James May: The Reassembler
Discussion
wolfracesonic said:
I've now got a strange desire to order some Japanese Industry Standard screwdrivers. Did anyone else here know of there existence, or even own some?
I own some, as I am a massive Tamiya RC collector, and Tamiya use JIS.People that complain about soft screws in Tamiyas are the ones using Phillips heads.
kev b said:
A long time ago there was a series called "the secret life of machines" or something similar.
The presenter was head of a museum, possibly science and industry, may have been called Tim, these programmes were superb and amusing too., does anyone else remember?
Usually an admirer of James Mays work, I found this series very uninspiring.
Tim Hunkin, he'd done cartoons for years. He made some automaton stuff for the Science Museum too, which may be what you're thinking of. If you visit Southwold, there's a crazy little arcade of his machines on the pier. The presenter was head of a museum, possibly science and industry, may have been called Tim, these programmes were superb and amusing too., does anyone else remember?
Usually an admirer of James Mays work, I found this series very uninspiring.
They're all available to watch here : http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/SLOM/ - if anyone enjoyed The Reassember and hasn't seen them, you'll probably like them too.
edit: or alternative sources listed at http://www.timhunkin.com/41_slom1.htm
Edited by sjg on Friday 8th April 09:57
Anyone know if the phone would actually work with modern telephone lines? I thought we changed to tone dialing early 90's so I was not too sure a phone of that age using pluse dialing would actually work. I wonder if when it rang at the end they rigged that? I notice they did not make an outgoing call which I am sure would not work but I do wonder if it would ring OK on an inbound call. That seems possible.
I was hoping they might go into these kind of technical details but they seemed to skim over a lot of the more technical questions which seems odd as I am sure anyone who would take the time to watch something like this would be the type who actually would want to know all the little details.
I was hoping they might go into these kind of technical details but they seemed to skim over a lot of the more technical questions which seems odd as I am sure anyone who would take the time to watch something like this would be the type who actually would want to know all the little details.
Edited by dvb70 on Friday 8th April 13:15
That's interesting. So in theory it could have worked if the line were BT. I am thinking maybe whatever line they were on did not support pulse dialing though as to me the first thing you would do on phone like that is demonstrate dialing. It's the thing that phones of that age do that is so alien to us now. I would actually quite like to have a go dialing on a phone like that again as it's been a very long time. I would imagine the novelty would not last long though.
dvb70 said:
That's interesting. So in theory it could have worked if the line were BT. I am thinking maybe whatever line they were on did not support pulse dialing though as to me the first thing you would do on phone like that is demonstrate dialing. It's the thing that phones of that age do that is so alien to us now. I would actually quite like to have a go dialing on a phone like that again as it's been a very long time. I would imagine the novelty would not last long though.
I remember that you could actually dial by tapping out the numbers (really quickly) on the connector that you rested the receiver on.@Lucas Ayde Yeah hitting the receiver once generates one pulse so just hit it the amount of time you want for your first digit, pause and start on the next digit and repeat until you complete the number. I do remember trying to dial like this when I found out about it and the main thing I remember was getting through to the wrong number on most attempts. There was clearly a knack to it I never quite got the hang of.
I seem to remember the story was you could make free calls from telephone boxes using the tap dialing method but I actually think that was probably nonsense.
I seem to remember the story was you could make free calls from telephone boxes using the tap dialing method but I actually think that was probably nonsense.
Edited by dvb70 on Friday 8th April 15:15
dvb70 said:
@Lucas Ayde Yeah hitting the receiver once generates one pulse so just hit it the amount of time you want for your first digit, pause and start on the next digit and repeat until you complete the number. I do remember trying to dial like this when I found out about it and the main thing I remember was getting through to the wrong number on most attempts. There was clearly a knack to it I never quite got the hang of.
I seem to remember the story was you could make free calls from telephone boxes using the tap dialing method but I actually think that was probably nonsense.
It used to be the case that you could dial from one local exchange to the next using 'local' 9x codes rather than the national 0x codes. You could theoretically string together long sequences of them to get from one end of the country to the other for a 'local' call.I seem to remember the story was you could make free calls from telephone boxes using the tap dialing method but I actually think that was probably nonsense.
Edited by dvb70 on Friday 8th April 15:15
..and when I were a lad, the first three dials we dialed were letters not numbers.
My first number was WORdsworth 2289 (907- 2289). Hence the letters on the dial. We were apparently not bright enough to remember 7 numbers, so had to have poets, artists etc.
My childhood mates were all on BYRon or SHElly
My first number was WORdsworth 2289 (907- 2289). Hence the letters on the dial. We were apparently not bright enough to remember 7 numbers, so had to have poets, artists etc.
My childhood mates were all on BYRon or SHElly
Edited by GetCarter on Friday 8th April 18:51
dvb70 said:
Anyone know if the phone would actually work with modern telephone lines? I thought we changed to tone dialing early 90's so I was not too sure a phone of that age using pluse dialing would actually work. I wonder if when it rang at the end they rigged that? I notice they did not make an outgoing call which I am sure would not work but I do wonder if it would ring OK on an inbound call. That seems possible.
I was hoping they might go into these kind of technical details but they seemed to skim over a lot of the more technical questions which seems odd as I am sure anyone who would take the time to watch something like this would be the type who actually would want to know all the little details.
YES it will work on both inbound and outbound.I was hoping they might go into these kind of technical details but they seemed to skim over a lot of the more technical questions which seems odd as I am sure anyone who would take the time to watch something like this would be the type who actually would want to know all the little details.
Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 8th April 13:15
Are you sure ? Yes I am
How can you be sure ? Because I have a type 706 made the same year and month I was born in my hall and I am on Virgin Media
That sounds complicated the 706 isn't a Bakelite phone ? Your correct but the principles the same
Ah but they are 2 different phones so you cant be sure ? Yes I can because I wired up a bakealite version 332 for a mate who had bought it at a second hand shop. I used it for a couple of days in my own place
dvb70 said:
@Lucas Ayde Yeah hitting the receiver once generates one pulse so just hit it the amount of time you want for your first digit, pause and start on the next digit and repeat until you complete the number. I do remember trying to dial like this when I found out about it and the main thing I remember was getting through to the wrong number on most attempts. There was clearly a knack to it I never quite got the hang of.
I seem to remember the story was you could make free calls from telephone boxes using the tap dialing method but I actually think that was probably nonsense.
Most lines are still set up for dual signalling - loop dis (pulsing) and multi frequency (tone). Pay phones were quickly changed to mf when the tapping was used for free calls.I seem to remember the story was you could make free calls from telephone boxes using the tap dialing method but I actually think that was probably nonsense.
Edited by dvb70 on Friday 8th April 15:15
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