Regarding geek stuff of yesteryear....

fitzo

fitzo

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Hopefully someone else will remember the early 60's "science kits" that came in a cardboard tube with metal caps. They were a series that exposed kids to basic sciences. I remember a couple of them: one was sort of an electrical breadboard with a lightbulb, etc. Another had some plastic gears, ratchet, etc. Those things were some of my favorite Christmas presents. I can't remember if they were late 50's or early 60's.

If anyone else remembers these, I'd be interested in a reminder of what else was available and what they were called. I seem to remember they were made by Mattel.

Thanks.
 
Some of this stuff is still available and is an excellent teaching aid for kids....BTW breadboards were replaced by the microchip. The inventer of the microchip ,Jack Kilby ,just died. He had 60 patents to his name and a Nobel prize for the microchip. I wonder what toys he had as a kid.
 
We get one catalog every Christmas time that is loaded with toys like this; I believe it's the same Edmund Scientific that some here probably eagerly awaited "back in the day". There was a "Johnson something" that was the other "tech" toy catalog I remember, mostly "magic" stuff.

As the links you guys posted indicate, the level of sophistication of today's toys is staggering. It brings to mind that oft-heard comment, "Think of all the things Grandma has seen change in her lifetime."

Only, now, I'm Grandma! :)

I was watching a show the other day honoring the 1-year anniversary of Spaceship One and the X-Prize. Does that make anyone else think of Harriman? (How many of you know who I mean with that somewhat arcane reference?)

Thanks for the responses, guys.
 
I used to get the Edmund Scientific Catalog every year, both as a child and when my kids were growing up.

It has gotten much more sophisticated over the years and the toys have gotten more expensive...
 
Boy!! That was before my time. HEHEHE!!!! :eek: :D The only thing that I got for Xmas was coal and had to burn it to keep warm. :rolleyes: Boy life doesn't change much I got that this past year TOO. HEHEHEHE!!!!!! But I didn't have to burn it to keep warm just forged a blade with it. ;) ;)
 
indian george said:
Boy!! That was before my time. HEHEHE!!!! :eek: :D The only thing that I got for Xmas was coal and had to burn it to keep warm. :rolleyes: Boy life doesn't change much I got that this past year TOO. HEHEHEHE!!!!!! But I didn't have to burn it to keep warm just forged a blade with it. ;) ;)
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So, you honestly try to make yerself believe you got the coal because you were poor??? :p :p

You'd think that, by now, if yer still getting coal you'd have figured it out.... :eek:

"before my time" my a&&, Captain Past...... :)
 
Coal ? there were threats about bad boys get coal for Christmas. They did it to me .There wrapped in paper in a shoebox was a piece of COAL !!! The guilt of all those times I was bad , what a trauma !
 
mete said:
Coal ? there were threats about bad boys get coal for Christmas. They did it to me .There wrapped in paper in a shoebox was a piece of COAL !!! The guilt of all those times I was bad , what a trauma !
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Only one piece? You musta been bad. That's not even enough to austenitize, let alone start pounding. :barf: :D
 
For me it was coal and a stick in the stocking. I never did understand the selection of those objects, but I understood the meaning of the symbol! LOL
 
fitzo said:
Does that make anyone else think of Harriman? (How many of you know who I mean with that somewhat arcane reference?)
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OK Grandma, Who was Harriman? "William Avererell Harriman", "LeRoy the Hairy Man", "Harry J. Mann".........Who are we talking about ????????????

The suspense is killin' me.

Robert
 
I am truly disappointed that not one true geek stepped up to the plate with the answer! ;) I know there has to be someone else out there who was a Robert Heinlein sci-fi reader as a kid. Wildrose would know but apparently Chuck ain't read this.

Robert, Harriman is a character in an old sci-fi story called "The Man Who Sold the Moon." It is about his desire to be on the moon so very bad that he wheedled, schemed, and bullied people and ramrodded the first civilian space program through. The tragedy is that, after making it happen, he was disallowed because of his health. The glory, though, is that he got his wish; though, I seem to remember he died trying, happy as can be. The morals of those early sci-fi stories pretty much molded who I am. Seminal science fiction, IMO.

While not a direct correlation to the Paul Allen/Burt Rutan axis that created Spaceship One, a fan who'd read the story back when as a kid would be hard pressed not to have it come to mind.

I was fishing for the real geeks. Either they're too chickendoo to admit it or I've got more memory cells left than I thought. I can't imagine that no one else who's read this thread read the book.

C'mon, someone pipe up, and correct me if I'm wrong! :p :)

Not so very exciting, probably, after all, was it, Robert? Sorry to keep you in suspense for diddledoo. :p
 
Late 50's, early 60's...
I know what you're talking about, but am drawing a blank...
I'll go looking, but I guess I'll find nothing...
 
fitzo said:
I am truly disappointed that not one true geek stepped up to the plate with the answer! ;) I know there has to be someone else out there who was a Robert Heinlein sci-fi reader as a kid. Wildrose would know but apparently Chuck ain't read this.

Robert, Harriman is a character in an old sci-fi story called "The Man Who Sold the Moon." It is about his desire to be on the moon so very bad that he wheedled, schemed, and bullied people and ramrodded the first civilian space program through. The tragedy is that, after making it happen, he was disallowed because of his health. The glory, though, is that he got his wish; though, I seem to remember he died trying, happy as can be. The morals of those early sci-fi stories pretty much molded who I am. Seminal science fiction, IMO.

While not a direct correlation to the Paul Allen/Burt Rutan axis that created Spaceship One, a fan who'd read the story back when as a kid would be hard pressed not to have it come to mind.

I was fishing for the real geeks. Either they're too chickendoo to admit it or I've got more memory cells left than I thought. I can't imagine that no one else who's read this thread read the book.

C'mon, someone pipe up, and correct me if I'm wrong! :p :)

Not so very exciting, probably, after all, was it, Robert? Sorry to keep you in suspense for diddledoo. :p
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You got to be $hitty me " The man you sold the moon". Never heard of that. :confused: :confused: Did it have a lot of pictures in the book????? HEHEHEHE!!!! :confused:
 
Mike

I hadn't thought of that story in 40 years. I kind of made a link in my mind to the astronomer Allen Hale (of comet Hale-Bopp fame) whose ashes, if I remember right, were taken into space a few years back.
 
Actually , one of those kits "sparked my interest" in electronics. I would otherwise most likely have turned out to be a criminal. Being the Son of a preacher, I was doomed to rebel.

I made up a circuit one night that was supposed to be a receiver. Turned out to have a side benefit of being a transmitter by talking into the little earphone. Drove a neighbor crazy by talking to him through his T.V.

Havent thought of the kit in ages :)
 
Mark Williams said:
Actually , one of those kits "sparked my interest" in electronics. I would otherwise most likely have turned out to be a criminal. Being the Son of a preacher, I was doomed to rebel.

I made up a circuit one night that was supposed to be a receiver. Turned out to have a side benefit of being a transmitter by talking into the little earphone. Drove a neighbor crazy by talking to him through his T.V.

Havent thought of the kit in ages :)
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Mark, the mention of being a PK and the TV thing combined to bring me an image of Paul Rodriguez freaking out at the "dayglo velvet Jesus" talking to him in "Born In East LA", when indeed a telephone was behind the Jesus on a ledge.

I dang near spit my coffee thinking on what you would'a been like.

I bet you could'a had fun with that circuit..... probably did, too! :)
 
Mark, it's minutes later and Nancy is still laughing and just about ready to turn blue thinking about you messing with the neighbor.

I'm gonna send you the rescue squad bill...... :p
 
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