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Your oldest device or gadget
06-14-2020, 09:07 PM
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#1
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: West of the Mississippi
Posts: 17,259
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Your oldest device or gadget
I came across this article about the oldest device or gadget people have and still use. It got me thinking and for now I think my oldest working device that I still use is a GE AM/FM kitchen radio. It has an attached electric outlet that can be turned on manually, or set set to turn on at a certain time. It's the kind mounted under the cabinets so does not take up counter space. It also has a light to illuminate the counter with Hi and Lo settings for the light level. The tuner is a dial that moves a red bar through the frequency scale. How quaint. Oh, reception is pretty good.
I estimate it's age at 30+ years.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52965974
Quote:
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The worst decisions are usually made in times of anger and impatience.
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06-14-2020, 09:13 PM
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#2
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gone traveling
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Berkeley, Denver, CO, USA
Posts: 1,406
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Meat grinder.
Wedding present. First marriage—1970.
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06-14-2020, 10:14 PM
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#3
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Washington State
Posts: 2,359
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We still use the blender my mom gave us. She probably bought it in the early 70's. The cord, while in still good shape, is kind of scary looking. It's all metal, built like a tank, and still has the glass container. I just recently bought a new seal and impeller for it and it works like new. I keep thinking about replacing the cord on it, but am a little worried the old parts would break if I tried to take it apart.
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06-14-2020, 10:53 PM
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#4
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Ventura County
Posts: 1,433
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Define gadget.
If it has to be electronics I still have a Heathkit receiver I built in the early 70's. If it just has to have moving parts I have old metal lathes that are older than I am. If it just has to be any kind of useful item my wife has some of her granddad's hand tools that are easily over a century old.
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06-14-2020, 11:02 PM
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#5
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Spending the Kids Inheritance and living in Chicago
Posts: 17,093
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OP needs to define gadget, I have an outhouse (toilet) that is 100 years old.
__________________
Fortune favors the prepared mind. ... Louis Pasteur
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06-14-2020, 11:12 PM
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#6
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 1,608
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I have a Singer sewing machine that is from the mid 1950's. It belonged to my aunt and was likely purchased around the time she married in Jan. 1955. It still works and I use it once in a while. Straight stitch only.
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06-15-2020, 02:04 AM
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#7
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Administrator
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: N. Yorkshire
Posts: 34,124
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Trigger has had the same broom for the last 20 years. (Scene from Only Fools and Horses)
https://youtu.be/LAh8HryVaeY
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Retired in Jan, 2010 at 55, moved to England in May 2016
Enough private pension and SS income to cover all needs
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06-15-2020, 04:08 AM
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#8
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Jalisco, Mexico
Posts: 1,747
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Fairly certain that nothing the wife and I own predates our marriage (30 years) - We do have a luggage scale that we acquired early on, but outside of that everything else is probably 10 years old or newer. In 2012 we had pared everything we own down to two suitcases each, after having filled a 2000+ sq ft house up through 2009. I'm guessing we'll be outliers in this thread...
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06-15-2020, 04:20 AM
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#9
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 12,901
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I don't have much which is more than a few years old. When I divorced I let my ex keep virtually everything in order to get a fresh start. A move overseas further limited the electronics I could keep. So, in terms of electronic "gadgets", the oldest item I own is my mid-2011 27" iMac computer, which I now use exclusively as a TV.
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06-15-2020, 05:38 AM
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#10
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Conroe, Texas
Posts: 18,727
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I have my grandmother's 1919 stand up victrola (crank type) and it's in perfect condition. With it are original needle packs, four binders of albums (mostly polkas) and it's never been refinished.
I tried to pass it to my daughter, but she has "no room" for it.
As far as "gadgets" acquired by me (and still used and workings as original):
1. 4 HP Sears Craftsman air compressor - bought 1975
2. Weller soldering gun - bought about 1970
3. Mostly complete set of REAL Craftsman tools (sockets, wrenches) - bought 1960's
4. DW has an electric glue gun which probably dates back to the 1960's
5. A "Waterbury Kitchen Clock" with hand painted glass front dating back to the 1880's. Still running fine as long as I oil the movement bearings.
That's enough...
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*********Go Yankees!*********
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06-15-2020, 05:39 AM
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#11
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 11,327
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I still have an old wall phone from 30+ years and lamps that go back many decades further. I have chandeliers that were wired from gas lamps more than 100 years old.
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Idleness is fatal only to the mediocre -- Albert Camus
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06-15-2020, 05:44 AM
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#12
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: No. California
Posts: 1,858
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I have my parents waffle iron that they got in 1948. It still works fine however I do worry a little about the old fabric electric cord to plug it in. It's in good shape but ...
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06-15-2020, 06:08 AM
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#13
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: On a hill in the Pine Barrens
Posts: 9,719
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This is an older night light which goes back at least to the 1940/50 era. Redid the electrical cord and keep a small led bulb in it, always on in my office.
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06-15-2020, 06:31 AM
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#14
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Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 10,723
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I'm going with "electronics" and still useful.
This gadget has been delivering weather and hazards for over 40 years. Runs even if the Internet goes out.
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06-15-2020, 06:39 AM
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#15
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Northern Illinois
Posts: 16,599
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I don't know if tools are gadgets, but I still use some of my grandfather's tools. The old tool that I use the most is his old crescent wrench. I have no idea how old it is. Maybe close to 100 years old.
All of my newer type gadgets are just that - new.
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06-15-2020, 07:03 AM
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#16
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Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Flyover country
Posts: 25,349
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If it needs electricity, then my Toastmaster waffle/pizzelle maker is my oldest gadget. Bought in the 70s.
If it doesn't need electricity, then the oldest gadget I use regularly is the Brown & Sharpe micrometer my mother used when she worked in a munitions factory during World War II.
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I thought growing old would take longer.
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06-15-2020, 07:09 AM
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#17
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Santa Paula
Posts: 4,076
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1954 K & E Log Log duplex decitrig Slide Ruls
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Retired Jan 2009 Have not looked back.
AA 60/35/5 considering SS and pensions a SP annuity
WR 2% with 2SS & 2 Pensions
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06-15-2020, 07:15 AM
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#18
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Northern IL
Posts: 26,888
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06-15-2020, 07:24 AM
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#19
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 13,143
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Oldest thing that I still use is a used original type Foodsaver machine made in the 1980's. No kidding when those things last a lifetime.
I have some old computers (Timex Sinclair, Tandy 100 laptop, Mac Plus) around too but they are in storage. Also, had a Sony Mavica digital camera (that used floppy drives) but donated that away (still have some second thoughts about parting with it) since the battery was dead and I didn't want to buy batteries for something I really don't use anymore.
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Have you ever seen a headstone with these words
"If only I had spent more time at work" ... from "Busy Man" sung by Billy Ray Cyrus
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06-15-2020, 07:27 AM
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#20
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Texas
Posts: 10,930
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Me!
Lot's of wear and tear and showing signs of age, but it's still working, for the most part.
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20's "something" mind, trapped in a 70's "something" body
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