Your oldest device or gadget

[EastWest Gal]

Tools-we have a lot of my dad's tools. They duplicate ours. I use his rubber-headed mallet all the time. I also have a Chicago cutlery set my parents gave us for Christmas early in our marriage-probably mid-1980s.

Gadget--Cuisinart food processor. Gift from my parents, also in the 1980s.

Singer sewing machine, inherited from my mother-in-law. It is in need of some repair. I used it to sew masks in March and it didn't handle pleats very well at all. It has loads of attachments. I also inherited about three generations worth of buttons and thread (generations going forward--we will never need to buy buttons or thread, LOL!

 

[braumeister]

Gadget--Cuisinart food processor. Gift from my parents, also in the 1980s.

Wow, I forgot about that because I don't use it very often. Ours is from 1974 or 75.

 

[Midpack]

I bought my Sears Craftsman power hand tools in 1979-1980, so 40+ years - 3/8”drill, sabre saw, 3” belt sander, 7-1/2“ circular saw and (pad) sander. I am sure they’ll still be operable when I go poof.

I have my Dietzgen 1096T drafting set from high school, around 1970, still like new.

I sold a working 1956 Leica M3 with lenses, flash, form fitted leather case, etc. in very good condition about a year ago, for over 3X what my Dad paid for it new.

DW is my favorite and [-]by far[/-] oldest gadget, not allowed to tell how old...

 

[easysurfer]

Sharp solar scientific calculator 1985, still works fine.

That is sweet! Your calculator looks brand new.

I have the similar model but uses batteries (which need replacing). Sure wish I had the solar model like the one you have. Can't remember when I bought my calculator if that was before the solar model was available or with my student's budget I went for a less expensive battery operated one.

On the Sharp, using the Hex and Dec functions sure came in handy for times I needed to convert between those two number bases. I also once owned a TI-57 programmable (the buttons gave out so I tossed away) where I did the Hex to Dec and Dec to Hex conversions by way of a program I wrote for the calculator. Wasn't as quick as the Sharp, but the writing a little program worked nevertheless. Felt like cheating compared to a more manual approach.

I do have a trusty TI-1795 solar calculator that does basic math which is all I really need now.

 

[statsman]

DW has several items from a few generations past, including a 100+ year-old secretary that was custom-built by her great-grandfather. It makes a great display piece. She also has her great-grandmother's china set that's around the same age that we use on Thanksgiving Day.

For myself, not much predates our marriage of 35 years. I do still own a pellet/BB pump-action my father gave me 50 years ago that I last used back in California years ago to shoot gophers. I won't be using it here in Texas because what passes for "soil" is mostly all limestone, and not much lives in that. I would guess some of the tools I still use, passed down to me by my grandfather and my FIL, are older than 50 years.

 

[samm]

Swiss army knife and compass from the 1980s

 

[cbo111]

Sharp solar scientific calculator 1985, still works fine.

+1
I also have and still use a little solar calculator from the 80's. But it only functions in daylight conditions. The internal storage battery pooped out long ago.
My DM has and still uses a Fuller Brush broom and dustpan purchased in the early 60's. The bristles are still in remarkable condition.

 

[scrabbler1]

Sharp solar scientific calculator 1985, still works fine.

I have a similar Sharp scientific calculator, the EL-506S model. It's not a solar one, but it looks like yours except it has 4 rows of functions above the number keypad instead of 3 on yours. I got mine as an 18th-birthday present back in 1981. I rarely use it any more because its digital readout is small compared to the less complex, newer calculators with larger and easier-to-read displays I often use. The Sharp one was vital in my college years.

As for gadgets in general, I had this desk lamp from 1980 which died a month ago. It had two goose-necks, so even after one of them died years ago, I still had the other one until that one went. I have a table lamp from the 1970s which sat idle for many years until a different one, whose lampshade was still intact, died several years ago. I kept its lampshade and attached it to my old table lamp which is on the verge of dying. The small table it sits on predates my moving here.

I have two portable radios which predate my moving to my current apartment back in 1989. They both still work although I don't listen to the radio inside my apartment any more after I ERed in 2008. One of them was a cassette tape combo but the tape playing part died years ago.

The microwave oven I got as a birthday present in 1987 still works fine. I bought a used vacuum cleaner back in 1985 which I still have and works okay.

 

[Keim]

Since many are sticking with electrical: I have many items from the 50s in regular use: console radio, fan, freezer, house... Just repaired a 1968 dehumidifier.

Oldest electrical item is probably the 1910 phone.

 

[Independent]

If we're sticking to electronics, my wife has a 15 inch TV that is probably 15 years old. She uses it every day.

I had a 19 inch color TV that I bought in 1977 and used every day until 2005, that's 18 years for a TV. But, it's gone now.

Our kitchen stove, that we use every day, was purchased in 1976. It is 43 years old. "Harvest Gold" color. Gas with electric ignition.

 

[Katsmeow]

We have moved several times and have used that time to assess where we are on stuff. With our last move, we were in a rental apartment for several months and were going to have to store almost everything so we pared down a lot of old stuff. So we got rid of the over 20 year old mixer that we hadn't used in years, that kind of thing. Hmm...OK DH has a Kindle Fire that is 9 years old that is still used. And we have a treadmill that is 7 years old that we use.

 

[HI Bill]

Klilpsch Forte (I) speakers, 35 years old. I paid $1,000 in 1985, and they're still rocking the house, but they are mostly used for movies now.

 

[Walt34]

I inherited from Dad a pair of very high quality, long, thin, needle-nose pliers, the likes of which I have never seen elsewhere and for that reason I won't ever let them out of the house for fear of never seeing them again. I can't count how many times they've proven invaluable.

I have a Canon AE-1 camera that I bought new in 1978 or '79, with the money from one of those months when we got three paychecks instead of only two. Give or take a few bucks it was $300 with the standard 50mm lens, which was a lot of money for me then. I think it was one of the first accurate auto-exposure 35mm cameras made, but I was thrilled with it. You can set it for either shutter-priority, aperture-priority, or of course manual.

A set of Sears Craftsman hand tools from the late 1970s, when they were still good tools. I still use those regularly.

Last but not least, a Montgomery Ward 3/4 inch drive ratchet wrench and a 1 5/8(?) socket to go with it. When I was about 15, working on a car with my father we needed it for a one-off nut on the suspension system, or something like that. As far as I can remember that's the only time it's ever been used but I'm sure that I'll need it for something the week after I give it away, so I'll keep it. Someone will inherit it just as I did.

 

[Bryan Barnfellow]

An older brother gave me a grey Navy stapler just before he shipped off to Vietnam (Gulf of Tonkin, aircraft carrier). Not sure how he came to own it; but I didn't ask questions. This was in 1972. I still have it and use it every day, 48 years later. Not bad for a $900 US military stapler! Too bad it wasn't red.

 

[Ian S]

My first and favorite portable radio still works well and finds some use in the garage although the AM band here isn't of that much interest any more. It was a Christmas present in 1963 and made in the USA by General Electric in their Utica New York plant. It has AM and two shortwave bands and as a kid, I used an external wire antenna and ground to improve shortwave reception. In those days it was always fun to listen to Radio Moscow and Radio Berlin International, "the voice of the German Democratic Republic." I should try the two shortwave bands again to see if there is still anything to listen to.

Anyway, here's an ad for the radio from Life Magazine in 1963.

 

[LOL!]

I found a Sunbeam electric skillet in the apartment complex dumpster back in 1978. It was vintage then and is used weekly in the household.

I have a Radio Shack Realistic DX-440 multi-band radio that is used every single day as a kitchen radio. But it's only about 35 years old.

And a model train set from the late 1950s with additional track, locomotives, rolling stock from the 1980s.

 

[bloom2708]

In elementary school I did one of those greeting card sales that schools did. I went door to door and people bought cards and other junk. I sold enough to get an AM and FM GE radio with headphones. It was 1978. I still have both the radio and headphones. Not very old, but I'm 49. It still works, but the headphones were not good when brand new.

It was pre-Sony Walkman I think. Or it was all I could get from the catalog of prizes.

 

[Palmtree]

Sharp solar scientific calculator 1985, still works fine.

I still have the exact same model, but without the solar option.

 

[MichaelB]

Klilpsch Forte (I) speakers, 35 years old. I paid $1,000 in 1985, and they're still rocking the house, but they are mostly used for movies now.

Those were my first speakers. Real beauties, wonderful sound. Enjoy!

 

[easysurfer]

I still have the exact same model, but without the solar option.

Just looked at the model (non-solar) of the calculator I have. It's the EL-506P. Similar but a few different keys. Does have base conversion buttons to BIN, OCT, HEX and DEC which came in really handy for me back in the day. No wonder I liked this calculator. Only thing missing is solar .

 

[38Chevy454]

Talking about calculators, I still have an HP 33 calculator. Has the red LED display. Still working. Used to use at work. Nobody would take it. It's about 40 years old.
I use a slightly newer HP 12 or 15 now at home. I prefer the HP RPN, once you've become familiar with it, the calculation process is easier.

 

[MRG]

Bang and Olfsen stereo, circa 1978.

 

[txtig]

Marantz stereo equipment (amp, tuner and turntable) that I bought in the early ‘70’s. A 35mm camera from the 50’s that belonged to my father.

 

[Ronstar]

B&W speakers circa 1980. Gave them to MIL more than 30 years ago and they still sound great.

 

[JP.mpls]

My kitchen stove. Used daily.
My guess is mid to late 1940's.

JP