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Archive: Retro
August 18, 2008
Paper telephone sculpture
Jenny @ CRAFT found this sculpture of a rotary phone made from paper tickets and scotch tape, tring tring!
Posted by Becky Stern |
Aug 18, 2008 07:02 PM
Arts, Crafts, Retro |
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Why is it so?
Great collection of clips from TV science teacher Julius Sumner Miller "Why is it so?"
Why is it so? - the ground-breaking TV series with the enigmatic Professor Julius Sumner Miller - ran on the ABC from 1963 to 1986. Professor Miller's infectious enthusiasm for physics delighted, educated and entertained generations of Australians, most of whom have at some point asked each other 'Why is it so?' in the characteristic Julius Sumner Miller voice.The Lab has found some of the funniest, most entertaining segments from the Why is it so? series, and made them available for twenty first century enjoyment - over both dialup or broadband connections. Now you too can watch some 'enchanting experiments' with the good professor!
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 18, 2008 12:00 AM
Retro, Science |
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August 17, 2008
The 1920s satnav ... and other weird and wonderful gadgets that never quite took off...
The 1920s satnav ... and other weird and wonderful gadgets that never quite took off... via Land-o-links.
CLOCKWORK TEASMADE - Patented in Birmingham in 1902, this brass and copper tea maker was the first Teasmade. The alarm clock triggered a switch and a match was then struck against moving sandpaper, lighting the spirit stove under the kettle. Once the water boiled, the steam pressure lifted a hinged flap and the kettle would tilt, filling the teapot beneath. Finally, a plate would swing over the stove, extinguishing its flames.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 17, 2008 10:00 AM
Gadgets, Retro |
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August 16, 2008
GIF news
8-bit BBS memories... GIF news newsletter & Flickr set via waxy.
GIF News was a GIF-based hardware and software newsletter released bi-monthly from 1988 to 1993 by Eric Hsiao. (This set currently only houses issues from 1990 to 1993.) Pages have been arranged in the set in chronological order for easier reading. After January of 1993, GIF News ceased publication, replaced the next year by GFX News.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Aug 16, 2008 08:40 AM
Computers, Retro |
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August 14, 2008
Pallet-based compost bin
Here's what you need to know to make a quick, very serviceable compost bin out of four wooden shipping pallets.
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 14, 2008 04:00 PM
Green, Instructables, Retro |
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Anachrotechnofetishism art show
Anachrotechnofetishism
artifacts by pioneers of american steampunk
This upcoming Seattle art show includes all of the usual suspects (many of those who were involved with the Contraptors Lounge) and a few folks that are new to me. If you're in Seattle during this time, you might want to check this out.
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 14, 2008 11:00 AM
Arts, Events, Makers, Retro |
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August 12, 2008
Heathkit Virtual Museum
When I was a teen, I used to salivate over all of the Heathkit ads in the teen media I consumed (popsci and sci-fi mags, comic books, adventure mags, Boy's Life, etc). A few friends had built their own Heathkit stereos and I envied their electronics prowessm and the depth of their piggy banks.
All of the kits I couldn't afford to build back then are available to drool over again -- now with the added nostalgic appreciation for their homely space age design -- at the Heathkit Virtual Museum. The site has info on each kit, histories of the company, links to most of the manuals and other tech resources, and links to fan sites.
Heathkit Virtual Museum [via Dinosaurs and Robots]
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 12, 2008 02:00 PM
Electronics, Kits, Retro |
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If he only had a heart
Posted for Gareth Branwyn (who's 30 miles out to sea at the moment):
Our pal Meredith Scheff, who helped us put together the Contraptors Lounge at the Bay Area Maker Faire, has been commissioned to build a beating, mechanical heart for this year's Burning Man (yes, for Mr.
Splinters himself). She's documenting the build process over at the Steampunk Workshop.
The Man's Heart: New Kinetic Project - Part One
The Man's heart, part two: Moving between two worlds
Posted by Patti Schiendelman |
Aug 12, 2008 11:00 AM
Arts, Events, Makers, Retro |
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August 11, 2008
Datamancer's "Archbishop PC"
Retro-tech artist Datamancer has just finished this amazing "Archbishop" Gothic PC cabinet, keyboard, and graphics tablet/pointing device (a Wacom tablet is housed inside of a tooled leather antique book). The PC was built for a Steampunk Art show in Bridgehampton, NY. The show opens next week. You can find out more about it here.
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 11, 2008 11:00 AM
Computers, Retro |
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August 7, 2008
1963 Chrysler Turbine
I've been obsessing recently over the 1963 Chrysler Turbine, a concept car Chrysler Corp made 55 of, loaned out to select customers for testing (and lots of breathless publicity), and then they unceremoniously destroyed all but a few of them (as can be seen in the last horrifying video above). As far as I can tell, there is only a single vehicle owned by an individual car collector in Indiana. The rest are in museums (with the motors hobbled) and Chrysler has a working one at their Proving Grounds. Short of stealing one, I don't know how I'm ever going to get my hands on one, but a boy can dream...
Mister Jalopy posted about the Turbine on D+R today, so I guess I'm not the only Maker who covets this crazy-cool car.
Here's a nice piece on Allpar about the Chrysler's turbine cars and engines.
This Turbine Car fan site has all sorts of tech info, history of the car, details and pics of Chrysler Turbine Car model kits, and all sorts of other great stuff. The site is run my Mark Olson. His family was one of the ones chosen to test out the Turbine.
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 7, 2008 02:22 PM
Retro |
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August 4, 2008
Classic camp stove and lamp galleries
Mister Jalopy of Dinosaurs and Robots points us to these cool collections of classic camping kerosene lamps and stoves. Having spent the better part of my youth hiking and camping, I fondly remember a lot of these models.
Spiritburner.com
Motoshi Makino's Classic Camping Collection
Other awesome stove/lantern collections via Spiritburner.com
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 4, 2008 02:11 PM
Green, Made On Earth, Retro |
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More from Sturgeon's Mill
Lenore Edman has some more pics and info about our recent Foo Camp field trip to Sturgeon's Mill, a steam-powered saw mill being restored near Sebastopol, CA.
A Visit to Sturgeon's Mill, a Steam-powered Lumber Mill
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Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Aug 4, 2008 12:03 PM
Green, Makers, Retro |
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July 29, 2008
20,000 leagues under the sea
Via Brass Goggles comes a pointer to a round-up of amazing antique diving suits and boats.
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Jul 29, 2008 02:16 PM
Retro |
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Cold war era hacks...
JR writes in -
I thought this was a cool story that didn't get wide pickup. I like #9 especially: IBM SELECTRIC TYPEWRITER... Because the Selectric coupled a motor to a mechanical assembly, pressing different keys caused the motor to draw different amounts of current specific to each key. By closely measuring the current used by the typewriter, it was possible to determine what was being typed on the machine. To prevent such measurements, State Department Selectric typewriters were equipped with parts that masked the messages being typed.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jul 29, 2008 08:00 AM
Retro |
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July 28, 2008
Retro ThingamaHat
In response to my posting of the hat-i-fied version of the Bleep Labs' ThingamaKIT, MAKE Editor-in-Chief Mark Frauenfelder emailed me this cover from a 1949 Hugo Gernsbeck pub, Radio - Electronics. Thanks, Mark!
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Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Jul 28, 2008 11:00 AM
Kits, Modern Mechanix, Music, Retro |
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A Souped-up Model T...
NYTimes on some nicely modded Model Ts...
Thousands of people gathered last week in Richmond, Ind., for the centennial celebration of the Ford Model T, the machine that made the automobile a Main Street technology, with 15 million produced from 1908 to 1927. As a product, the Model T has long been seen as a classic example of no-frills, mass-produced standardization. It had no gas gauge. Even a windshield was an extra-cost option originally.Yet the gathering in Indiana showed another facet of the Model T’s history — how much owners tinkered with and modified the car. Among the 800 vintage automobiles brought by collectors were ones that had been converted to snowmobiles, racing coups and tow trucks. That was only a glimmer of the many innovative changes made by Model T owners, for uses Henry Ford never had in mind. They transformed the cars into tractors, pickup trucks, paddy wagons, mobile lumber mills and power plants for milling grain. An itinerant preacher converted his into a four-wheeled chapel.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jul 28, 2008 08:00 AM
Retro, Transportation |
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July 23, 2008
Incredible typewriter sculptures
Jeremy Mayer makes these really fantastic evocative sculptures from old typewriters. I'm amazed by what he uses for each body part, and how he could have imagined to put things together the way he does. Via BoingBoing.
Posted by Becky Stern |
Jul 23, 2008 07:00 PM
Arts, Made On Earth, Makers, Retro |
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July 17, 2008
Retro Rastro treadmill
Dale Dougherty, editor and publisher of MAKE and CRAFT, is on the road this week and writes:
On a visit today to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, I got a quick tour of the collections, a place where objects not in active use are stored. One thing caught my attention: a wooden treadmill. I learned that it was built as a treadmill for a dog and its purpose (the big wheel) was to generate power. So a dog-powered generator, built and once used on a farm.Thanks to Kathleen McCarthy for the tour. I could have spent hours there so I'll have to come back.
Museum of Science and Industry
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Jul 17, 2008 05:28 PM
Green, Retro, Science |
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Muzak machine iPod stereo
My friend has been carrying around this empty shell of a Micro Muzak Model 1008 for years with the intention of converting it in to something... someday. Apparently this was used in a university to pump the college station through all the buildings and had long since been left to fall in to ruins.
Using parts you can easily get and very little modifications to the actual case it came out looking preatty good. We reused the original knobs where they were still available for that original look. The tubes were left on the case to look cool, they do nothing.I admit this is less of an instructable and more of a hey-check-this-out-able, but maybe it will inspire you to make something neat.
Convert old Muzak Machine in to a Retro iPod Stereo [via D+R]
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Jul 17, 2008 03:00 PM
iPod, Music, Remake, Retro |
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July 16, 2008
Alan Rorie is AlmostScientific
Meredith Scheff has an interview with scientist/artist Alan Rorie. Alan was involved in the Steampunk Treehouse and the Dihemispheric Chronaether Agitator.
To me, science is largely about taking concrete aspects of the world and abstracting so that they can be communicated. I would spend weeks and months working on my thesis and the result would be some bit of data that only existed on the computer and in the mind of my peers. I realized that I needed to create real objects, things and stuff that existed in the world. Art, to me, is the flip side of science; it's about taking the abstract ideas that exists in your mind and communicating them by instantiating them in the real world as solid objects.So I taught myself how to weld.
Portrait of a mad scientist: Alan Rorie of Almostscientific.com
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Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Jul 16, 2008 11:00 AM
Arts, Retro |
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Phillip Torrone
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Tel: 707-827-7311
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