BS: Elderly electrical appliances

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 May 19 - 10:55 PM

Keeping up with all of the new (mostly Asian) companies is a challenge. At one time Honda was a motorcycle, then a three-wheeled "car" and finally regular automobiles (but also excellent things like heavy machinery and small homeowner items like generators and lawn mowers). Sanyo, Samsung, they've all gone through an arc.

One company bound to be hit hard by the Trump idiocy is Vizio, a company in the US that orders devices, to spec, from various Chinese companies. They don't manufacture anything themselves, but they created a list of features they wanted their devices to have and they turn out to be very good devices.

I have a whole bunch of early electronics from my father's collection, I haven't had the heart to sell them but I suppose I should. Lots of Sony, and some other high-end manufacturers. Recorders and microphones, etc.

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: olddude
Date: 13 May 19 - 10:47 PM

Does a pacemaker count?

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Donuel
Date: 13 May 19 - 08:54 PM

On average Samsung sucks.

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: wysiwyg
Date: 13 May 19 - 06:36 PM

These appliances must have been created before built-in obsolescence became a requirement.


Bingo!

My mom's circa-1955 waffle iron.... Son now uses it daily.

We used a first gen microwave til we moved out of the house we installed it in, after plucking it off the curb of the folks foolish enough to "update." So heavy that they loaded it for me.... I think it got another ten years with us, on top of their stretch. I hope the landlady we just left it with doesn't take it out. Huge. Turkey size. Going strong.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 13 May 19 - 08:54 AM

Too many modern brand names rush new products into mass manufacture and sales
with known issues.
Then do everything they can to avoid responsibility for subsequent failure to perform as advertised and expected...

Let's just say I'll never buy Samsung again...

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Thompson
Date: 13 May 19 - 08:46 AM

Not particularly ancient, but our washing machine gave up the ghost last week. Then I looked up possible reasons for the red light flashing and found that one was the filter. Wrestled it out, and it had a cylinder of hard scale all round it. Ran two 95 degree washes, the first with a cup of baking powder, the second with a cup of vinegar, and it's back working (touch wood).

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Helen
Date: 12 May 19 - 03:49 PM

Old technology of any kind belongs in this thread. I was just referring to my microwave oven in the original post because I'm amazed that it is still going strong.

Hubby bought an Edison wax cylinder phonograph a while back. It still works. It's interesting to me how much we take for granted the ability to hear or see performances through other media, instead of only seeing live performances and the old technology reminds me of that.

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 12 May 19 - 12:59 PM

When it's time to clear out my mum's house,
I've got to decidede what to do with a collection of my Dads mid 70s to early 80s Hi Fi gear.

Also my first decent system as well..
[I lived off tinned tomato soup and dried peas for weeks saving up to buy it - 1979]..

I'll be surprised if any of it will switch on and work...

Any rubber or foam components will have perished long ago...

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 May 19 - 12:44 PM

I bought a 1970's portable typewriter at an estate sale, because my children destroyed my old portable typewriter in their playful childhood. I think this is manual, but for many years I had a huge Cadillac of typewriters, a daisy-wheel Silver-Reed electric that changed fonts easily. It was the printer (letter quality in the days of dot matrix) that was used with my 1980s computers. I finally donated it somewhere, it didn't work and no one was maintaining them. Now typewriters are all the rage again, though mostly the manual varieties.

Tom Hanks collects typewriters. He wrote a book about them.

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Mr Red
Date: 12 May 19 - 04:27 AM

I have an electric razor that was a 21st birthday present. Two battery razors have come and gone and I can still use the original (should I be bothered).

And I used an old sewing machine to make a tent extension for Rogue Towers which was the GF's mother's ( or older) - it is a Singer - the type with the bolt-on motor. May be an aftermarket bolt-on too.

Wot am I bid?

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: JennieG
Date: 12 May 19 - 01:29 AM

You are right, Jack. A small mechanical machine is very easy to maintain, no computers to worry about unlike many modern machines.

leenia, the price these machines now sell for is scary - many hundreds of dollars! I paid $140 Oz, even with a missing bobbin case that was considered to be a bargain. With the ensuing 15 years plus inflation the price is getting dearer, especially for one of the rarer models.

When you look inside an older machine there is't much to go wrong, they are beautifully simple. I also have two mid-1920s Singer treadles which sew beautifully, but of course they don't belong here because they aren't electric.

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: EBarnacle
Date: 12 May 19 - 12:02 AM

I just got a Cessna aircraft radio, vintage about 1950. It needs a new power wire and the microphone/speaker needs rewiring, too. What am I bid?

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 11 May 19 - 03:50 PM

I have model railway transformers from the 1950s that are still functioning well. I don't suppose they have a large number of operating hours logged but they did get used for all day sessions up to the 1970s and occasional days since.

Some of my Triang TT locomotives are of similar vintage and still working well, oldest definite date is from December 1957.

Robin

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 May 19 - 02:30 PM

I realized after posting that I strayed from the "electrical" portion of this conversation with the Victrola and piano. But they certainly are elderly technology.

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 May 19 - 01:12 PM

Jennie beat me to the sewing machine observation - I have an old White from the 1950s given to me by my cousin, and we have a couple of the Singers, the Featherweight and a rotary from 1951.

I have a reel-to-reel given me by my aunt, dating from probably the 1960s. I have some ancient lamps (from early in the last century) that need new wiring so sit out in the garage awaiting the time to do that.

I have my family's Halicrafter radio (AM and Shortwave) from the late 1940s, and some really old Bakelite cased radios (AM) from a family estate. OH - and the family Victrola. Whoa. What a packrat. . . and for very old technology, I have the upright grand piano made in 1885 and purchased new by the family.

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 11 May 19 - 12:50 PM

I was looking through an antique shop in Taunton.
One item for sale was a near mint
Edwardian electronic personal vibrating massage device for genteel ladies afflicted by hysteria...

It had a marvellous product brand name - which I sadly can't remember...
Even the wooden presentation box, power chord, and all accessories were in as new condition...

One careful owner...???

Unfortunately, it was too expensive to buy just for it's historic novelty value..

I wonder if it's eventual purchaser ever plugged it in to test...???

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: leeneia
Date: 11 May 19 - 12:31 PM

There's an antique shop near me that specializes in old appliances with beautiful shapes and thick, gleaming chrome. The DH bought a percolator such as that. Since he makes bitter, New-Orleans chickory coffee in it, I can't say I get any pleasure from what it brews.
============
It is my understanding that a Singer Featherweight in operating condition sells for quite a bit of money.

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Jack Campin
Date: 11 May 19 - 08:42 AM

Singer Featherweights were also designed to be very easy to maintain.

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: JennieG
Date: 11 May 19 - 08:32 AM

I have an electric sewing machine from about 1950-52, a darling little Singer Featherweight 221, which still sews like a dream. When I bought it about 15 years ago I had it checked out by Singer and the chord was replaced, for safety.

Should you have one of those machines, you have a treasure. Even though they haven't been made for 50 years they are still popular with quilters.

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 11 May 19 - 05:45 AM

When I was working as an electrician I was still replacing light bulbs which had recently failed after twenty years of life plus
Today's light bulbs (including the long-life ones) now seem to have a life-span of less than two years average
Great thing - progress
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Mr Red
Date: 11 May 19 - 05:01 AM

Stilly
The wheeze that criminals use is to work in pairs with radios. Bespoke ones obviously but you can get anything for a price. The radios transmit/receive the signals such that distance is the range of the radios not 10 metres.

AND
the fob needs careful use, the other wheeze is to operate a jammer as you leave the car because too many peeps just press the button and don't look/listen to check. Then in the dead of night, or when you are far enough away, they have access to whatever is therein.

&............

If not, then some component might fail next time it switches on
after a period of several months or years of inactivity.

Electrical equipment that has physical contacts might fur up with dust or corrode/tarnish so that the switch/trip doesnt "do". (rare). Regular use ensures rubbing of contacts keeps enough area clean. And anything that physically moves can be affected by similar processes, grease can harden or accumulate dust, so movement is impeded. But then constant use causes wear &/or fatigue so it is damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Donuel
Date: 10 May 19 - 07:49 PM

My Tesla AC generators at Niagra falls is still working.

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Jack Campin
Date: 10 May 19 - 07:02 PM

At the other end of the scale, this dam was near where I grew up as a kid. Its staff decided to have it go down with its generators running when it was submerged by the much bigger Karapiro Dam downstream after operating for more than thirty years. It's the sort of thing somebody might have written a song about, but as far as I know nobody did.

Horahora Power Station

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: robomatic
Date: 10 May 19 - 06:44 PM

I have an ancient microwave which lasted until it started sparking and then I figured out you could find the little mica window through which the waves are sent from the magnatron and clean it up a little. Problem went away. It is a sizable Sharp microwave purchased in Costco over 20 years ago and it has held up like a champ until recently when the rotating table has stopped rotating. Still use it though.

Most ancient is an immersion heater I used to use in my dorm room to heat water for tea or ramen. It was literally a metal loop with a little hanger and wire going to a two prong plug. Nothing could be simpler or more dangerous via simple carelessness. Still works but I don't use it.

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Jos
Date: 10 May 19 - 04:09 PM

I have a vague recollection that my parents had an electric clock by their bed when I was a child. It was brown bakelite, art deco style, and had been a wedding present, and it came with a 17-year guarantee.
It served them well, but eventually stopped soon after their 17th wedding anniversary.

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Helen
Date: 10 May 19 - 03:59 PM

My Dad was a motor mechanic. He believed in looking after machines so I have inherited some of that, but unfortunately not the fixing abilities.
I like to see old appliances still working after all these years. The old saying, "they don't make them like they used to", but on the other hand, the engines of newer cars are so quiet and more fuel efficient, so progress is worthwhile in some cases.

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 10 May 19 - 02:03 PM

Back at my mums, I have a Ferrograph reel to reel tape recorder nearly as old as me...

It's not been switched on for over 30 years,
But I reckon even if all the capacitors have blown,
and the motor is jammed,
the Mullard Valves might still glow...

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Jack Campin
Date: 10 May 19 - 01:49 PM

I think the oldest electrical gizmo I have is a Violet Ray Machine, probably from the 1930s. Next would be a 1940s Leitz Valoy II enlarger (horrible clunky piece of crap but it does do medium format), and after that a Pifco vibro-massager from the early 60s. It's the second one I've had, the previous one went to my Mad Ex-Girlfriend who is doubtless enjoying a long and happy relationship with it.

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 10 May 19 - 12:57 PM

You never had this problem when you had to hand crank a car
from outside with a starting handle...

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 May 19 - 12:46 PM

Mr. Red, you hit the button, so to speak, on those keyless entry cars. My newest one has that, and I've realized that someone could just hang around and try to button until I get close enough that it will open and start. I'm looking through the manual to find the directions to set it so it doesn't use the on-demand opening, instead, I'll open it with the fob. Once in the car I can start it. The other thing I need to find out how to set (that I've set in my last three vehicles) is so it doesn't fling open the door locks the moment the engine is turned off. The owner's manual is 550 pages.

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Bill D
Date: 10 May 19 - 10:32 AM

I have a Kirby vacuum from 1960 that was my mother's. It still works, but because all stuff that it sucks up passes thru the impeller blades, one has to be careful. I also have a newer Kirby with one broken blade from sucking up a quarter....costs too much to repair.

I do have an ancient waffle iron that will work, but which I never use.

Oh.. and I have a Windows 3.1 machine with a pair of SCSI SYQUEST drives attached that only needs a mouse (parallel port? odd cable..)
I booted it up a few months ago, but you can't do everything just from the keyboard.

and a couple of portable power saws that my wife's father had 50 years ago...they get VERY little use.

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Jack Campin
Date: 10 May 19 - 10:27 AM

1887 electric motor

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Jack Campin
Date: 10 May 19 - 09:46 AM

The Centennial Light

I think there are motors and generators with a similar service record.

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 10 May 19 - 08:31 AM

I've been told that gear needs to be used regularly.
If not, then some component might fail next time it switches on
after a period of several months or years of inactivity..

I really don't know if that's generally true or not...

But I think it does definitely apply to rechargable batteries, and camera flashes...

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Donuel
Date: 10 May 19 - 06:10 AM

Murphy's law is just a corralary to the Fundamenal Law of Entropy.
The hydraulic ram pump of the Great Pyramid with the ratcheted gravity driven mechanism in the grand gallery is broken. Our aquaduct has worked in centuries. The electric DC peizo electric stele' are off line but as long as our refridgerater keeps chugging along we're fine.

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Helen
Date: 10 May 19 - 05:52 AM

I bought my microwave just before moving to another rental house in 1982. Then I bought a house in 1983, then I bought and moved to a different house in 1998, then Hubby & I had that old house demolished to rebuild and we moved to a rental in the meantime, and then we moved into the new house in 2010. The first house was built in 1880, and both the old houses I owned were built around 1910 and had really old wiring. No problems with the microwave in any place I have lived.

Until Murphy's Law kicks in, of course. I'll keep you posted on that.

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 10 May 19 - 03:52 AM

We had a theory that electrical appliances don't like traveling. When we move house a bit over 6 years ago everything packed in within 6 months of us moving!

Oddest microwave incident we had was with an old one. We bought it off a friend that had it a few years. We kept it a few more and then gave it to our son for his first house. It had always worked fine. When plugged in at the lad's new house it kept tripping the breaker. Took the plug cover off (yes, it was that old) and it was wired wrong - neutral to earth and vice versa. Never bothered the old fuse box and thankfully we were never electrocuted! Made me realise the benefit of RCDs instead of the old wire fuses.

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Mr Red
Date: 10 May 19 - 02:51 AM

My Microwave Oven was begged from the estate of an aunt and she had it for at least 10 years. So I reckon it is 1990 vintage. Small, cheapo and nothing to look at, but as an engineer the beauty I see is in its function.

The best of it is she was not a genetic aunt but an old, very good friend of mother's, who I visited weekly to check on her, and do little things around her house. So every morning as I do the porridge I am still in touch with her. How's that for beauty?

By Contrast I had a functionally perfect kettle that switched off when boiled till it didn't, fixed it till it wasn't, got another identical one that lasted less time, replaced with a dispensing kettle that because of the complex functionality & limescale and I get 1/2 a cup or two halves or 1.5 cups! All in a shorter 20 year timeframe.

The GF is on her third microwave and third kettle in less time!
And my next car won't have a keyless ignition - I spotted how the criminals could get round that one and guess what? Insurance claims up fivefold last year.
Advice - wrap "key" in aluminium foil when in a crowd of strangers.

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 May 19 - 01:22 AM

The Brooklyn Museum has a section of the fourth floor where you go past some colonial cabins that were scooped up from Flatbush Avenue and you look inside these hundreds of years old dwellings and wonder at how they lived, and then you go around a couple of more corners and you're into the Decorative Arts section where form and function in things like record players and toasters and wine decanters and chrome-plated blenders and who knows what-all are on display - as art. And you can see the beauty of the design of these things. The online stuff is only a little bit of what you see in there.

Every time I go through that exhibit I want to go home and polish a vacuum cleaner and hang it on the wall next to a small shelf with the old toaster and a polished radio.

Meanwhile, I've been using the same DAK/Welbuilt bread machine for forever (the ones that look like R2D2 and make a round three-pound loaf). It rattles and makes funny noises every so often, but keeps going so I keep using it, even though I have a spare for "just in case."

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 10 May 19 - 01:06 AM

Nothing that old here...

Mum started afresh with kitchen appliances when she moved here late 90s. All of these have been replaced at least once. The cooker would have been the longest lasting of these, I think being replaced 2 years ago because of problems with the oven.

The oldest device in the household would be my (c 1985) Amstrad PC1512. It's burried under a pile of stuff in a shed in a field though and, while it was functional when it was put there, I'd not rate its chances of working now.

The oldest known working device in the house is probably a Yamaha Midi module I bought only a few weeks back.They were introduced around 1995 so should be a good 20 years old there.

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Joe Offer
Date: 10 May 19 - 12:18 AM

Old appliances used to be phenomenal, because they were put together with screws, instead of glue and rivets - and they could be repaired with some ease.
We had a streamline-style Toastmaster 1B9 toaster when I was a kid in the 1950s, and I loved that toaster. The power cord had a woven cloth cover with an interesting design on it, and it shines like a toaster ought to shine.
Maybe about the year 2000, found a toaster in a thrift shop that was in pristine condition, and it looked exactly like that old Toastmaster my family had in the 1950s - even thew power cord was identical. It made perfect toast, but it finally stopped working. I keep meaning to tear it apart and try to fix it, but it's still there in the garage, untouched. We have a pop-up toaster oven now, and it's more versatile than the Toastmaster.
So, my old Toastmaster sits untouched on the shelf.
Such a shame. Rest in peace, old Toastmaster.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Helen
Date: 09 May 19 - 10:22 PM

The luck of the draw, eh?

Subject: RE: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 09 May 19 - 10:00 PM

Some old gear if used regularly goes on forever..
Other old gear will need components replaced eventually..
Some old gear catches fire as soon as you turn your back on it...

Subject: BS: Elderly electrical appliances
From: Helen
Date: 09 May 19 - 09:18 PM

Hi all,

I know Murphy's Law will kick in as soon as I create this thread, but I have a microwave oven which I bought in 1982 and it is still going strong. No problems, no leaking of harmful rays, still "does what it's supposed to" - BTW, that's a musical reference to a song by
Shel Silverstein, Ever Lovin' Machine


"Oh she always did what she was supposed ter right up to this evening but then
She had an affair with the toaster and they ran off and left me again"

Now before I get whacked by the anti-microwave brigade, steamed broccoli in the microwave is the best!! Cut broccoli into florets, put into a microwave safe steamer with a couple of tablespoons of boiling water, secure steamer lid. Steam on high for one minute, check if the broccoli stems are translucent, and if not hit it with up to one more minute only. Magnificent. Just as God/the Creator wanted us to enjoy fresh green vegies. It would make a recalcitrant vegie hating, tantrum throwing child want to throw up their hands and cry, Hallelujah!

So, who else has an electrical appliance which is used frequently but just still keeps going and going?

Hubby's little electric coffee grinder gave up the ghost last week. He reckons it is at least 30 years old or maybe more.

These appliances must have been created before built in obsolescence became a requirement.