The technology of yesterday today!

Been working hard in the heat today. Whew. Thought I'd finish a day of writing by doing some more writing on my blog. 


Over the holidays I've been amassing some goodies. For you my few regular viewers you'll know I've been exploring some old technology to use in my clocks. So I've become a bit of a tubehead. Vacuum tubes were once the state of art in electronic awesomeness. 


Vacuum tubes were critical to the development of electronic technology, which drove the expansion and commercialization of radio broadcasting, television, radar, sound reproduction, large telephone networks, analog and digital computers, and industrial process control. 


It was a time when we had to wait for our radios, stereos and amps to warm up. They hummed and they glowed and they crackled with magic that was pure dangerous high voltage. 


Then along came the tiny transistor and everything changed. The vacuum tubes were dinosaurs but some people still clung to them because, at the end of the day, tubes gave a better sound. That's why you'll still see tubes in a lot of high-end (and highly expensive) modern amps.

Back in the day there was a culture that surrounded these tubes. The servicemen who fixed these units would carry around tube testers. I've been lucky enough to find a couple of these beauties for sale and I naturally snatched them up.  These babies are so wonderfully analogue. No digital computerized readouts here. Instead you'll find a meter that says Good or Bad. 


Now feast your eyes on this piece of electronic gorgeousness...

The Spartan Radio one is truly a thing of beauty. Makes me wish we still built tools like these. It's raw, wooden and crafted. I'm sure fans of steampunk can see the appeal of this. Those meters are worth the price of admission alone. 


And finally here's something else I discovered.  It's called a Wayne Kerr Waveform Analyser. The name appealed the the schoolboy in me. Wayne Kerr obviously sounds like "Wanker" which made me chuckle. 

There's just one small problem with this piece of kit. I have no idea what it does. Apart from analysing waveforms. Still it will be interesting finding out what makes this thing tick. 

Found on the Ground.

I have a habit and it's hard to break. I like finding stuff on the street. It started when I found this note. A small little folded up piece of paper. The edges were frayed and worn. I guess Blair had been carrying it around in his wallet for a long time. Did he drop it? Or did he throw it away? 

I don't know about you but does Bec seems to be stringing poor old Blair along here. Anyway Blair doesn't know it but this note started my own love affair with things I found on the ground. So I've been keeping my eyes peeled and over the years I've found some great stuff. All collected and documented. This note was first thing I found and here's the latest thing I found...

I was walking down Williamson Ave and there, lying in the road as I crossed, was a staple gun. Locked and loaded. So I picked it up and carried it home. I think I'll use it to do something interesting. Don't worry I promise to keep you posted. 

And on the subject of posting I'm going to keep you up to date with things I've found over the years. I figure it'll be good to share some of my findings with you. 

Accept the Loss

For those of you interested in the continuing story of the page from my sister's book here's a quick update.

As you know I popped the toasted page into a zip lock baggie.

And then put that into an envelope. Notice how I've protected my sisters home address by subtly covering it with my finger? So subtly I couldn't hold the camera properly resulting in a unfocused photo. 

Then on the reverse I didn't put a return address. Instead I put a little message. 

Now if NZ Post lose this letter then they have no idea who to return it too. 

So here goes. I do hope they lose it. Don't you? 

It's about life, love and always having somewhere comfortable to sit...

Here in New Zealand we like our furniture outside. In fact, for reasons best known to the local,s we enjoy dumping our couches on the side of the road. Which is great because there's nothing I like better than taking pictures of couches I see on the street. Here's a small selection. Enjoy.  

Fahrenheit 451

For Christmas I brought my sister this cool little book.

Wreck this Journal by Kerri Smith is a book that challenges its owner to ruin the book. Each page has it's own instructions - "put sticky stuff on the page", "colour this page", "Infuse this page with the smell of your cooking", "rip up this page" and so on. Jess my lovely sister has been throwing herself into destroying her journal with relish. 


So when I returned to Auckland I shouldn't have been surprised to discover that this had been hidden in my wallet.

Hmmm. What could it be I wonder? 

Very clever my sister. However on the back of the page she had written this...

Oh Jess that's not really the point is it? Consider for a moment the last sentence on the page.

Accept the loss. I'm always happy to assist my sister as she strives for perfection. So I figured I would help her accept her loss.

For this exercise I will need a craft knife to do a little bit of cutting. 

Next I'll be needing my trusty blowtorch. 

So we have all our ingredients now it's time to do some cooking...

That came out nice don't you think? Finally I just need to package it up so I can return it to my sister.

There we go. Don't let anyone say I don't go the extra distance for my sister. 

Time's running out in Kapiti

I'm getting ready to leave the beautiful Kapiti Coast and return to the Big Smoke. But in the days before I leave I thought I might just share with you a few goodies I've picked up while I've been here. 

First up this sweet 24-hour flip clock I found at a second hand shop in Waikanae. I've never seen anything like this before and it's got some sweet little features. Needless to say this will become a the basis for a very 70s take on a cuckoo clock. 

Speaking of cuckoo clocks here's a lovely little number that my friend Annie gave to me. It used to be her Grandmothers. It's my first bird styled clock. Most of my others have been hunting clocks. I'm going to have to find something a bit special to do with little beauty. 

Now this one is really interesting. It's huge! And it's made in Japan. I picked this one up in Lower Hutt. Inside it's like no other clock I've seen before it's a hybrid between mechanical and electrical parts. When I get to work on it I'll post some pictures of the insides. Very strange.

A shoe box full of vacuum tubes. What a mad find. As you know I'm trying to embrace old technology in my clocks. So why not build an electronic cuckoo clock powered by valves?

 Just a closer look at what these little wonders look like. 

And finally. Some old level meters acquired from "The Toolbox" in Petone a shop that sells old tools and technology. I'm sure there's a way I can get these bakerlite beauties to tell time. 


So lots of fun stuff to look forward to getting stuck into. Stay posted.