Weird and Wacky Engineering
And that's when I said "Doh!"
Clive Maxfield
2/22/2013 10:35 AM EST
As you may recall from my previous blog – Mock Electronics – An Eclectic Emporium of Electronic Elements – I recently discovered the most amazing electronics store that is reminiscent of the stores of my youth. Visiting Mock Electronics, which has been in business since 1946, is like taking a Magical Mystery Tour into the unknown, because you never know what you will find there.
A couple of days ago as I pen these words (and only a few days after my first visit), I convinced myself that I really needed to return to Mock Electronics to purchase a few components. Do you remember The Jetsons – an American animated television sitcom that was first produced in the early 1960s?
Well, as soon as I entered Mock Electronics, I ambled my way around the corner to the "antique area" to see if anything new had turned up, and the very first thing that caught my eye was a little portable television set which I am guessing is circa the 1960s (if you have any information on this I'd love to hear it). The thing is, this little retro beauty looks just like something you might have seen on The Jetsons. I would have purchased it just for the look of the thing, but the great news is that it still works as shown below (Click Here to see a larger, more detailed version of this image):
Doesn’t this look mega-cool? Now, there are a couple of things that need attention, such as the fact that it's missing the plastic knob that acts as the On/Off switch and then selects between the different bands of VHF frequencies. Also, the two "rabbit ears antenna" need replacing, because only the bottom sections remain.
But none of this attracts from the visual appeal of this little beauty. I had a great big smile from ear-to-ear when I brought it back to my office.
Yesterday, when I had a few moments to spare, I drove over to an old TV repair shop that's just a couple of miles from my office, taking my Jetsons' TV with me. The owner of the repair shop was as enthusiastic as I with regard to how cool this little scamp looks. So I asked if he had any spare knobs and/or replacements for the rabbit ears antenna, and he replied "No I don’t, but there's an old electronics store downtown called Mock Electronics that has boxes of old knobs, and that probably has the old rabbit ears antenna also."
And that's when I said "Doh!"
If you found this article to be of interest, visit Programmable Logic Designline where – in addition to my Max's Cool Beans blogs – you will find the latest and greatest design, technology, product, and news articles with regard to programmable logic devices of every flavor and size (FPGAs, CPLDs, CSSPs, PSoCs...).
Also, you can obtain a highlights update delivered directly to your inbox by signing up for my weekly newsletter – just Click Here to request this newsletter using the Manage Newsletters tab (if you aren't already a member you'll be asked to register, but it's free and painless so don't let that stop you [grin]).
A couple of days ago as I pen these words (and only a few days after my first visit), I convinced myself that I really needed to return to Mock Electronics to purchase a few components. Do you remember The Jetsons – an American animated television sitcom that was first produced in the early 1960s?
Well, as soon as I entered Mock Electronics, I ambled my way around the corner to the "antique area" to see if anything new had turned up, and the very first thing that caught my eye was a little portable television set which I am guessing is circa the 1960s (if you have any information on this I'd love to hear it). The thing is, this little retro beauty looks just like something you might have seen on The Jetsons. I would have purchased it just for the look of the thing, but the great news is that it still works as shown below (Click Here to see a larger, more detailed version of this image):
Doesn’t this look mega-cool? Now, there are a couple of things that need attention, such as the fact that it's missing the plastic knob that acts as the On/Off switch and then selects between the different bands of VHF frequencies. Also, the two "rabbit ears antenna" need replacing, because only the bottom sections remain.
But none of this attracts from the visual appeal of this little beauty. I had a great big smile from ear-to-ear when I brought it back to my office.
Yesterday, when I had a few moments to spare, I drove over to an old TV repair shop that's just a couple of miles from my office, taking my Jetsons' TV with me. The owner of the repair shop was as enthusiastic as I with regard to how cool this little scamp looks. So I asked if he had any spare knobs and/or replacements for the rabbit ears antenna, and he replied "No I don’t, but there's an old electronics store downtown called Mock Electronics that has boxes of old knobs, and that probably has the old rabbit ears antenna also."
And that's when I said "Doh!"
If you found this article to be of interest, visit Programmable Logic Designline where – in addition to my Max's Cool Beans blogs – you will find the latest and greatest design, technology, product, and news articles with regard to programmable logic devices of every flavor and size (FPGAs, CPLDs, CSSPs, PSoCs...).
Also, you can obtain a highlights update delivered directly to your inbox by signing up for my weekly newsletter – just Click Here to request this newsletter using the Manage Newsletters tab (if you aren't already a member you'll be asked to register, but it's free and painless so don't let that stop you [grin]).
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Duane Benson
2/22/2013 1:53 PM EST
That is too funny.
I thought that all over the air TV went digital a few years ago, but you have a nice picture on your little set. Do you still have some local stations broadcasting in analog or did you sneak a converter box in behind it?
In any case, that's a very cool TV and would pair up quite well with the old Timex Sinclair 1000 that I have. I had thought it was broken, but it turns out the antenna input on my TV is non-functional, as is the wall bug for the Sinclair. The end result of that is that I don't really know if it's working or not.
One of these days I'll figure it out and if it works, I'll send it off and you can see how retro-futuristic the combination looks.
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Max the Magnificent
2/22/2013 4:17 PM EST
In fact this was a VHF feed through a cable at the TV repair shop -- my next blog is going to pose the question as to how I get this working in my office ... look for my blog on Monday...
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karen.field
2/22/2013 6:15 PM EST
Great story Max. Sad to say, a TV repair shop (maybe the last one in Boston) just closed down. I wonder how well yours is doing?
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Max the Magnificent
2/25/2013 10:29 AM EST
Hi Karen -- I'm afraid to say that it's barely limping along -- it's really sad -- the owner is a real nice guy but very (painfully) shy -- the first time I was in there (years ago now) I had a technical question and his wife (in the front) said that she'd try to get him out but he wouldn't talk much -- but we ended up getting on together really well.
All he knows is repairing TVs -- I think he learned most of it from his dad (now no longer with us) -- I don;t know what the/they will do as time goes by...
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David Ashton
2/23/2013 5:25 PM EST
Things like bunny ears, knobs and ferrite rods are getting short and hats off to Mock for keeping things like this.
Someone gave me a non-working 40" plasma TV not long ago and I was pretty sure it was just some bulging electrolytics were to blame. They were 680uF 400V I think, and short squat little rascals (as Max would say) to fit in under some framework. Do you think I could find anything comparable anywhere? Eventually I gave up and chucked it. As everyone does these days.... So I can understand why the repair shops are going under.
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Max the Magnificent
2/25/2013 10:30 AM EST
Hi David -- next time you need something like that let me know -- it will give me an excuse to go down to Mock again :-)
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IDontUseTheForumSoWhyAmIForcedToMakeANickname
2/25/2013 11:32 AM EST
For some reason only this came to mind:
Meet Clive Jetson,
His boy Elroy,
Daughter Judy,
Gina, his wife
If only I could remember the sound effects between the lyrics :)
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BeeKeeper
2/27/2013 2:38 PM EST
That should be George Jetson. His wifes name is Jane. The dog is Astro. The robot maid is Rosie. He works for Spacely Sprokets whose arch rival is Cogswell Cogs
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FrankCF
2/25/2013 12:36 PM EST
My father had one of those, it was yellow. In the mid 70s he was going to throw it out so I took it. I took the case off and used it to make the 'glass teletype' from Don Lancaster's article in Radio Electronics.
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Max the Magnificent
2/26/2013 12:45 PM EST
Do you still have your "Glass Teletype"?
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FrankCF
3/1/2013 4:04 PM EST
About 7 years ago I moved from a house to a Condo. I don't have a lot of storage so I threw it out. Along with the SS50 computer it was hooked up to.
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David Ashton
2/25/2013 4:12 PM EST
When I was about 12 my folks gave me a Panasonic ball radio - very cool....
http://www.transistor.org/collection/panasonic/panasonic3.html
Unfortunately a "friend" once "borrowed" it and I never saw it again. Memo to self - neither a borrower nor a lender be.....
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darenw
2/28/2013 2:49 AM EST
Reminds me of this famous painting: http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Glorification_of_the_Eucharist_-_Salimbeni.JPG where a couple famous blokes rule the world, sun and moon but if you don't look carefully, looks like Sputnik. What other retro-futuristic consumer electronic product ideas are hiding in 300 year old paintings?
Seriously, the whole 1950s-1960s era fascinates me. Atomic age, space age/race, Jetsons, Googie architecture and all that. If we ignore the bad things, there was a lot of optimism, energy and playfulness as designers brought forward-thinking scientific ideas symbolically into products for the masses - atom symbols, spheres with rings like Saturn. There was a high "cool factor" in many mundane businesses, just because of being a third tier supplier to NASA. Educational science toys hyped up as relevant to the space program.
While not mainstream, there is seemingly growing interest in that era, perhaps because today's world doesn't have any grand adventure. Perhaps businesses like Mock Electronics will allow people to explore actual working products (maybe with a little contemporary cheating) from back then, will stir up a push for a new grand adventure, something that will make many currently mundane unrelated things cool.
Or maybe not. At least enjoy the coolness of creativity of other decades.
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Max the Magnificent
2/28/2013 4:29 PM EST
I love the link to that picture -- thanks for sharing.
If I had a time machine -- seeing the 50s and 60s as an adult (instead of as a kid) would be at the top of my list :-)
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David Ashton
2/28/2013 7:02 PM EST
@Max - One of your pictures of Mock's shelves had some old turntables and that brought back some memories. Probably late 60's I had a nice big old valve radio, it had a Crystal Pickup input at the back, and I bought an old "record changer" turntable that worked with it. Cost me peanuts.
You could pick up old classical '78s for 10c each, so a whole symphony cost $1 or less. The sound was surprisingly good, if noisy by today's standards. I once got an old record of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata by a then famous pianist called "Solomon" and when I played it my mom came into my room with tears in ehr eyes - she had had exactly the same record when she was a kid and had also loved it.
Of course I junked it as soon as I started earning money and could afford proper LPs and a decent turntable. Wish I still had it now. The ignorance of youth....
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Max the Magnificent
3/1/2013 10:11 AM EST
## Wish I still had it now. The ignorance of youth....
Tell me about it :-)
I remember when I was a young lad and my parents upgraded their "entertainment system" (radio, record deck, amplifier, etc.) and they gave me the old one for my bedroom. It was a massive piece of furniture -- must have been 6 feet long -- I was as happy as a clam (and that's pretty happy)
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Deltamike 197
3/1/2013 3:01 PM EST
Clive...I have a 27" Sony CRT that I bought new in 1993. I was going to use it until it dropped dead before getting a new digital TV but finally got tired of waiting. I bought a new 55" plasma last fall. Installing the plasma required some new audio and video furniture and I took the old audio rack on wheels to the Goodwill store for recycling. When I dropped it off I noticed that there were 3 (yes 3) PALLETS sitting there loaded with not so old CRT televisions waiting for a truck to take them away. Goodwill couldn't even give away CRT TVs so they were hauling them to the dump. My Sony CRT is now sitting in the guest bedroom gathering dust. Probably never use it again but like most pack rats, I hate to throw away perfectly functioning electronics.
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Max the Magnificent
3/1/2013 3:22 PM EST
I know what you mean about not wanting to throw away perfectly good electronics -- but you can store only so much -- and the thing is that you know you are never going to use it -- so all it's doing is taking up space in your home ... maybe it's time to "bite the bullet"?
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meterman
3/1/2013 5:30 PM EST
Obvious question: Why do you need rabbit ears? Broadcast analog TV signals do not exist anymore.
I too am a pack rat, and I probably have 6 or 8 sets of rabbit ears in the basement. When scrapping old TVs I always saved them because they were so easily broken. I also have a bin of various old knobs.
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Max the Magnificent
3/4/2013 1:14 PM EST
Maybe not rabbit ears -- what do I need to pick up a digital signal broadcast from a nearby tower or satellite?
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Hughston
3/4/2013 11:06 AM EST
You can also get your TV repaired at Mock. They have a technician that works there.
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Max the Magnificent
3/4/2013 1:15 PM EST
They do? They never mentioned that (the little rascals) ... but to be fair I never asked :-)
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