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General Vintage Technology Discussions For general discussions about vintage radio and other vintage electronics etc.

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Old 10th May 2018, 9:50 pm   #321
Boater Sam
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Default Re: Bygone Technology and Useless Items.

But is tractor feed still used for forms and invoices? Its been a while, I'm out of touch.
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Old 10th May 2018, 9:53 pm   #322
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Default Re: Bygone Technology and Useless Items.

Fanfold listing paper seems to be readily available still, so there must be some demand for it.
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Old 10th May 2018, 10:35 pm   #323
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Default Re: Bygone Technology and Useless Items.

Many of our local trade-type shops (such as Travis Perkins) use multipart tractor feed stationery. Ideal where most of the text is predetermined and the only thing that has to be input is a few lines of the products being bought, and multiple hard copies are needed. Tractor feed stationery can be much thinner than a laser printer's, needing less filing cabinet space. 60 gsm is normal listing paper weight, and individual sheets of multipart can be lighter. Some laser printers can just about cope with 60gsm paper on a good day, but 70 to 80 gsm seems to be the norm for reliable sheet feeding.
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Old 11th May 2018, 12:11 am   #324
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Default Re: Bygone Technology and Useless Items.

Until comparatively recently the Monitored Drug System printouts that pharmacies prepared for nursing homes, were still 3-part continuous stationary Typically printed on a KX-P2023.

To this day most pharmacies will have a US Robotics external dial-up modem, and a COM port to support it, in case they need to order from certain less enlitened suppliers.

Oh, and a FAX machine, all High Street pharmacies have one, and use it daily.
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Old 11th May 2018, 12:16 am   #325
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Default Re: Bygone Technology and Useless Items.

NHS clinics also have fax machines and use them as their go to system to get prescriptions issued from hospital pharmacies.
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Old 11th May 2018, 10:42 am   #326
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Default Re: Bygone Technology and Useless Items.

We always used fax (often supplemented by email and post!) for important time-critical things at my last job. With fax, you know that you are connected to the recipient's machine and get a receipt to confirm delivery. With email you can only be certain what you sent has been received if the recipient sends you back an acknowledgement. Emails do not always get delivered and can inadverently end up in a junk box.
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Old 11th May 2018, 6:18 pm   #327
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Default Re: Bygone Technology and Useless Items.

Telex was still in-use well into this century in the marine world: the 'answerback' feature meant you could confirm that your telex-machine had connected to the right remote-destination so your order for 10,000 tons of bunker-fuel to be loaded in Valparaiso next thursday was likely to actually be there when your ship docked.

In the early-1990s Lawyers became seriously fax-averse when they realised that 'thermal' fax-paper images degraded to illegibility after a few years: it kinda messed-up your case if important evidence that had been faxed had faded away.
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Old 11th May 2018, 7:02 pm   #328
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Default Re: Bygone Technology and Useless Items.

When I became aware of the vanishing fax problem I had our files checked. We had a thermal paper fax then, and the only ones affected were those kept in plastic folders. Presumably something in the plastic was to blame. We replaced the plastic folders with paper and card ones and copied the documents that were deteriorating and had no more problems. Plain paper faxes do not have this problem.
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Old 11th May 2018, 7:07 pm   #329
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Default Re: Bygone Technology and Useless Items.

I guess this intercom system is an obsolete Item now, being a bakelite collector I just love the look of it. very well made and quite Art Deco in it's styling.
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Old 11th May 2018, 9:41 pm   #330
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Default Re: Bygone Technology and Useless Items.

Quote:
Originally Posted by emeritus View Post
When I became aware of the vanishing fax problem I had our files checked. We had a thermal paper fax then, and the only ones affected were those kept in plastic folders. Presumably something in the plastic was to blame. We replaced the plastic folders with paper and card ones and copied the documents that were deteriorating and had no more problems. Plain paper faxes do not have this problem.
I remember some college work I printed on an ink jet printer stuck to a plastic folder I kept it in, luckily the print wasn't damaged much when I removed it, leaving an layer of ink on the plastic.
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Old 11th May 2018, 10:36 pm   #331
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Default Re: Bygone Technology and Useless Items.

I encountered another 'vanishing fax' problem when I worked in a large office where there was just single machine. Many faxes vanished before they reached their intended recipient even though the sender had his receipt.

Much time was wasted searching through the piles of paper around the machine, or waiting by it while the sender resent the fax.
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Old 11th May 2018, 11:19 pm   #332
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Default Re: Bygone Technology and Useless Items.

At a firm I worked for we maintained a large number of machines we knew as the BT CF9

It was a small portable machine with a handle, it had no paper separator on the output, so if the fax roll was particularly curly, it would wind itself tightly around the rubber roller and eventually jam the machine up.

The trick was to remove the received faxes in one piece in case they contained anything important.
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Old 10th Jun 2018, 2:34 pm   #333
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Default Re: Bygone Technology and Useless Items.

2 more for the list must be HD-DVD and Sonys UMD Film formats.
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Old 10th Jun 2018, 3:26 pm   #334
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Default Re: Bygone Technology and Useless Items.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul_RK View Post
The world hasn't nearly gone paperless yet, a frequent requirement is to provide or renew the staples of a folded pamphlet, but the usual sort of stapler can't do it and a cumbersome long-arm variety is required.
May I present the Web Etona Swivel-Arm Stapler, manufactured for Westwood Stationery Ltd London by Etona Co Japan.

Can only staple at the top and bottom of a booklet, so not as useful as a true long-arm stapler.

Mid 1980s I think from the fetching colour scheme that would co-ordinate with Bisley filing cabinets and Ambassador phones.
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Last edited by OscarFoxtrot; 10th Jun 2018 at 3:28 pm. Reason: Hopefully corrected the quoting
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Old 10th Jun 2018, 3:48 pm   #335
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Default Re: Bygone Technology and Useless Items.

The university had a room curiously labelled "Masseeley".

Turns out it was probably for a Masson Seeley press to make all the door number/nameplates which slotted in to metal holders, a bit like hot foil printing.

Masson Seeley exhibited a "Process for producing showcards and price tickets in any colour by pressing coloured gummed paper into cardboard." in 1922, and are still sign and wayfinding contractors to the NHS.

https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/File:Im1949BIF-Mass.jpg

And the students' association had a Kroy lettering machine for posters, so everything was done in Cooper or Helvetica. (I still dislike Cooper to this day.)

All replaced by laser printers and laminating now of course.
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Old 10th Jun 2018, 4:47 pm   #336
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Default Re: Bygone Technology and Useless Items.

Quote:
Originally Posted by kalee20 View Post
Polaroid cameras. I have a bolt-on 'scope camera, !
Hey, Colour and B/W I-Type films are still available from Polaroid.

Some French friends of my ran a cocktail bar around the corner from me until they moved to Lisbon a couple of years ago and had a Polaroid hall-of-fame for regulars!
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