you could sling over your shoulder and it had a hose that went to a plastic bonnet that inflated on your head.

 

[turbo]

I remember the only portable hair dryer was a large round plastic box that you could sling over your shoulder and it had a hose that went to a plastic bonnet that inflated on your head.

Ooh! My mother and sisters had one of those.