[AT] Names that have become generic

Wed Mar 31 23:36:24 PST 2004

Yep.  It was about as common as water.  It was a good old twin triode.
I think the lowest price it ever sold for was around 65 cents.  In the
90's, the price had jumped to nearly $15 each.  Now, you'd be lucky to
find them at any price.  Remember when really good power supplies had a
pair of rectifier tubes sticking up from the chassis?  They would glow
about as bright as a candle.  It took two so you could have full-wave DC
on the plate voltage.

Nowadays, it's all about LSI circuits and surface-mount technology.
Nobody builds anything with discrete components anymore.  If one of the
super-sonic welds breaks, you end up having to scrap the whole product.
That's the problem I've got with the interactive LCD display on my main
computer.  It's got one "cold solder joint" buried on the board
somewhere and as a result the video scan quit working.  Sony says
they'll fix it for me for $250 regardless of what's wrong with it.  If I
want to buy a replacement display, it'll be $3500.  This is for a
computer that cost less than $3000 when it was brand new and that I saw
being discarded into the River Liffey in downtown Dublin, Ireland, two
years ago.

Back on topic, Dad used to get bent out of shape when people called that
black box that sat on top of the generator a voltage regulator.
Everybody calls them that, but Dad said they do more to regulate the
current in the charging system rather than the voltage.  Otherwise, why
wouldn't you see a voltage readout rather than an amperage readout on
the dash?  Of course, now with alternators and idiot lights, who knows
what's being measured or controlled?

Larry

-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of George Willer
Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 11:41 PM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] Names that have become generic

Larry,

If I remember right, the 6SN7 was the same valve used in the power
supply
for many super het receivers.  That number still rings a bell.

George Willer

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Larry D. Goss" <rlgoss at evansville.net>
To: "'Antique tractor email discussion group'"
<at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 11:26 PM
Subject: RE: [AT] Names that have become generic

> The problem is some of you guys are just too danged young.  You think
> that because you learned a particular name for a device when you were
in
> school it must have always been named that.  My dad referred to "those
> things" as condensers when he was discussing electronics with me back
in
> the late 40's.  He finally learned to call them capacitors when it
> became politically correct to do so.  That was sometime after he
started
> working with transistors in the late 50's.  BTW- Dad never did learn
to
> refer to AIEE instead of IEEE.  He called it the "eye triple-E" until
> the day he died.  In the mid-50's we called those things condensers
when
> I started working as an electrician's assistant tuning and repairing
> Allen electronic organs.  In those days, the state-of-the-art for
> oscillators consisted of half of a 6SN7 vacuum tube coupled to a big
> hairy coil, a condenser, and a "pot."  Tuning an organ was a full
day's
> work for two people; switching condensers in and out to get the
> frequency within range so the adjustment on the pot would bring it
into
> tune.  We didn't like to change out the 6SN7's if we could avoid it
> because replacing one of those automatically affected two notes (not
> just one) and we'd have to do a lot of backtracking to retune notes we
> had already brought to the correct pitch.
>
> I only have to go back to the early 70's to find literature that
> officially calls those things "condensers."  And THAT happens to be on
> some tractor literature.
>
> [major soap box oration deleted]
>
> Larry
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
> [mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of Brian
> VanDragt
> Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 8:58 PM
> To: Antique tractor email discussion group
> Subject: Re: [AT] Names that have become generic
>
> Condensation is when a gas changes state into a liquid.  I've never
seen
> liquid electricity, so I'll just call ignition condensers "electron
> concentrators" from now on.  Absolute zero is too cold for me to stand
> around and watch electricity freeze. :-)
>
> Brian
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Robert L. Holtzer" <rholtzer at earthlink.net>
> To: "Antique tractor email discussion group"
> <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 6:55 PM
> Subject: Re: [AT] Names that have become generic
>
>
> > There is condensation in the sense that electrons are stored in a
> > relatively small area.  Otherwise, condensation might truly occur
near
> > absolute zero??
> >
> > Bob Holtzer
> >
> > At 06:27 PM 3/31/2004 -0500, you wrote:
> > >Why is a condenser called a condenser?  It is actually a capacitor.
> It
> > >stores an electrical charge and acts as a buffer, but how can one
> "condense"
> > >electricity? :-)
> > >
> > >Brian
> > >
> > >----- Original Message -----
> > >From: "Tim Bivens" <bivenshill at yahoo.com>
> > >To: "Antique tractor email discussion group"
> <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> > >Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 3:39 PM
> > >Subject: Re: [AT] Names that have become generic
> > >
> > >
> > > > George,
> > > > Are you pulling our leg here? LOL. It only makes sense
> > > > to me for it to be called a starter since it "starts"
> > > > the engine. In the same sense a generator is called a
> > > > generator because it generates, a condenser is called
> > > > such because it condenses and so forth. Isn't commence
> > > > just a synonym for start? Why would one be more
> > > > correct than the other? Might be just as correct to
> > > > call it a "cranker". I am sure the word "start" was
> > > > around a long time before Charles Kettering. Whether
> > > > you are pulling our legs or not I am getting a big
> > > > laugh out of this.
> > > >
> > > > Tim Bivens, Glen Rose, Texas
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > --- George Willer <gwill at toast.net> wrote:
> > > > > Dean,
> > > > >
> > > > > The first one I thought of is the starter.  It was
> > > > > invented by Charles
> > > > > Starter Kettering and takes his middle name.  The
> > > > > proper name is
> > > > > "commencer".  :-)
> > > > >
> > > > > George Willer
> > > > >
> > > > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > > > From: "Dean VP" <deanvp at att.net>
> > > > > To: <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> > > > > Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 1:21 AM
> > > > > Subject: [AT] Names that have become generic
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > > I was doing some parts hunting today and ran
> > > > > across an item that I
> > > > > > automatically called a starter "Bendix". However,
> > > > > that isn't really the
> > > > > > correct name. It's the name of one of the
> > > > > companies that makes or made
> > > > > them.
> > > > > > It reminded me of some other items like the name
> > > > > Kleenex that is used for
> > > > > > all similar type items.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > It is a manufacturers dream to get that kind of
> > > > > name recognition. What
> > > > > other
> > > > > > antique tractor parts besides "Bendix" have
> > > > > achieved that status?
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Dean A. Van Peursem
> > > > > > Snohomish, WA 98290
> > > > > >
> > > > > > CRS = Having a Photographic Memory but a shortage
> > > > > of unused film.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > www.deerelegacy.com
> > > > > >
> > > > > > http://members.cox.net/classicweb/email.htm
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
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