If you had 2 hours in the Science Museum

Where is curiosity when you can google anything

Perhaps all is not lost - my daughter enjoyed playing with a couple of connecting leads, a 12V gel battery and some steel wool. The concept that iron can burn really caught her imagination.

Neil

Hi Gray, exactly why I think my late mother would have said in your own recent thread, washing machine, sewing machine, vacuum cleaner and of course I should have added her gas stove. Both my parents grew up in times when all the these things you were telling your Grandson were common place, even the first washing machine that my mother had was nothing more than a metal tub with a simple agitator, but the Mangle was hand powered, even thought it was fun when I was old enough to be allowed to wind the Mangle for her.

I suppose the correct answer depends on what time period you live in, you own perspective of life and the values that are most important to oneself and family. After all what really is the next best thing since sliced bread?

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 12/10/2012 22:15:32

Nick,

You bring back youthful kitchen memories from the 60s/e early 70s.

I remember the washing machine with its agitator and pulling the clothes out with wooden tongs that had a strangely slimy surface to put them in the spin dryer - which shook itself across the kitchen if you weren't careful. The importance of having the smelly rubber 'web' on top of the clothes and knowing when to stop the spin as the flow of water from the pipesubsided to a trickle.

I remember going to school and looking for ways to casually drop into the conversation that we now had an 'atomic' washing machine!

New world gas cooker witha lighting wand, I remember teh gas man coming and converting us to natural gass!

neil

Hi Gray,

That was my family in the early 1950s. the only electricity we had was when the Radio Rediffusion men came along to cable in the wireless. We did have gas lighting but only in the front room and front upstairs bedroom. Admittedly we had a tap over the drain in the scullery (that was all that was in there) and the communal toilet was in a block of four at the other end of the row of 10 houses. Those were the days - not. I think I was happy though, my avatar picture was taken in those days.

Terry

Hi Neil, I'd forgotten about the gas stoves had to be converted. From what I recall all the new burners were delivered a few days before change over day and several places around town had these burn off pipes fitted to the gas main, where they had to burn off the coal gas before the natural gas could be put through. I think I can remember that mum couldn't do any cooking from just after breakfast time untill about tea time in the afternoon.

Yes my mum had a pair of those wooden tongs. It was several years after before she had any kind of spinner though, one of those stand alone things, which you had to add water to your already wet clothes for some reason.

Regards Nick.

Hi Terry, Scullery! now thats a word I haven't heard in a long while, we used to have one in the house that I was born in, but alas, no such thing when we moved in the mid 60's, but one less room for mum to clean and keep tidy I suppose.

Regards Nick.

I think it was the night of our Anual Meeting at our little museum,about 10yrs ago, and someone bought along some friends who where visiting from Austrailia, and later in the evening the children came to the meeting room, and one of them asked, is that thing making music an old fashoned CD player, I said yes sort of, it was a wind up gramophone, so we went back to have a look at it, and compare it to the Edison cylinder player. We'r slowly getting things labled, it's a big job. Ian S C

While I lament the passing of many things, i still admire the designers of things like digital cameras and mobile phones - they do have surprisng levels of repairability, albeit at module, not compnent, level and the way so much is fitted in so little space is amazing.

In about 1980 I was given a Sharp stereo casette player for Christmas. - the quality was amazing, it even had felted strips at every unbraced plastic to plastic join in the case to avoid buzzes or ratlles. I was the only example of such I saw for a couple of decades when otehrwise everything made of plastic was junk. back in the 70/80s 'tacky plastic' was the sign of cheap and nasty, now even the highest end products are made with engineering plastics and it does continually impress me what can be done.

But I have always loved old stuff - which is why i still have LPs and a 30+ year old Rotel turntable.

Neil

Hi Neil,

Still using a New World gas cooker, must be nearly 60 years old by now, hate to think how many modern ones we would have got through if it had been made to modern standards.

It was condemned by the Gas man, till I cleaned and re-lubed the gas taps, then someone more senior came and checked it again and passed it fit. Methinks the youngster felt anything old MUST be unsafe, could be right about bipeds but not necessarily about domestic appliances.

christephens