Scientific Instruments (Pre 1950'ish)

No Richard not a catheter, but it is superb at getting a fire going and the last time it was used for that was a little earlier this evening

It's an old French thing that you blow through to stir the fire if it's being a bit lazy and a lot better that a pair of bellows. It was a present for me from an ex neighbour from before we moved to France. They came over to stay with us in France, then spent a few days in the Provence. They are quite common there. Hollow elder branch and it works a real treat

A guess? or did you know?

Jonzjob wrote in post #19204455
No Richard not a catheter, but it is superb at getting a fire going and the last time it was used for that was a little earlier this evening

It's an old French thing that you blow through to stir the fire if it's being a bit lazy and a lot better that a pair of bellows. It was a present for me from an ex neighbour from before we moved to France. They came over to stay with us in France, then spent a few days in the Provence. They are quite common there. Hollow elder branch and it works a real treat

A guess? or did you know?

I thought you were yanking the chain so I Googled
It makes perfect sense.
Modern day version is a piece of thin plastic tubing.
I'd carry one bushwalking.
Useful for several things but brilliant on a soggy fire

I was looking through some files, paper type (!) yesterday and got a real trip down memory lane. It a system reference card from my time in IBM! Anyone remember the IBM System 370?

Interesting stuff indeed John
Way over my noddle!
I'll just stick to Chambers 16 (?) figure maths book thanks. Used in my astronomical calculations

Jonzjob wrote in post #19210896
I was looking through some files, paper type (!) yesterday and got a real trip down memory lane. It a system reference card from my time in IBM! Anyone remember the IBM System 370?

Hosted photo: posted by Jonzjob in
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forum: Still Life, B/W & Experimental

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I used to know most of the codes in the second shot. Almost all of the alpha/numeric characters and also to be able to add, subtract and multiply in hexidecimal! It scares the merde out of me just to think about it now!

Oh, the good old daze

They are just 6 sides of the 16 sides of the fold up pocket reference card!

How did you enter a program in Hex? Punch cards?

I do remember watching them being built at Havant plant.

Capn Jack wrote in post #19211047
How did you enter a program in Hex? Punch cards?

It was one way Jack, but punch cards were on their way out and the biggest user I had of them was the JMB, Joint Matriculation Board in Manchester and then Cheltenham used to get through better part of about a million when the universities were touting for students. All hell let loose them and the punch card readers were a complete pain the the bottie-bits!

Joined IBM in 1978 as a data entry engineer and found myself pushed into a room of 40 or 50 ladies in a punch room full of IBM 029 and 059 punch machines for me to maintain. Next door was an equal number of females typing away on an equal number of IBM 3277 Visual display units (VDU) to maintain as well. I was so pleased to escape that environment to be trained on IBM 370-145 and work on large systems.

When I was a student at NYU in the early 70's the computer room took up an entire basement of a building. I remember in my computer class learning Basic on a workstation with a continuous roll printout (pre CRT screens) that spit out paper tapes with punch holes representing our program) we rolled up and kept in a 35mm film can and guarded with our lives. The workstation couldn't store anything internally. ANd also submitting batches of punch cards for programs on the IBM that you had to wait overnight for them to run to see if you had any errors in your program......

edmidlifecrisis wrote in post #19211748
When I was a student at NYU in the early 70's the computer room took up an entire basement of a building. I remember in my computer class learning Basic on a workstation with a continuous roll printout (pre CRT screens) that spit out paper tapes with punch holes representing our program) we rolled up and kept in a 35mm film can and guarded with our lives. The workstation couldn't store anything internally. ANd also submitting batches of punch cards for programs on the IBM that you had to wait overnight for them to run to see if you had any errors in your program......

That almost sounds like a DEC- Digital Electric Corporation product. The one I'm most familiar with was the PDP-8.

Capn Jack wrote in post #19211774
That almost sounds like a DEC- Digital Electric Corporation product. The one I'm most familiar with was the PDP-8.

It was so long ago Io don' t remember, not being a computer geek. I just remember that the whole process was a time consuming PITA!!!!

Jonzjob wrote in post #19210896
I was looking through some files, paper type (!) yesterday and got a real trip down memory lane. It a system reference card from my time in IBM! Anyone remember the IBM System 370?

Hosted photo: posted by Jonzjob in
./showthread.php?p=192​10896&i=i40494680
forum: Still Life, B/W & Experimental

I used to know most of the codes in the second shot. Almost all of the alpha/numeric characters and also to be able to add, subtract and multiply in hexidecimal! It scares the merde out of me just to think about it now!

Oh, the good old daze

Lord Byron’s daughter’s computing history might be of interest. Try not to get too involved in the many associated links of Byron’s moral’s of the day.
https://en.m.wikipedia​.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace

Induction Coil. Made by Griffin & George Ltd.
The coil dimensions on this instrument are 10 x 4 inches. The base is 18 x 10.5 inches.
Connected to a 12 Volt car battery it will produce a spark about 2-3 inches across the air gap between it's balls.
The spark generated is very rich in harmonics and will interfere local radio equipment operating on the lower frequency bands.
This is the basis of the spark transmitters used for wireless telegraphy, particularly aboard ships from 1900 on through WW1 and later. Now not allowed due to the interference caused over a wide RF spectrum.
An antenna (aerial) is connected via a tuned circuit to accentuate the transmission frequency. Caution - don't touch the high voltage parts - it will cause burns.

Here is a Wiki link.
https://en.wikipedia.o​rg/wiki/Spark-gap_transmitter

Very interesting Ray and a beautiful piece of equipment.
Never ceases to amaze how these (and other) devices came into being.
The thought process that led to the final product. My mind boggles

Another view. Induction Coil. Made by Griffin & George Ltd.
The induction coil principle originates from around 1850. I suspect this device was made around 1954 as Griffin & George merged in 1954.
The coil dimensions on this instrument are 10 x 4 inches. The base is 18 x 10.5 inches.