This is just awesome.....wow.....never thought of these things in this perspective.

Trin

I must have been born before dirt after reading these.

Fun...; Thanks!

My niece Ashley is starting university this fall, she just graduated from high school. She was born in 1991.

When she was around 10 my oldest sister was cleaning out her house and gave Ashley an old princess style rotary telephone. Ashley had no idea how to use it! She had only ever known push button phones.

Several years ago I had pulse service from Bell, as I had had it for years and had no push-button phones. I think that I later got a phone which could be used either way and found that if I switched it to touch-tone, it would work ... and there was no extra fee monthly for that service.

I later had a second phone line installed and they told me that there would be a monthly fee for touch-tone service. I told them that I did not want it, that I would take pulse service, with no monthly surcharge.

Sorry - pulse service is no longer offered, the only persons who have it now are people who have had it for years.

So ... if touch-tone service is the new standard, the basic service ... then there should not be a fee for using it.

It seems that I was wrong ... there was a monthly fee for touch-tone service, there still is, but even though one wants only pulse service ...

... sorry - not available.

Can you think of an extra money-raising project related to your business to compare with that?

ole joyful

omg how funny..one of my nephews on my exes side said to me about 2 months ago (we were trying to get busisness cards typed) i told him to use a typewriter because his mom has them and i dont have a printer, hes 14, he says aunt wendy, "whats a typewriter?" omg i thought i was gonna wet my pants!!! im still laughing aboute it...good post

Has anyone tried typing on a typewriter lately?

After the pc keyboard, I find it HARD.

I learned how to touch type. Keyboard, or typewriter is same to me. Unless I need to erase... no back space key.... sigh

I don't look at the keyboard when I type. My kids are amazed, but then I am amazed when they type just as fast using 4 fingers.

I think that's a couple years old. My DD is in her 3rd year of college and was born in 1989.

Quite true though.

Here's a few more:

1. We engineering students searched the night sky to view Sputnik soon after it was launched. It could be seen with the unaided eye as a bright dot traversing the star field. It was launched in October, 1957.

2. The Edsel car.

3. Pushbutton shift for automatics (1964 Dodge)

4. Change over from 6 to 12 Volt automotive system. Happened in the 1950s. The change over was delayed until lamp manufacturers could figure out how to keep the 12 volt headlamp filaments from breaking. Hit a bump and pouf, no headlights.

5. Change over in autos from generators to alternators. Started in 1960.

6. When Dairy Queen sold only icecream and custard.

7. Car Hops at the drive-in

8. Drive-in movies.

9. No seat belts.

10. Bias tires - no radials.

11. Inner tubes.

12. Tire tube patching kits.

13. No heated back glass in cars.

14. Dimmer switch on the floor.

15. Carburetors.

16. Blow torches.

17. Out houses.

18. Kerosene lanterns.

19. Un-colored oleomargarine. The dairy industry in Wisconsin and a few other states sucessfully lobbyied against colored margarine. It came packed with the colorant in an ampoule that one broke open and kneeded the color into the product before opening the outer skin. What a nusiance. The dairy industry had tried to keep the product off the shelves, or levy a big tarrif against it. Selling it uncolored was the compromise.

20. Bobby socks.

21. Full pleated skirts. (I really liked the appearance of girls in these.)

22. Vacuum tube radios and TVs.

23. The introduction of transitor radios and hi-fi sets.

24. Highschool English teachers finally accepted the ball point pen for student papers.

25. Fountain pens (Don't wear one of these in your shirt pocket on an airline flight. Pressure changes might squeeze the ink out.)

26. Radio Shack TRS 80 personal computer.

27. Artari video games.

28. Commodore VIC 20 and 64 PCs.

29. Introduction of microwave ovens.

30. Introduction of Wash and wear no-iron clothes.

31. Shoe factories. The US was full of shoe factories, garmet factories, and baby wear makers in the 1940s and 1950s. Where are those now?

32. Pittsburg, PA was steel mill city.

33. Postal abbreviations for states used more than 2 letters.

34. No zip codes.

35. Dial telephones.

36. Pay phones were common.

37. No interstates, just state and federal highways.

Jemdandy, you forgot...

Skates that you needed to tighten onto your shoes with a skate key

S&H Green Stamps

I still remember ignition points in cars. And the stacks of "burgers" pre-made at McDonalds some in the styro containers. Boy how those "burgers" were flattened when you had 4 or 5 layers stacked on top of them.

The 1950s Chrysler products and up until 1964 (the last year "typewriter trannys" were allowed). Don't forget Edsel had the "new Teletouch drive works so easily, puts the shift buttons where they ought to be", in the center of the steering wheel. My dad had two DeSotos, a 57 and a 59, then a 64 Chrysler and a 63 Chrysler with pushbuttons. My uncle had a 56 Desoto. IIRC 1960 is when they put in a "park" lever to go with the buttons. Prior to that, you set the parking brake. I don't think many people know how to use that these days. They sure don't know what parking lights are for... and NOT for. What am I talking about, many people today don't know what turn signals are for!

For cars;
Three on the tree
Curb feelers
Phones;
Party lines
Prank phone calls

Trin

I remember both Green Stamps and Plaid Stamps. My mother collected both. I got a sheet set for college using Green Stamps.

I still have my bread warmer that I got with my Green Stamps. Use it LOTS! and it still works :o)

My niece was texting with her phone and the sound it makes is just like a typewriter. She had no idea, but thought it sounded cool.

oh my, this thread could go on forever. i loved s&h greenstamps, my mom collected them when we got groceries, and wed peruse through the catalog for days. if 3 on a tree means a standard on a column? i remember that too unfortunately so does my dad..lol he had my best friend take over, i still cant drive one, and he has never road with me in a vehicle again. i was 14 then and 42 now..he did however ride with me in a logtruck. how about old time carnivals, where everyone knew everyone else and us kids could run free until our money ran out? it was special.. this thread was really really fun!

I use my bread warmer to germinate seeds!

More Stuff:

1. Clothes lines (Ever run under one while riding your bicycle? Gives a real meaning to the term, "clothes lined.)

2. Monday laundry day with the Maytag Washer powered by a small gasoline engine. (The engine could be cantankerous.) The washer sat outside with very little protection from the weather.

3. Introduction of the safety wringer.

The safety wringer became necessary once the wringer became powered by a motor. Too many horror stories happened when the lady of the house got her hair or sleeve caught in the wringer. This safety feature came in two styles: 1) When an object got between the rollers that spread those beyond the normal diatance, the mechanism was tripped and literally came apart to disengage drive power to the roller. 2) A trip bar was placed in front to the wringers. When something got drawn into the trip bar, the mechanism came apart. In an emergency, a person could hit the trip bar to stop the wringer.

4. Fence stretchers. Used to intall barbed wire fencing.

5. Home made kites using weed stems for light weight sticks and newspaper for covering. (We had access to big, woody weeds called horseweed.) The paper was held by home made paste made of flour or corn starch. We raided the 'rag bag' for material to make the tail.

6. Rubber band powered model airplanes. (Not very effective.)

7. Cap pistols and Roy Rogers and LOne Ranger outfits.

8. Hand and foot operated air pumps for inflating tires.

9. Daisy BB guns.

10. Manual shifters and clutches - no automatic transmissions.

11. Hill holders - Kept the car from rolling backward while stopped at a traffic light on a hill. Ever try to go from keeping the car from rolling backard and shifting into gear to go forward on a hill? And do it smoothly? You needed an extra foot.

12. Brake light swithces were pressure switches plumbed to the hydraulic brake lines. Occasionaly, one would leak badly or the diaphram failed and caused loss of brakes. That's when the manual 'parking brake' became an emergency brake. In fact, in Model-A Fords with mechanical brakes, that little lever was called the emergency brake and it as needed. I know from personal experience.

13. Before combines, there were mowing machines, hay rakes, binders, and threshing machines.

14. Autos running without air cleaners could expect to need new rings every 20,000 to 30,000 miles.

15. Road draft tubes. Fumes from the crankcase was vented underneath the engine through an open tube. The end of the tube was cut on an angle. The air flow over the end of the tube induced a weak draft to help purge the crankcase. Where did the stuff go? On the road and the underside of the car. Look at photos of highways from the 1940s and you can obvserve an oil streak in the center of the lane unless the concrete was very new. This oil streak was a peril to motorcyclist when they leaned into a turn and happened to creep into this oil slick especailly if it was bit wet.

16. Steam engines on railroads. I remember the phase out of the last of these on the Balitmore and Ohio railway.

17. Hobos.

18. Huckster Trucks. During WW2 when everything was rationed, county grocery stores ran a panel truck route to their customers homes bringing basic items like bread, canned goods, sugar, spices, salt, etc. The made two runs per week. If an item was not on the truck on Monday, you could place an order and it would be delivered 2 to 3 days later on their next run. The huckester truck was given a gasoline alowance, but most farmers had only enough gasoline for their tractors and very little 'ration stamps' for tires. Autos remained parked for days on end. The national speed limit was 45 mph for private vehicles.

19. Bell bottomed trousers.

20. Pant leg clips - to keep pant legs out of the bicycle chain. - very necessary with bell bottoms.

21. Schwinn was a big name in bicycles. It no longer exists. I beleive that the tradename is still emplyed.

Jimdandy,
I owned a Schwinn bicycle. The first bike I ever owned. I got a 26" so my dad would not have to buy another one as I grew taller.(I was in the 3rd grade, and he brought it over to my grandmothers house for me on Christmas morning) I had to ride it standing up all the time as I could not reach the seat. I had it for many, many years. I use to ride it on the beach strip in Myrtle Beach as a teenager. Loved it!!!! Wow, you just brought back memories. I loved riding that bike! That was my freedom machine as a young girl, LOL. I hate to hear they are not in business anymore. Well built bikes!!