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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsWhat technology has not changed the slightest bit from when you were young?
I am .... along in some years .....
and despite the rapid pace of technological change, some areas remain totally untouched, or relatively the same.
Bic ball point pens. I love them, they haven't changed in 40+ years. Elmer's Glue bottles are still a trial to keep working, no change, either. Someone who could invent a self-closing, non-jamming glue bottle could make billions.
Pencil sharpeners. Most electrics can't handle heavy use. We recently stayed in an old resort that had a Boston hand sharpener from the 1920s that was both elegant and did a great job.
Most hand tools are exactly the same.
I have nail clippers I stole from my parents decades ago that still work perfectly. I have a radio from 1985 that I listen to every morning. It plays cassettes, too.
What are some of yours?
kwassa
(23,340 posts)though they come up with all kinds of crazy combination things they want art teachers like me to buy.
rug
(82,333 posts)GulfCoast66
(11,949 posts)No flesh color as when I was in school!
rug
(82,333 posts)Texasgal
(17,045 posts)I still have my grandmothers letter opener from the 1930's. It's beautiful with mother of pearl inlay and works quite well still as I open my mail daily.
kwassa
(23,340 posts)A very functional tool with a beautiful inlay.
and as surface mail disappears ....
Texasgal
(17,045 posts)I seem to still receive tons of it. Mainly bills!
Adsos Letter
(19,459 posts)Plain ol' pencils, to go with your pencil sharpener.
kwassa
(23,340 posts)and the quality has really dropped. I am talking to you, Ticonderoga!
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)kwassa
(23,340 posts)The horror.
angstlessk
(11,862 posts)The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,755 posts)The piano - no significant change since about the 1880s. Most other non-electric musical instruments haven't changed much either.
The fountain pen.
The drip coffee maker.
The outboard motor.
kwassa
(23,340 posts)I haven't seen any in a long time.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,755 posts)the really expensive ones. You don't see them being used a lot because of the ink mess, but it's maybe a bit of an affectation for some people. Actually I like them too but dealing with the ink is a bother.
unc70
(6,115 posts)Got a new limited edition purple one with purple ink. Actuall quite nice. Can use cartridge ink or bottled ink.
GulfCoast66
(11,949 posts)My handwriting leaves much to be desired. Fountain pen makes me slow down.
Plus it gets positive attention in meetings😎
jmowreader
(50,560 posts)Lots of four-stroke outboards on the water...if you buy a Honda 75hp or larger, it contains a car engine.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,755 posts)The one we use on our sailboat is a little 8.5 hp Yamaha and it's at least 15 years old. It does have electric ignition, at least.
jmowreader
(50,560 posts)The EPA figured out how much pollution a 2-stroke boat motor can create, and they're working hard to stop it. Naturally, all the "real men" bass fishermen were up in arms until they tried the new motors...people like 'em a LOT.
teach1st
(5,935 posts)kwassa
(23,340 posts)very funny.
Gidney N Cloyd
(19,842 posts)noamnety
(20,234 posts)Ironing clothes hasn't changed since I was a kid.
kwassa
(23,340 posts)Irons and hangers. Has the wire hanger really changed?
zanana1
(6,122 posts)I know that we can "steam" wrinkles out now, but that is a project. There has got to be an easier way.
Also, washing the floor. Mop and bucket still the standard. We can send text messages with our cell phones, but we still have to use irons and mops. WTH?
Made in USA from basically the same design as from the 1930s...
The ones you get at home improvement centers are filled with cheap Chinese plastic gears that break after a few years. Spend the extra bucks to get a US-made sprinkler that will last generations.
http://www.nationalwalkingsprinkler.com/
Bedsheets grown & sewn in the US, old school style... Better and often cheaper than expensive luxury sheets at department stores, any color you like as long as it's white:
https://authenticity50.com/
Gidney N Cloyd
(19,842 posts)They now have holes in the tips to prevent choking problems. (I guess people swallow the caps)
csziggy
(34,136 posts)Hoof knives, hoof nippers, horse shoes and the nails to hold them on the horses' feet - all of that technology probably hasn't changed in the last 150 years. "Keg" shoes - pre-made shoes commercially available - are more common than they were a hundred years ago, but the technology for making shoes from bar stock iron is the same as it has been for hundreds of years.
The forges have changed, though. When I was a teenager the farrier that came every six weeks used a coal heated forge. Most of us couldn't afford shoes and our horses really didn't need them in the Florida sand so I only saw him use the forge a few times. It was a production - he had a big stump to put the forge on (and another for his anvil), a big coal hod, and one of us kids had to work the bellows for him.
By the time I had my own farm and performance horses that needed shoes, farriers had propane powered forges which were easier to get hot, to keep at temperature and that cooled off faster. While that is more efficient and therefore cheaper, it is just not the same as seeing that old style forge in operation!
kentauros
(29,414 posts)After reading through this thread, I am seeing people naming old tools and tech that they still use, not the same tools as made today in comparison to those made in their childhood. So, yes, the Slinky has changed because of advances in materials science that has allowed them to make them out of plastic and it still works like one made out of metal.
Pencils have changed technologically with the invention of the mechanical pencil, as well as the disposable mechanical pencil. Yes, you can still buy 2mm pencil leads for such holders (and the sandpaper flats to 'sharpen' them.) Go to an art supply store if there are any near you and have a look at how pen and pencil technology has changed since you knew them however many decades ago. Some are the same, while others are unrecognizable. (Watercolor-pigment pencils, anyone?) For that matter, I don't use a mouse on this desktop computer; I use a Wacom tablet with a stylus so that I can also draw and paint with specialized software
Even books have advanced technologically. We've got eBooks now, and print-on-demand. No one offered POD forty years ago (or not without taking an order for a thousand books at a time.)
You can get nail-clippers made out of ceramic because the ceramic will never dull or rust.
And I'm not going to name something like a chef's knife or a vegetable peeler, because is it really "technology" or simply a tool?
kwassa
(23,340 posts)kentauros
(29,414 posts)Factories change, become more efficient, become technologically advance including with robotics.
Perhaps the better question would be what technologies have not changed drastically since their invention even with incremental changes overall. Chef knives would be a good example there. Different forging technologies, yet it's still just a knife
I was thinking most fans haven't changed in their basic design and operation since I was a kid. Box fans from this year basically operate the same as those of 30 to 40 years ago. They're a bit lighter now because of the materials used - plastic instead of metal - but I don't think the basic design has changed too much otherwise. We had an old Lakewood box fan from K-Mart that lasted a good 15 years.
TexasBushwhacker
(20,204 posts)Jaws of life thingy.
Terry cloth cloth towels. They've tried to improve on them, but nothing beats a 100% cotton terry cloth towel for drying off. The smooth velour type look pretty but don't dry well on the smooth side.
Zippers! Although they have the plastic kind now and invisible zippers, good old metal zippers are still the best.
kentauros
(29,414 posts)for liquid absorption: medical towels
I use those in the kitchen (managed to buy about fifty of them surplus because they all have a hole in the middle for thumb surgeries.) They absorb better than any terrycloth towel I've ever used. The runner-up for the same uses in the kitchen are towels made from bamboo fibers. They're also softer than terrycloth.
In the bathroom, I do still use terrycloth, mostly because of the size needed. Plus, I've discovered that organic cotton terrycloth is superior to any other fiber, at least for the towels I bought. And I love the colors (lime green, and royal purple.) I don't think either of them are of the colored varieties of organic cotton, but it would be nice if someone made towels out of those fibers, too.
Naturally-pigmented organic cotton:
Rhiannon12866
(205,552 posts)Was to find just the right place for the pencil sharpener. LOL. It's still there and still works just as well as I remember. No matter where we lived, that was something we could always depend on.
Aristus
(66,405 posts)No matter what frills, bells, and whistles we hang on a car, every time we start one up, we're using 140 year-old technology.
Looking forward to the day when Tesla takes over the world...
47of74
(18,470 posts)I might get a Chevy Bolt later this year or early next year, those are the cars with no fuel tanks and about 200 miles of range.
I've driven a Tesla Model S a couple times, if I could afford one of those I'd probably get one tomorrow.
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)sarge43
(28,941 posts)The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,755 posts)The front-loading ones know figure out how much water to use depending on the load, and they use a lot less water than the old ones with the agitator in the middle. They are hugely improved.
Lydia Leftcoast
(48,217 posts)had a combo washer-dryer in the room. It washed the clothes like any other washer, but then it drained out all the water and started air-drying them. (A lot of budget hotels in Japan have laundromats onsite or washer-dryers in the room).
To my amazement, the clothes came out perfectly dry.
hunter
(38,319 posts)And pointy sticks.
jpak
(41,758 posts)Wolf Frankula
(3,601 posts)Go Meow.
Wolf
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,755 posts)although it's been around for thousands of years. It is impossible to improve on this kind of mousetrap.
kwassa
(23,340 posts)Like fly paper for mice. Very very effective.
LiberalElite
(14,691 posts)kwassa
(23,340 posts)Laffy Kat
(16,383 posts)TexasBushwhacker
(20,204 posts)Chan790
(20,176 posts)I don't think it's changed a bit in about 100 years. I bought two identical ones, the same brand, about 20 years apart and other than one being shiny and new...they're identical.
Chan790
(20,176 posts)They're not new, rudimentary ones have been used in restaurants since Napoleon was alive...it's just the last 15-20 years that they've been available or common to the home-market.
It's like 35 years ago when my Aunt bought an espresso machine before anybody really made them for home use...it cost her several hundred dollars (like $800-900) and was difficult to use. She'd grown up in the Little Italy section of Hartford and couldn't imagine life without her daily doppio at breakfast.
Boomerproud
(7,958 posts)I hand-wash because it's just not worth it.
riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)Fireplace tools, fans, speculums (shudder), needles and syringes, vinyl records, bongs and pipes, curling irons...
...I am way too tired for this fun exercise. Great post!
LiberalEsto
(22,845 posts)still the same old QWERTYUIOP, etc.
jmowreader
(50,560 posts)madamesilverspurs
(15,806 posts)The one that came with my food processor didn't work nearly as well.
Skittles
(153,169 posts)has not evolved AT ALL
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)frogmarch
(12,154 posts)comes to mind.
MrScorpio
(73,631 posts)Still great for spoonin'