UP FRONT

By Richard Mandel
Editor in Chief

Tales of Technology Passed

A couple of months ago I noted on this page two reports on environmental topics, with the summation that output from the design community has an ultimate impact on the world. Got a few letters — some agreeing, some disagreeing and offering counter-documentation, and a few calling some of the numbers from Reuters into question. Thanks to all for enlivening my e-mail with interesting repartee.

Tangentially, the act of design produces its own form of Darwinistic evolution. One example might be the horse-drawn plow and its successor, the steam tractor. Of interest and entertainment, then, is the website www.deadmedia.org, an archive of adventures into product design that seemed to someone like a good idea. The site stems from an essay by author Bruce Sterling, in which he proposed that someone (with time) should put together a book discussing communications technologies that existed and perished, such items as the Edison wax cylinder, the stereoopticon and the pneumatic transfer tubes that once created a physical web beneath the streets of Chicago. Those are the more familiar — Sterling also mentions the phenakistoscope, the teleharmonium and something called Telefon Hirmondo.

Going into the site’s catalog (www.deadmedia.org/notes/index-cat.html) is like walking into a technology museum Not everything is covered with a century’s worth of dust — there’s a discussion about quadraphonic sound that existed in the 1970’s. Remember Nixie tubes? They’re here. And the Sony Handicam, marketed (and pulled) only several years ago for its ability to make subjects appear as though they’re not wearing any clothing. There’s much to the catalog that makes for fascinating browsing. Item 13.3, regarding the Edison Electric Pen, contains detailed instructions for making one’s own wet cell battery for power, with materials appropriate for end-of-the-19th-century technology.

Of particular interest is under the heading “Antique Chip Fabricator.” A company called Lansdale Semiconductor in Tempe, AZ, has been quietly supporting “aftermarket technologies” for clients like the US Military and the DOD, whose products don’t have the same turnover as industrial or consumer products. It’s comforting to know that there’s still a source for germanium power transistors for my hi-fi.