Back when equipment was really cool - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: Electro Fan
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 06, 2015, 09:51:08 pm
content: I didn’t know they had voice recognition command driven menu stuff thenNot to mention we hardly see the nice analog clocks any moreDon’t see any digital readouts…The guy in the chair looks to be ahead of his time with business casualNice phone handset too

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 06, 2015, 09:56:11 pm
content: Check out the chairs.

author: Electro Fan
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 06, 2015, 10:00:27 pm
content: Quote from: tautech on May 06, 2015, 09:56:11 pmGood spot. Maybe this outfit produced movies, or had picnics.

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 06, 2015, 10:06:49 pm
content: More likely, spent almost all the budget on the gear, and got the chairs with the leftover money.

author: smjcuk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 06, 2015, 10:10:29 pm
content: We use a couple of Ikea Siaro directors chairs in our data centers. You can fold them up and slide them between racks so people don't fall over them you see. Also they double as a work bench.These guys were just 60 years ahead of us

author: Electro Fan
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 06, 2015, 10:30:23 pm
content: Quote from: smjcuk on May 06, 2015, 10:10:29 pmQuote from: CatalinaWOW on May 06, 2015, 10:06:49 pmBack when practical was practical

author: eas
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2015, 03:59:45 am
content: My guess was something military, given the chairs, .A subsequent Google Image search brings up aWikimedia Commons page, which gives the original source as "National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office Photo Library." The caption is:QuoteNo date given, but the category is TUMBLER-SNAPPER, which looks like a code-name. Indeed, it was.Operation TUMBLER-SNAPPERwas conducted in 1952.It is, indeed, some early test equipment, part of the huge Cold War effort that dumped a shit-ton of money into the arms race that made the US Govt the first/best customer of a lot of the early Silicon Valley and Route 128 high tech companies.

author: Electro Fan
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2015, 04:34:42 am
content: Wow, the photo went from cute to kind of disconcerting.eas, your Google search was an impressive find. (And hopefully this stuff leading to the development of Silicon Valley and Route 128 is the happy ending result.)

author: TooOldForThis
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2015, 05:04:14 am
content: This photo comes from a time when wearing a tie was always absolutely required, every office, meeting room, and lab had a thick cloud of cigarette smoke, and every surface was covered in a yellow layer of old nicotine. The only plus side was the pin-up girl posters all over the place.

author: eas
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2015, 05:16:51 am
content: Quote from: TooOldForThis on May 07, 2015, 05:04:14 amOnly an obvious plus if you weren't an old-school "computer."

author: LektroiD
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2015, 05:17:52 am
content: Looks a little like theRCA Synthesizer

author: Paul Moir
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2015, 07:03:00 am
content: Fortunately they closed the chair gap in the early '60s with one that would instill fear in any enemy:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missile_launch_control_center#/media/File:Minuteman_III_Launch_Control.JPG

author: smjcuk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2015, 07:25:56 am
content: That reminds me of this:

author: rolycat
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2015, 08:58:33 am
content: Quote from: eas on May 07, 2015, 03:59:45 amThat is one evil-looking nuclear fireball:

author: Sailor
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2015, 11:02:08 am
content: Jeeezzz, do they have a description of the camera systems?

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2015, 11:04:15 am
content: Quote from: Sailor on May 07, 2015, 11:02:08 amRapatronic.

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2015, 11:09:12 am
content: Quote from: tautech on May 06, 2015, 09:56:11 pmWhat's wrong with them? I've got some and they're really nice to sit in.

author: Shock
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2015, 12:00:00 pm
content: Caption:"We have a situation, the lunch box is out of reach... I repeat the lunch box is out of reach."

author: KDC
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2015, 12:19:51 pm
content: Man, I have to walk about 100 feet to see panels like that in the control room at work.We have modern office chairs though. And our old school phone is just a desk style one, in red.

author: JackOfVA
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 07, 2015, 12:23:32 pm
content: Rightmost rack, centered vertically is a Hammarlund Super-Pro shortwave receiver.Small round signal strength meter at the upper left, two large tuning knobs at the bottom.

author: xrunner
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2015, 12:26:17 pm
content: You know that thing was sucking watts like nobody's business: Vacuum tubes, electric motors, thermal strip chart recorders, fans to cool the inside ...

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2015, 06:03:26 pm
content: Cameras by Hasselblad. good enough to go to the moon and take film of atomic bomb blasts. You had something like a mile of film inside, and it went all in a second or two.

author: eas
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2015, 06:10:07 pm
content: Quote from: xrunner on May 07, 2015, 12:26:17 pmAnd yet, the power consumption and (in)efficiency are trivial compared to that of the DUT!

author: SoundTech-LG
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2015, 07:09:51 pm
content: The guy in the chair is making recordings for the voice announcement of the current time. It's WWV in Boulder CO.

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2015, 07:54:38 am
content: Quote from: SeanB on May 07, 2015, 06:03:26 pmI don't think Hasselblad was involved in the Rapatronic cameras. These were invented by Harold "Doc" Edgerton, one of the founders of EG&G. MIT maintains a great website on Edgerton's technology legacy, by the way:http://edgerton-digital-collections.org/

author: Rascal
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2015, 08:02:02 am
content: I have a garage full of cool stuff then...................................