Interested in Mechanical Automation?

July 12, 2020 5:04 AM

Ever wonder how we made all these crazy machines do all their crazy machine things before computers came along? Wonder no more as Alec (AKA, Mr. Connectify) from “Technology Connections” explore the inner workings of a Wurlitzer 3400 series jukebox from 1970. (23 min long YT vid).
Found via a post of an open side view of an antique calculator from here
His Youtube channel
A second channel
posted by growabrain (15 comments total)

What a great post to wake up to on a Sunday morning. Thank you. Electromechanical Phone-o-Philes or parents who want to blow their kids’ minds might enjoy the Bell Telephones Archives videos on YT.
Step-by-step switches (or what goes on inside ye olde central office after Dottie the switchboard operator retires) is a personal favorite. (Baby Bell baby here).
posted by FairWitness at 6:00 AM on July 12, 2020 [2 favorites]

Happy that he too discovered the weirdness that was RCA’s CED consumer electronics product.
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 6:09 AM on July 12, 2020 [3 favorites]

I have vivid memories of using one of those calculators 40 years ago as a piping draftsman. It was a specialty model that added fractions: 1/4 + 11/32 + 5/64. Unbelievable complication. There couldn't be more than a few of them still in use in the entire world, I would think.
posted by ivanthenotsoterrible at 6:20 AM on July 12, 2020 [2 favorites]

I love Technology Connections, and have been a subscriber for a long time. Long-time viewers will note that he has become quite sassy in his last few videos, and I love it!
posted by xedrik at 8:46 AM on July 12, 2020 [6 favorites]

I always assumed that it was elves that kept the complex machines going. Don't tell me that Keebler was lying to us this whole time.
posted by ensign_ricky at 9:15 AM on July 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

His video about that old Sunbeam toaster is the one that filled me with the most OMG-that's-amazing feeling so far.

The innards of the jukebox make it clear why jukeboxes, pinball machines, and vending machines of all kinds used to be out-of-order so very often.
posted by Western Infidels at 9:26 AM on July 12, 2020 [6 favorites]

This is super Sunday morning fodder, thanks!
posted by janell at 9:43 AM on July 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

Part II of that Wurlitzer explainer is unreal...
posted by JoeXIII007 at 9:57 AM on July 12, 2020 [2 favorites]

I like the Sony Dynamicron t-shirt he's got on in the Time-Lapse VCR video.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 12:02 PM on July 12, 2020 [2 favorites]

I have a friend who got his first pinball machine when he was in middle school. He had machines in the local pizza places in high school. His whole adult life, 38 years now since high school graduation, he has been a buyer, seller, and restorer of classic pinball machines. He may have fiddled with a jukebox a time or two as well. This person reminded me very much of my friend, who found his passion early and has stuck with it with great satisfaction.
posted by Orlop at 2:24 PM on July 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

Great timing! I'm watching "The Repair Shop," quite possibly the most soothing BBC program in existence. It's competence porn filmed in a barn at the Weald and Downland Living Museum, where people bring in treasured, busted heirlooms for restoration and expert, amiable craftspeople across several disciplines team up to fix stuff. There's tea, low-key banter, and three projects per episode. Anyway, #8 features a 1950s Wurlitzer jukebox, and other episodes tackle paintings, pinball machines, ceramics, a Victorian polyphon, antique photography equipment, and more. (The first season was terrific, and I'm a little worried the next seasons will cut back on the fascinating, nitty-gritty repair work explanations and close-ups in favor of more joshing around.)
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:52 PM on July 12, 2020 [4 favorites]

Fans, how do they work?

This has been low-level bugging the shit out of me every time I switch on the fan we have, and I finally have an answer:

Fans; High is next to Off on purpose
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 3:03 PM on July 12, 2020 [7 favorites]

I first encountered Technology Connections when trying to explain to someone that "efficiency" is counter-intuitive for electric heaters, since most electrical inefficiency boils down to "this device gives off heat instead of doing the work (lighting, moving, computing, etc) that we want it to do". I found this rant on the ratings for space-heaters enjoyable and satisfying to send to my interlocutor.

The visit to the people-mover under the Texas hotel was a great one, and his explanation of autocues is fun too.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 5:33 AM on July 13, 2020

The dude has a whole dang looooong-running, ongoing, in-depth series on every minutest detail of every recording medium that has ever existed, and some-magical-how, every second of it is deeply fascinating.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:38 AM on July 13, 2020 [2 favorites]

He dives deep into the original US captioning tech (line 21, in the vertical blanking interval). I’ve been using captions for 25 years, and learned a lot from this video (why HDMI doesn’t support them.)

He provides (very wry and) accurate captions for all his content.
posted by Jesse the K at 3:06 PM on July 15, 2020 [1 favorite]