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Old 7th Apr 2016, 9:57 am   #41
vidjoman
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Default Re: BBC 4 9pm tonight - Bakelite telephone

A quick Google will show you all you need to know about JIS screws.

Provided the screws and washers you want to fit are steel, just use a magnetised screwdriver.
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Old 7th Apr 2016, 10:05 am   #42
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Default Re: BBC 4 9pm tonight - Bakelite telephone

There's always the wax capacitor.

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Old 7th Apr 2016, 11:29 am   #43
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Default Re: BBC 4 9pm tonight - Bakelite telephone

My brother (ex GPO) also noted that the dial speed was too fast and not adjusted, the bells not adjusted as commented on earlier. Also the dial finger plate was loose. On the plus side however, the program brought home the fact that in those days the mechanics were very clever and fairly complex compared to a PCB with push buttons and a chip to generate the required tones. I kept saying to myself "How clever we once were" but there are far more examples of this beyond the telephone, just take a gander at the excellent film of how we once made steam locomotives, truly inspiring.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx6hmSclbRE
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Old 7th Apr 2016, 3:28 pm   #44
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Default Re: BBC 4 9pm tonight - Bakelite telephone

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Also the dial finger plate was loose.
Yes, I notice that one too.

On the whole, despite my gripes, and the things that could have made them more so, I did find them quite enjoyable - not least for James' banter. There are certainly far worse programmes on the box - in fact there was one the other day (whose identity is irrelevant to this thread) that looked promising from the Radio Times, but got turned off after five minutes or less to mutterings of "what a load of rubbish".
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Old 7th Apr 2016, 3:34 pm   #45
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Default Re: BBC 4 9pm tonight - Bakelite telephone

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...I thought the testing fell sadly short of the mark - OK, the bells respond to incoming ringing current, so what? How about demonstrating that a call can actually be established by lifting the handset (not receiver, James, that's the end you hold against your ear), or even that that reassembled dial did actually manage to dial out.
I suspect the bell is the only part that worked in the reassembled phone!
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Old 7th Apr 2016, 4:00 pm   #46
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Default Re: BBC 4 9pm tonight - Bakelite telephone

I got one of those screwdrivers, it hasn't seen action for years beimg of limited use, not a patch on a decent magnetised Phillips
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Old 7th Apr 2016, 7:42 pm   #47
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Default Re: BBC 4 9pm tonight - Bakelite telephone

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I kept saying to myself "How clever we once were" but there are far more examples of this beyond the telephone, just take a gander at the excellent film of how we once made steam locomotives, truly inspiring.
love the guy with the Jimmy Edwards moustache and I wonder what happened to engine 6207
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Old 7th Apr 2016, 7:58 pm   #48
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Default Re: BBC 4 9pm tonight - Bakelite telephone

LMS locomotive number 6207 'Princess Arthur of Connaught' was withdrawn in November 1961 and cut up at Crewe Works.
Fortunately two members of the Princess Royal class survive in preservation, numbers 6201 and 6203.
Andy
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Old 7th Apr 2016, 8:03 pm   #49
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Default Re: BBC 4 9pm tonight - Bakelite telephone

No discussion of railway matters please.
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Old 7th Apr 2016, 8:59 pm   #50
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Default Re: BBC 4 9pm tonight - Bakelite telephone

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I got one of those screwdrivers, it hasn't seen action for years beimg of limited use, not a patch on a decent magnetised Phillips
Which ain't much help on a brass screw!

I have two of them too.

Colin.
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Old 7th Apr 2016, 9:41 pm   #51
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Default Re: BBC 4 9pm tonight - Bakelite telephone

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My brother (ex GPO) also noted that the dial speed was too fast and not adjusted, the bells not adjusted as commented on earlier. Also the dial finger plate was loose.
Didn't notice the dial defects, other than the fact that the dial was fast ( I did the from "0" 100/1000 and one test, which did work in the old days- bit Heath Robinson, but Strowgers were never too fussy).
Also I took it that he'd adjusted the bell . As for the internal wiring, how many living engineers ever went further than adjust the dial/bell or change a transmitter ( or in LB areas change the batteries). In my day if you met a faulty 200/300 series, you simply said "madam, it's broken, what colour of a replacement phone would you like?"
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Old 7th Apr 2016, 10:39 pm   #52
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Default Re: BBC 4 9pm tonight - Bakelite telephone

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Which ain't much help on a brass screw!
Blu-tack !
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Old 8th Apr 2016, 12:19 am   #53
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Default Re: BBC 4 9pm tonight - Bakelite telephone

Another thing I noticed James May using, was GPO screw drivers, and mainly what a lot of folks will remember as Screwdriver instrument No 1.
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Old 8th Apr 2016, 2:18 pm   #54
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Default Re: BBC 4 9pm tonight - Bakelite telephone

Having just watched the electric guitar episode, I think this was probably the best of the three. At least more effort was put in to explaining how the pickup worked.

I don't think any programme of this type has ever matched the 'Secret life of machines' series with Tim Hunkin. That was an excellent series

The 'secret life of radio' was one of the best programmes, including an appearance of the late Gerry wells can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2roG...&nohtml5=False

others in the series are also available on Youtube.

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Old 8th Apr 2016, 3:30 pm   #55
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I have the 'Secret Life' programmes on a USB stick, if ever the telly or radio is dire a few hours can be spent watching them (downloadable from the official site). BTW man with Jimmy Edwards moustache is (was) Bob Symes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Symes did quite a bit of Tomorows World, very engaging.
 
Old 12th Apr 2016, 7:56 pm   #56
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Default Re: BBC 4 9pm tonight - Bakelite telephone

I saw the mower programme and have just watched the telephone episode - I wasn't particularly enraged by the use of 'receiver' as a word used to describe the whole handset because I knew a whole generation of people who referred to said item as the 'receiver' - most likely a throwback to the time when the part you held in your hand really was only the 'receiver', as on wall-mounted phones where the microphone was an integral part of the main unit.

The same term (receiver) was used for the same part in the clip from the vintage information film which formed part of the programme.

I'm not a 'phone person' so the only mildly incorrect part I noticed was when he was talking about the carbon microphone - his description of how it worked was fine, but the reason for using a carbon microphone was a little bit off as he seemed to imply that it was for reasons of 'clarity'.

I would have said that carbon microphones were the most direct / primitive way to convert a sound into a varying resistance, therefore a varying current - but if he had said that, would it have made any sense to a general audience?

The most interesting part of it for me was the information about the construction of the dial since I've never seen one taken apart. If he really did reassemble that part without help and entirely without drawings then I think he has a good instinctive understanding of machines and mechanical things. I probably would have had to put it together and take it apart several times before all the bits were definitely in the right place.

I thought he was quite brave putting the spring assembly back together out in the open - experience has taught me to do anything involving springs (or circlips) with the whole job inside a large clear plastic bag so that if the part in question does take off, it can't get far.
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Old 12th Apr 2016, 8:10 pm   #57
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Default Re: BBC 4 9pm tonight - Bakelite telephone

The important thing about these programmes is that they reveal to a largely "throw-away" audience that technical objects can be dismantled and reassembled.
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Old 12th Apr 2016, 8:33 pm   #58
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Default Re: BBC 4 9pm tonight - Bakelite telephone

I think they also convey the idea that 'tech' generally is an assembly of individual components arranged to interact - something which seems foreign to many now.
Difficulty in understanding exactly how that happens I understand (I often suffer from it myself), but I can't fathom the complete lack of curiosity which is so often encountered. Let's hope that these programmes spark something off here and there.
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Old 12th Apr 2016, 9:54 pm   #59
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Default Re: BBC 4 9pm tonight - Bakelite telephone

Pity the series didn't go on a little bit longer, but it's hard to think of things which are not just more variations on the same type of thing. Reassembly of a complete vintage radio starting with the components laid out side by side would be interesting, but too complex for the chosen length of time slot.

If they'd done just one more episode then perhaps a (mechanical / clockwork) clock with or without a chime mechanism would have been a good subject.
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