Recent content by davetranter

Another one pokes his head out of the woodwork ;-) Dave T is still 'alive, and well', and still living in the UK...Not posted on Vacuumland for a year or more, though have looked in occasionally. Since I am not a collector of domestic appliances, I have not the slightest interest in any...

Cream and Brown Henry Anyone remember this pic??? ;-) Henry the Viking!!!

'Fridge/freezer LED lamps I had initially wondered about the low temperature performance of the electrolytic capacitors in the freezer lamp ballast, but a quick look in the first component catalogue I could find (which still took some digging out!) reveals that even the worst low temperature...

Early computers I'm not sure, but I think the first computer that I was allowed to touch was a Zenith portable (you couldn't really call it a laptop!!), which had an 8080 processor, IIRC. I have since managed to collect a few early model IBM PCs, including a 'Made in Greenock, Scotland' PC...

'One of these' Ok...... so what is it??? All best Dave T

Portapower I have a Portapower which I 'inherited' some years ago, with bearing noise and a faulty switch, of which the first was soon cured, and the latter bridged out. Sadly it came with only half of it's hose, but is still my 'daily drive'. I've just looked, and the 'data plate' sticker is...

Quality or cheap/throwaway?? I agree with others (replies # 19,24, etc.) that there has been a general degradation in the quality of manufacturing in the last few decades. There is now an expectation that NOTHING new will last, no matter who made it, or how much you are willing to pay. I...

Replies # 11/12, etc. I agree! For a non-collector that is a functional (if rather rough) repair. It is easy to forget that for most people, a vacuum cleaner (of whatever make/model) is simply a tool to be used. Presumably this repair kept the machine in use (and out of landfill) for long...

Telephone Kiosks GPO telephone kiosks (booths) were of cast iron, except for the very earliest (indoor) types, and are/were properly referred to as 'Public Call Offices'. I'm sure the Internet has many photographs of the various types. Since the turn of the century BT has been removing as many...

Colour Temperature I have also started to experiment with LED lighting, now that it has become (almost) affordable. I managed to buy one lamp (320lm/4.5W/30Wequiv, 2700K) at a local 'discount store' 18 months ago. I installed it to replace a 40W incandescent in the small bedroom where I am...

'The infamous radioactive glowing dial' .... Properly referred to as the 'BetaLite', Used a thin glass tube, lined with a green phosphor, and containing a tiny amount of Tritium. Sadly, none of them still glow, as the phosphors have long become exhausted. The Tritium will still be going strong...

GPO Telephones Nice to type at you again, Alex :-) It's nice to see a thread about something I understand!!! ;-) I'm an Ex-GPO Engineer, and am familiar with all the types of instrument you have in your collection. I have a fair collection of spare parts, internal diagrams, etc. as well as...

Air compressors I have three working air compressors at the moment. Sadly, none of them are accessible to photograph right now, but I will try to dig them out sometime soon. One is a 'Clarke' 9 CFM 'workshop' type, which came to me with a 415V 3-phase motor, but which I retro-fitted with a 2...

'Self Destruct' I couldn't agree more with 'Human' (Reply#3). Such an eloquent statement of my own feelings. Sadly it isn't only home appliances.... I dread to think what I will do when my car finally dies. It's a mid- '90s model, pretty much the last made without a plethora of unnecessary...

Cylinders in the U.K. I think Parwaz has pretty well summed up the 'pros and cons'. Sadly, I doubt that many of the 'buying public' think so deeply as to consider the type of flooring that they have, or the amount of clutter that they have to clean around/under..... The odds are that it boils...