• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Items that have faded away

Status
Not open for further replies.
I think Philco was the American branch of Phillips. We had a Philco radio when I was young
 
I think our first TV was a Bush. Did they also make those long radiograms with the spindley legs ?

How about all those gadgets they advertised under the name of RONCO. I suppose JML is today's equivalent.

Remember the white/red light that you fixed to the car offside window and was connected to the battery so you were parking legally at night.
 
"Remember the white/red light that you fixed to the car offside window and was connected to the battery so you were parking legally at night."

I remember some people use to hang a " Liberated " Council paraffin lamp from the drivers door handle........something you would find impossible to do today even if you could find a lamp to nick.
 
Seabird said:
I have to agree - I used to work there! I was horrified when I took the grandchildren to the Think Tank and found all the collections from the Science Museum had been broken up. The orchestrion used to provide the background music to my working day - s'pose that's in storage.
Back to the thread - does anyone remember the Hoover 'constellation' vacuum cleaner? It was shaped like a flying saucer, and moved on a cushion of air.
Click to expand...
The constellation was one of the best, if not the best, I've owned. We used to use it at a place I worked, and, my boss gave it to me when he bought a new one, then, I gave it to my mom, when I moved in with my boyfriend. It was so easy to move around...
 
You beat me to it about those parking lights on the window, Arkrite! I remember them well. And the flat battery.

Talking about cars, I had a1938 Morris 8 - I wish I still had it. No adjustable mirror inside.......there was a blind for the back window, operated from above the driver's door. When dazzled by car headlights behind, pull the cord and up came the blind. Simple.
 
Smethwick Striver said:
Darning mushrooms.
My mom had a wooden one to darn our socks, almost every week, too. Who darns socks now? Don't tell me - someone out there does!
Click to expand...
I don't, but, when we visit England and my mom does the laundry for us, the clothes come back perfectly folded, with the socks and underwear on top of the pile. The socks paired, inside one another, and neatly darned.
 
I remember you could buy like a cotton reel with screws in, or you could make your own, and do corking using a little crook. I bet you couldnt buy them now.
 
Yes, you can, Carolina. Surprise!
My grandaughter has one. It's called called Knitting Nancy.
I said corking when I was a kid, others say French knitting. Not bad for a bloke, eh?
 
Smethwick Striver, quell surprise mon dieu. We used to curl it round and make a mat to put on the table for a cup to be placed on. Great days. Also do they still have chokes on cars - it used to be very easy to flood the engine in the car
 
Corking was big business in our house with 4 brothers and 6 sister. Between us we could knock out a patch work blanket of many colours in no time at all while watching the 9 " tele. Dek
 
Those cupboards with the drop - down bread board were lethal, I pulled ours over on top of myself severla times before my mom decided to get rid of it!! And, why were they all painted that horrible greeny - brown colour? Yuk!!
* You can still get a 5 Boys bar!!
 
Vacuum tank windscreen wipers.

Found on the old 40s and 50s sit-up-and-beg Ford Anglias and Prefects. They used the engine manifold vacuum - the suck. Take your foot off the pedal, the faster the wipers went; put your foot down and the wipers struggled to get across the windscreen. Tricky in thunderstorms!
Their demise is no loss to driving pleasure.
 
Doe's anyone one remember the night-watchmen who always were watching over a hole in the road somewhere in brum, they had little shelters red/white stripes and a coke brazier and red oil lamps and every thing smelt of coke fumes and parafine, but you could crowd round for a warm they really threw out some heat.
paul
 
I don't think any of you have mentioned the "Flatley" It dried clothes, kept the room warm, and could keep food warm.
Loved ours, had it for years.
 
THE SLIDE RULE.
I still have my Faber Castel slide rule, used for GCE O Level Physics, Maths and Chemistry. Moreover, I can still use it. An old skill not called for nowadays!:D
 
Lloyd said:
....The Bundy brothers in America invented a recording clock as the workers in their factory were coming in late and going early. It was so successful they were asked to make more for other factory owners, and their firm eventually became the 'National Time Recorder Company'. You know it as IBM now.
Click to expand...

Here is a pic of 'National Time Recorder Company' along with the fine Georgian Houses along Easy Row c 1946
 
Well Smeth - I am in Thailand, but only till next week - and the firm who make Zam-Buk, must still be in production , as it is in every pharmacy here, but very small tins, to fit a small pocket. I have one. dontheturner
 
Bill Parker said:
There was a superb collection of "packaging" ar Gloucester Docks, now unfortunately no longer there. I believe it was the "Robert Opie" collection ...
Click to expand...

[Sorry I'm a bit late in coming across this great thread.]

Bill, the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising (based on the remarkable Robert Opie collection) moved to Notting Hill, London, in 2005. Our Stitcher has started quite a few threads with amazing pictures of parts of this collection. Retro heaven!
 
Re Slide Rules. When I worked in a Drawing Office I longed to be the owner of a pocket slide rule - one in its own leather case. It could then be carried in the top pocket. The very epitome of "cool". No sooner had I got one than the desk calculator came on the market and slide rules became obsolete over night. I never got over that. (I still have the precious tool.) We, of the slide rule skills, are a fast disappearing race. Regards. willey.
 
Mike, you are right about betadine, but iodine is still used in some of the dyes used for scans and as a cell marker n some clinics, great old antiseptic unless you are allergic to it!
I can also remember Aztec bars does anyone remember Cabana bars?
And Lyn, watch the Sunday markets for Astral soap, we got some last year at Furnace End - will let you know if we see it again.
Sue
 
Vidor Batteries, Exide Car batteries, Beethoven,-KB, Cossor, Airmaster, Stirling, Strad, English Electric, Ekco, Defiant (Co-op) Plessey, Ferranti, Mullard, Phillips, Portadyne, Regentone, Sobell, Westminster, Ultra, Viewmaster, & of course - Decca - made in Bridgnorth- Televisions & Radios. I wonder how many of you realise there was a Cossor Television School in Handsworth, up the entry, at the side of Woolworths and also, an EMI ( Marconi & HMV ) Company repair and service centre, in Hurst Street where we collected Spare Parts -in the early 50's? Of those listed , Airmaster, Strad, Portadyne, Stirling & Westminster, were all made, in a Factory, created by the Government, in I think Stirling, for the Unemployed. Whereas, Defiant, using a Plessey Chassis, were made out of re-cycled biscuit tins - as when tipped upside down, you could see the printing ''Huntley & Palmer''......Great Times - as I was also selling them, and on Commission, of Two and a half per cent, on all sales - and repairing them, in folks houses - seen some sights, I can tell you. Dontheturner.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top