UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Powered By Google Custom Search Vintage Radio and TV Service Data

Go Back   UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum > General Vintage Technology > General Vintage Technology Discussions

Notices

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

Closed Thread
 
Thread Tools
Old 2nd May 2018, 7:35 pm   #121
Guest
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: Vintage technology terminology

Airfield, nice bit of grass for proper flying off and onto. Tea, cakes and beer available.
Aerodrome, same as above with concrete runways for posher aircraft. Free "stand your spoon up in the cup" tea available.
Airport, place for big flying busses combined with interminable waiting. Very expensive tea, cakes and beer available.
 
Old 3rd May 2018, 12:00 am   #122
emeritus
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Brentwood, Essex, UK.
Posts: 5,316
Default Re: Vintage technology terminology

In the 1910-11 edition of the Encyclopaedia Brittannica, an "aerodrome" is the name given to a type of fixed-wing aircraft constructed by Langley, an avionics pioneer and contemporary of the Wright Brothers. At that time the wings of flying machines were called "aeroplanes".
Attached Files
File Type: pdf Aerodrome 1910EB.pdf (447.5 KB, 40 views)
emeritus is offline  
Old 3rd May 2018, 3:23 am   #123
Radio Wrangler
Moderator
 
Radio Wrangler's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 22,803
Default Re: Vintage technology terminology

'Supersonic' used to mean higher-pitched than would be audible. Hence Supersonic Heterodyne.

David
__________________
Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done
Radio Wrangler is online now  
Old 3rd May 2018, 8:25 am   #124
M0FYA Andy
Nonode
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Preston, Lancashire, UK.
Posts: 2,510
Default Re: Vintage technology terminology

So when and why did 'supersonic' take on its modern meaning?
M0FYA Andy is online now  
Old 3rd May 2018, 8:44 am   #125
cheerfulcharlie
Heptode
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Birmingham, West Midlands, UK.
Posts: 708
Default Re: Vintage technology terminology

..and when did a 'torch' suddenly become a 'flashlight' ..i think most people would find it very irritating trying to get around the cellar with a flashing light.

Also motion picture film is far from dead...film companies are archiving even their digital films on 35 mm film simply because obviously nobody knows what the future digital format might be... and will anybody have anything to play the old ones on in say 30 years time?...History repeating itself from the early days of videotape when today many of those programmes now survive as film copies, as many of the machines to play those tapes on clapped out and 'awaiting spares'.
cheerfulcharlie is offline  
Old 3rd May 2018, 9:02 am   #126
M0FYA Andy
Nonode
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Preston, Lancashire, UK.
Posts: 2,510
Default Re: Vintage technology terminology

'Flashlight' isn't a term I would use, and I don't think it is in common use these days. I recall as a youngster in the 50's it was used by my grandparents and others of their generation. I wonder if it was because the basic zinc-carbon batteries available then didn't have much capacity, so you used your 'flashlight' sparingly by just flashing it?
Or maybe simply because you could flash it, unlike candles/gas-lamps/oil-lamps or a burning torch of the type which magically burn continuously in the old Robin Hood films?
M0FYA Andy is online now  
Old 3rd May 2018, 9:09 am   #127
ex seismic
Heptode
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Tonbridge, Kent, UK.
Posts: 685
Default Re: Vintage technology terminology

The rot started when British Railways became British Rail.

I think of a railway line as the whole caboodle and the track as the actual metal bit the carriages (coaches?) run on.

Gordon
ex seismic is offline  
Old 3rd May 2018, 9:23 am   #128
Ancient Geek
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Bristol, UK.
Posts: 136
Default Re: Vintage technology terminology

Quote:
Originally Posted by M0FYA Andy View Post
So when and why did 'supersonic' take on its modern meaning?
According to the shorter OED, the earlier meaning came in to use around 1919 and the latter around 1945. Others claim that the modern meaning dates from 1934. The modern term for 'sound with frequencies above the range of human hearing', ultrasonic, dates from 1923, apparently. Ultrasonic is more consistent with ultraviolet. Ultraviolet dates from about 1840. Interestingly, infrared used to be called ultrared, even though the term infrared predates it.

Super- and ultra- both come to us from Latin, but, amusingly, hyper- (as in hypersonic) is from the Greek.
Ancient Geek is offline  
Old 3rd May 2018, 9:31 am   #129
Brigham
Octode
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Co. Durham, UK.
Posts: 1,111
Default Re: Vintage technology terminology

British Rail was when 'Corporate Identity' became more important than running a railway.
Brigham is offline  
Old 3rd May 2018, 9:37 am   #130
ms660
Dekatron
 
ms660's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Cornwall, UK.
Posts: 13,454
Default Re: Vintage technology terminology

The Spedding Wheel could be described as a flashlight, lot's of flashes.

Lawrence.
ms660 is offline  
Old 3rd May 2018, 9:38 am   #131
The Philpott
Dekatron
 
The Philpott's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Colchester, Essex, UK.
Posts: 4,081
Default Re: Vintage technology terminology

Airstrip!

Remember when dope was something you put on the wings to make them rigid, but simultaneously was a general name for pep pills eg benzedrine.

Ah, the wonderful steam powered Langley Aerodrome. This and other a/c of the time (one of which had so many wings it had the general appearance of a venetian blind (How do you make a venetian blind..? I don't know, Brough, how do you make a venetian blind?) make the goon show look like a documentary.
The Philpott is offline  
Old 3rd May 2018, 9:39 am   #132
emeritus
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Brentwood, Essex, UK.
Posts: 5,316
Default Re: Vintage technology terminology

The only times I can recall hearing "flashlight" when I was a child in the 1950's was on the radio when they played "How much is that doggy in the window?", usually on Uncle Mac's Children's Favourites, verse three I think: "I read in the paper there are robbers, with flashlights that shine in the dark....".

Dad had an Ever Ready "Torch", and that was the only expression I recall people using.
emeritus is offline  
Old 3rd May 2018, 10:14 am   #133
boxdoctor
Rest in Peace
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Ripley, Derbyshire, UK.
Posts: 785
Default Re: Vintage technology terminology

When I was a "nipper" in the war years, I was given a torch for Chistmas, with the strict instruction that it was under no circumstances to be used out of doors during the hours of darkness lest "The Enemy" should spot it, and bomb us.
Took all the fun out of it!
Flashlights seemed to start being mentioned in the early Fifties, as I recall. Tony
boxdoctor is offline  
Old 3rd May 2018, 12:07 pm   #134
jjl
Octode
 
jjl's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Ware, Herts. UK.
Posts: 1,082
Default Re: Vintage technology terminology

Flashlight is a North American term. It probably found its way over to this side of the Atlantic in WWII or perhaps in American films or pop music of the '50s.

John
jjl is online now  
Old 3rd May 2018, 12:21 pm   #135
G8HQP Dave
Rest in Peace
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Solihull, West Midlands, UK.
Posts: 4,872
Default Re: Vintage technology terminology

Quote:
Originally Posted by merlinmaxwell
I like railway, she likes train and the puts forward the example "Bus Station".
I suspect that train station derives from bus station (and coach station - which existed long before anyone thought of having a bus station in the UK - you got on a bus at a bus stop). In a more literate age you caught a train at a railway station. Then along came coach and bus stations, so people back-converted this and assumed that therefore you must catch a train at a train station. Incidentally, London still provides a counter-example: you can catch a small train from a tube station (a stationary point on a tube).
G8HQP Dave is offline  
Old 3rd May 2018, 1:05 pm   #136
AC/HL
Dekatron
 
AC/HL's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 9,637
Default Re: Vintage technology terminology

Quote:
Originally Posted by ex seismic View Post
The rot started when British Railways became British Rail.
And passengers became customers. We're all customers now, whatever the service. That's life.
AC/HL is offline  
Old 3rd May 2018, 3:55 pm   #137
Refugee
Dekatron
 
Refugee's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, UK.
Posts: 5,549
Default Re: Vintage technology terminology

Quote:
Originally Posted by G8HQP Dave View Post
I suspect that train station derives from bus station (and coach station - which existed long before anyone thought of having a bus station in the UK - you got on a bus at a bus stop). In a more literate age you caught a train at a railway station. Then along came coach and bus stations, so people back-converted this and assumed that therefore you must catch a train at a train station. Incidentally, London still provides a counter-example: you can catch a small train from a tube station (a stationary point on a tube).
Then there is the big tube that you catch from a shuttle terminal and take your car on with you.
Refugee is online now  
Old 3rd May 2018, 4:17 pm   #138
Beardyman
Hexode
 
Beardyman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK.
Posts: 421
Default Re: Vintage technology terminology

I fear there are far too many Americanism's creeping into our language, for instance, yesterday after work we went shopping, bad enough you might think but it can be quite entertaining. We then, on our way home, popped into "named after the American underground railway" to get a coffee, they make quite good coffee there. A younger lad came in behind us & when he made his order he began by saying, "So, can I get a......", we both cringed. Why are so many people these days beginning a sentence with "so.."?
And no you may not get anything, you are the other side of the counter for a good reason, you are a customer not a helper.
__________________
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. (Einstein)
Beardyman is offline  
Old 3rd May 2018, 4:23 pm   #139
Refugee
Dekatron
 
Refugee's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, UK.
Posts: 5,549
Default Re: Vintage technology terminology

A lot of it comes from American films that get shown to us all the time.
Refugee is online now  
Old 3rd May 2018, 4:35 pm   #140
ms660
Dekatron
 
ms660's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Cornwall, UK.
Posts: 13,454
Default Re: Vintage technology terminology

Holy smokestack lightnin' Casey.

Lawrence.
ms660 is offline  
Closed Thread

Thread Tools



All times are GMT +1. The time now is 2:11 pm.


All information and advice on this forum is subject to the WARNING AND DISCLAIMER located at https://www.vintage-radio.net/rules.html.
Failure to heed this warning may result in death or serious injury to yourself and/or others.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright ©2002 - 2023, Paul Stenning.