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Old 16th Jun 2017, 12:04 am   #181
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Default Re: Museum of failure.

Back to video...Didn't sony make a Betamax camcorder that you couldn't review footage on (tape deck only had 'record' and no other functions?) And also couldn't be connected to anything; presumably the idea being you JUST used the camcorder to record and played the tape back in a home VCR. Or have I made that lot up?! I am sure Amstrad made a similar crude camcorder a few years after.
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Old 16th Jun 2017, 1:49 am   #182
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Yes indeed Ben, Amstrad did a VHS-C camcorder on which you could only record. I borrowed one to take on holiday in 1988 and still have the tapes now. All were recorded without any problems at all. It was a worry to not know that until returning from holiday though.
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Old 16th Jun 2017, 6:03 am   #183
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Back to video...Didn't sony make a Betamax camcorder that you couldn't review footage on (tape deck only had 'record' and no other functions?) And also couldn't be connected to anything; presumably the idea being you JUST used the camcorder to record and played the tape back in a home VCR. Or have I made that lot up?! I am sure Amstrad made a similar crude camcorder a few years after.
I have a Sanyo Betamax camcorder which will only record on , with no review/playback facility on it.
Ive had it since new , still boxed and still works , except the battery has long expired.
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Old 16th Jun 2017, 6:09 am   #184
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On the digital camera (posts 170, 171) the biggest mistake must be Kodak they invented it then failed to launch to protect their film business, now where are they?
Would you say another of Kodaks failures was a ripoff copy of Polaroids instant camera?

Kodak failed to see the copyright issues and had to withdraw and destroy all the cameras they had.
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Old 16th Jun 2017, 8:37 am   #185
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You got a full refund for those KODAK unauthorised cameras. A pal bought loads of them from boot sales for two quid ("you can't get films for them"), and sent them back.
Has anyone mentioned Polarvision yet?
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Old 16th Jun 2017, 12:32 pm   #186
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I used to know a patent attorney who had been working for Kodak at that time. He said that they had all warned their management that there were very serious problems with Polaroid's patents, but their advice was ignored.
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Old 16th Jun 2017, 2:48 pm   #187
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Couldn't they have just hung onto them for 17 years, till the patents in question had expired?
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Old 16th Jun 2017, 4:30 pm   #188
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Then there were [the many of] Churchill's 'Secret Weapons' e.g. Aerial Bombs and Plastic Armour designed for [and unfortunately deployed upon] the protection of wartime merchant shipping.
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Old 16th Jun 2017, 7:05 pm   #189
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Default Re: Museum of failure.

Quote:
Originally Posted by electronicskip View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by chriswood1900 View Post
On the digital camera (posts 170, 171) the biggest mistake must be Kodak they invented it then failed to launch to protect their film business, now where are they?
Would you say another of Kodaks failures was a ripoff copy of Polaroids instant camera?

Kodak failed to see the copyright issues and had to withdraw and destroy all the cameras they had.
I think they were prohibited from making (or selling?) the film, but I don't think the cameras had to be destroyed. At one time J. Bull were selling 'packages of 3 cameras' and one was a disk film camera, another was a Kodak instant camera (I do not mean an Instamatic). I suspect those came from the trade-ins that have been mentioned in this thread.

Another photographic failure that ties in with this was the Agfa 'Family'. This was a simple Super 8 cine camera with a button to shoot movies and another to shoot single frames. Those were marked on the film (I think optically on the non-sprocket edge, it certainly doesn't used magnetically striped film) and when you looked that the film in the 'Family' viewer, it would stop on each of those single frames. The idea was you could use the same camera for still pictures and movies. Of course the quality was terrible (fixed focus lens, one shutter speed, etc) and it certainly wasn't a commercial success.

Anyway, there was an add-on 'printer' for it. This was an accessory that fitted into the view and would make a print of a single frame (either one taken as a 'still' or just by stopping the movie. This printer used Kodak instant film. I always found it ironic that an Agfa product had to use Kodak film.

Of course like many failures, the units are now quite rare and there are a few collectors who want them as a curiousity.
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Old 16th Jun 2017, 7:09 pm   #190
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Then there were [the many of] Churchill's 'Secret Weapons' e.g. Aerial Bombs and Plastic Armour designed for [and unfortunately deployed upon] the protection of wartime merchant shipping.
WWII threw up lots of oddities - the "Department of Miscellaneous Weapons Development" being probably the best known source. "Hobart's Funnies" were, according to some, deliberate hoaxes whose details were _intended_ to get leaked to the Germans. "Giant Panjandrum" for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panjandrum
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Old 16th Jun 2017, 8:44 pm   #191
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Then there was 'The Caddymatic' ....... a leaf tea dispenser - put paid to by tea bags!
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Old 16th Jun 2017, 11:31 pm   #192
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Then there was 'The Caddymatic' ....... a leaf tea dispenser - put paid to by tea bags!
We had one - or it could have been the 'Autocaddy'. IIRC it was cream and translucent blue and was screwed to the wall over the fridge, and the inevitable spillage led to a growing pile of tealeaves against the skirting board!
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Old 17th Jun 2017, 5:51 am   #193
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Default Re: Museum of failure.

Things like that tea dispenser made a mess in several ways.

What about all those food processors and add-ons for food mixers where it took far longer to clean the machine afterwards than it would have taken to do the cutting manually in the first place? Labour-saving home-goals!

Then there are all the dodgy accessories sold for the man with a new electric drill. Wonky stands, flexible shafts, circular saw attachments, etc. things destined to be tried once and then to lurk unused in a drawer for half a century.

Tat came and still comes in many forms.

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Old 17th Jun 2017, 10:29 am   #194
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Default Re: Museum of failure.

I've been to many a church fete or village function and I've seen the aforementioned 'labour-saving' accessories crop up at all of them: the same items passed from sale-to-sale as the novelty quickly wears off those foolish (or well-meaning) enough to buy them, and they are donated in time for the next fund-raising event, where the cycle repeats.
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Old 17th Jun 2017, 11:30 am   #195
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I had forgotten about the tea dispenser! We used to have one that I was eventually given to play with. What about the free-standing sugar dispenser that you inverted to dispense a spoonful of sugar? I remember dismantling ours as a child to see how it worked. It came apart for cleaning.
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Old 17th Jun 2017, 11:40 am   #196
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Those sugar dispensers were very common in cafes in the 60's and they used to fascinate me. I worked out that may must have a large ball-bearing that blocked the outlet once a certain amount of sugar had flowed out.
We had a gas-powered fridge in the 60's - a Prestcold I think. That fascinated me as well. It had a small pyrex chimney at the back. Worked a treat IIRC. Can you still get them?
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Old 17th Jun 2017, 12:12 pm   #197
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Unsurprisingly, sold in the old Gas Board shops, we had one as a child. Common in caravans these days.
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Old 17th Jun 2017, 1:20 pm   #198
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Those sugar dispensers were very common in cafes in the 60's and they used to fascinate me. I worked out that may must have a large ball-bearing that blocked the outlet once a certain amount of sugar had flowed out.
We had a gas-powered fridge in the 60's - a Prestcold I think. That fascinated me as well. It had a small pyrex chimney at the back. Worked a treat IIRC. Can you still get them?
Aaaaah "The Flame That Freezes" ..... no moving parts except for a bullet-proof valve and the thermostat. Electrolux made them too - check-out the Electrolux decal and it's flame. (Later Electrolux units In the U.K. used an electrical heating element in lieu of a flame .... my parents had one for centuries .... and I had another couple for many eons. I've never known one go wrong - no compressors or motors eh?)

I've seen newish looking models in Africa - but nothing new [in the U.K.] for many years. However - I believe that you can purchase small caravan fridges that work on the same principle.
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Old 17th Jun 2017, 1:22 pm   #199
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Then there was 'The Caddymatic' ....... a leaf tea dispenser - put paid to by tea bags!
We had one - or it could have been the 'Autocaddy'. IIRC it was cream and translucent blue and was screwed to the wall over the fridge, and the inevitable spillage led to a growing pile of tealeaves against the skirting board!
That's the Fellah ..... and you've described its functionality to a tea [geddit?] !!
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Old 17th Jun 2017, 1:57 pm   #200
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Default Re: Museum of failure.

Absorption refrigerators

The electrolux ones had an electric heater and a thermostat. The gas was ammonia. Very, Very reliable. Heaters were replaceable.

Bet they aren't allowed to be sold for household use any longer due to energy efficiency regs.

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