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Author Topic: The Oldest Electronic Gear You Have Greg Anderson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 766 From: Ogden Valley, Utah Registered: Nov 1999 posted 11-24-2009 09:16 AM                        AND What do you do with it? I'm asking because yesterday I finally "threw out" a daisy wheel printer from 1983, a scanner from 1998 (which used a printer port to connect to the computer), an external Iomega zip drive (which also used the printer port), a ni-cad battery charger (which could charge up to 8 D batteries at a time!) and lots of other odds and ends. I wasn't using any of it anymore but I just never felt like it was junk, because it still worked when I stopped using it. However, I couldn't stand the clutter and I really did hate to see some of it go after all these years (especially the 50-year-old speakers, although I had no use for them and they were part of a system which no longer exists). So many memories of obtaining and then using that stuff. And, by the way, I dumped them at a legitimate electronics recycling center so I wouldn't feel irresponsible. Today, I still have plenty of other things which I see with the eyes of a predator. (Be careful, my first CD player which now has a sticky drawer, because now I know where to dump you!) Anyhow, I wondered about the rest of the Film-Tech crowd. I figured there must be a lot of us holding onto old gear and a lot of us finding clever ways to make old gear continue to do something useful. You folks might even have some great insight to share about nice ways to get rid of old gear. So I'm asking for these stories. (I kept this.)  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-24-2009 10:50 AM                        Although I don't really have anything I'd consider vintage, I have a Panasonic home receiver with an 8-track recording deck built in. I use it as a pre-amp for our non-sync music in the booth and also for music-listening when I'm doing film work. The volume control is a little noisy and I doubt the tape deck still works, but the unit is still kicking after nearly 30 years of daily use. In fact it never gets turned off. Connected to it, we have a 20+ year old Pioneer CD player. At home I still have an ancient Hitachi cassette deck; a Technics turntable from back in the days when they were making heavy-plattered direct drive tables for home use; and a set of SL-7 Technics speakers. These are all connected to an old Panasonic receiver, and I ran the tape-outputs from the receiver to my computer, so I can rip from either format for editing, or even record off the radio if need be. Downstairs, we have a set of Akai speakers from around 1976 connected to our TV setup. They still sound excellent. I'll bet there are lots of old speakers around...I sold a set of huge Marantz speakers to a friend of mine in 1978 and he's still using them on his home system today.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-24-2009 11:42 AM                     I've got one of these: And one of these: The radio is older than the generator but the generator still works. Oh, yeah! I've got a nice Tek scope, there, too! I took the chassis out of the radio because I wanted to recap it but I couldn't find the right part to replace the mica bypass cap across the line input. That's the one that I was told to be sure I got right because it has a tendency to go up in smoke, thus setting your house on fire. Thus the reason the whole thing is in my garage. The wife doesn't want it in the house because she thinks it's a fire trap... But, if I ever get the thing recapped, it won't be.  |  IP: Logged Mitchell Dvoskin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1869 From: West Milford, NJ, USA Registered: Jan 2001 posted 11-24-2009 04:13 PM                     This early 1920's Pathé 28mm projector's lamp works off of either 110 wall current though the transformer pictured, or off the generator (looks like a motor) attached to the hand crank.  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 11-24-2009 07:16 PM                       I am soooo envious! Where'd you get that, Mitchell? And what is the film of?  |  IP: Logged Todd McCracken Master Film Handler Posts: 263 From: Northridge, CA, USA Registered: Mar 2008 posted 11-25-2009 02:04 PM                    Ive got a 1918 Singer sewing machine that was converted to electric. Darn if I know where it is though  |  IP: Logged Mitchell Dvoskin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1869 From: West Milford, NJ, USA Registered: Jan 2001 posted 11-25-2009 02:22 PM                     quote: Tim Reed Where'd you get that, Mitchell? And what is the film of? After years of hunting, I got it off of eBay about a decade ago. It is a Pathé model KOK projector. Note that some people believe that the KOK was 9.5mm, an inaccuracy from an old book on Pathé projectors. The KOK was always 28mm, and used safety film from day one. One sprocket hole per frame on one side (at the frame line), 3 sprocket holes per frame on the other so you can not accidentally flip the image or thread out of frame. The film is the second half of some 1800's costume picture that I have never been able to identify. I also have a similar vintage Krupp-Ernemann 35mm table top projector that is almost an exact knockoff of the Pathé KOK, except the Ernemann is 35mm. And finally, I have a Pathé 17.5mm sound projector that appears to be from the late 1930's. What is unusual about this projector is that it does not have an exciter lamp, the exciter sound comes from the main projection bulb, bounced via an externally mounted mirror, onto the the photocell.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 11-25-2009 04:58 PM                        Come on, those projectors are NOT electronic! They may be electric, but that is different. This is probably the oldest fully working piece of electronic equipment that I have, at least that I know of: Not a stock photo.  |  IP: Logged Jeff Stricker Master Film Handler Posts: 481 From: Calumet, Mi USA Registered: Nov 1999 posted 11-25-2009 05:00 PM                     Old Collins 75A2, A3, A4 series ham radio receivers from the early/mid-50's. Also a pair of McIntosh MC-40 tube power amplifiers from the early 60's (P-P 6L6GC's). An RCA 77-D ribbon microphone from the 50's ("Larry King" mic, of course, his is just a replica shell with no innards...they use small clip-on mics to get audio pick up) And last, but not least, my BX-40 Brenkerts and SH-1000's which are pre-war ( WW II, that is ).  |  IP: Logged Damien Taylor Master Film Handler Posts: 493 From: Perth, Western Australia Registered: Apr 2007 posted 11-25-2009 07:44 PM                     I'm a big 77-d fan, they are getting veery pricey these days.  |  IP: Logged Marc Hansen Film Handler Posts: 93 From: Seattle, WA, USA Registered: Dec 2000 posted 11-25-2009 09:27 PM                     Atwater-Kent Model 20C made in 1925  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 11-26-2009 04:23 AM                     quote: Oh, yeah! I've got a nice Tek scope, there, too! Yea, go ahead and rub it in on how good a 465B is Wow a "NES" system .. like mine.. Wish I still have my Fairchild "Channel F" videogame system...1977 Got my father's Zenith "Trans World" receiver .. and a tube checker. quote: Mitchell Dvoskin 1920's Pathé 28mm What kind of intermittent/shuttle claw mechanism does that unit have? -Monte  |  IP: Logged Mitchell Dvoskin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1869 From: West Milford, NJ, USA Registered: Jan 2001 posted 11-26-2009 11:06 AM                     Monte, it's a claw pull down, with claws on both sides for an even pull. Joe Redifer, I still have a working Atari 2600, although probably the oldest purely electronic device I own would be an American Marconi table radio, battery operated on "B" cells. Don't know the radio's exact age, but since American Marconi was sold and became RCA in 1919, my guess is it is from the late teens.  |  IP: Logged Jesse Skeen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1517 From: Sacramento, CA Registered: Aug 2000 posted 11-26-2009 06:29 PM                     I got a Channel F game system from someone who worked at my old long-time theater. I'm hoping they keep including analog TV tuners in new TVs for a while, since that's the only way to hook up old game systems. Otherwise I'll have to use a VCR tuner. I have an RCA SGT-250 stereo CED videodisc player made in July 1982 hooked up to my system, which I got a few years ago from an Ebay seller- it had never been used until it came into my hands. I had to made a few adjustments on it to get it to start at the very beginning, and it ran a little funny the first day but it's gotten used to being alive now.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-26-2009 07:45 PM                        I collect old Western Electric telephones. The oldest of these is a 302 desk set from 1938, which is complete and works fine. I don't have it hooked up at the moment, but it is one of the few pieces of technology that one can still use productively every day.  |  IP: Logged

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