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From: kpmancus@phoenix.PRINCETON.EDU (Keith P. Mancus)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Vibrators, and a part-hunt.
Message-ID: <446@phoenix.PRINCETON.EDU>
Date: Thu, 16-Jul-87 20:47:27 EDT
Article-I.D.: phoenix.446
Posted: Thu Jul 16 20:47:27 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 18-Jul-87 10:08:59 EDT
Reply-To: kpmancus@phoenix.UUCP (Keith P. Mancus)
Organization: Princeton Univ. Computing and Information Technology
Lines: 22



  All this talk of ancient (:-) technology is great fun.  I'm only 20 years
old, so it sort of has an archaic flavor.
  My only encounter with a vibrator-type inverter was in an old aircraft
radio that came with our 1946 Ercoupe.  The radio was probably circa 1960-65,
especially since I've seen ads for the identical model in aircraft magazines
of that era.  The inverter (which was a remote box weighing about 10 lbs)
was the noisiest electronic gadget I've ever heard.  Everything worked, though.
Strangely, the tuner for the receiver was a variable capacitor rather than
a rotary switch.  Why did anybody want to be forced to fine-tune the silly
thing?
  I've used magic-eye tubes too; our capacitance-tester uses one as an
indicator.  (Late 1960's technology.)  And our first digital multimeter
had a Nixie-tube display.  Gee, things change quick!
  I can also remember when calculators not only used LED's, they used *28
separate LED's* to make one digit.  The power requirements were pretty high
for something battery-powered.  (Whatever happened to rechargable calculators?)

  It isn't only the old fogies who remember some of the neat stuff.  :-)

 Keith Mancus