Do You Remember When

[Qwkynuf]

Remember when Cracker Jacks actually had a cool little toy?

[wmtire]

We've remembered turning the antenna and remote controls....but do you remember the vertical hold knob, you had to turn sometimes to keep the picture from rolling

[oxcamper]

oh yeah, and taking the vacuum tubes to the drug store to test them

[oxcamper]

Remember not being able to go shopping on Sundays? Very few stores were able to be open on Sunday back in the 50's

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by oxcamper

Remember not being able to go shopping on Sundays? Very few stores were able to be open on Sunday back in the 50's

Not only that but if you wanted a DRINK on Sunday you had to belong to the Elks, Eagles, Moose, American Legion, VFW, Yacht Club and a whole host of fraternal organizations. They were allowed to get around the "Blue Laws".

[TitanMike]

How about the old metal cased radios that ran on AC or DC that would shock the crap out of you. Solution was to pull the plug and turn it around in the socket.

This is before plugs/sockets with ground lugs or one blade being wider than the other.

The manufacturers used the neutral wire as a ground to improve reception. I had one as a kid that I could tell was plugged in backwards when the stations had a heavy hum in the background.

The learning curve was really short on these. After the second zap you wised up.

[D W]

How many out there built a "Crystal Radio" as a kid? Looking back, it was fairly simple to build them. Start with a small block of wood, and for a dollar you could get the rest of the parts from your local TV Repair Shop. Sometimes the repair shop would just give us old parts they had laying around. Neat little device. Built one for a scouting Merit Badge,

[Jfkmk]

Originally Posted by D W

How many out there built a "Crystal Radio" as a kid? Looking back, it was fairly simple to build them. Start with a small block of wood, and for a dollar you could get the rest of the parts from your local TV Repair Shop. Sometimes the repair shop would just give us old parts they had laying around. Neat little device. Built one for a scouting Merit Badge,

I did! I think it was for the same reason....a Merit Badge.

[Jfkmk]

Originally Posted by oxcamper

Remember not being able to go shopping on Sundays? Very few stores were able to be open on Sunday back in the 50's

In Paramus NJ (mall capital of the nation I think) they still have the blue laws.

[KEliasz]

I live not far from Paramus NJ and blue laws apply to all of Bergen County not just Paramus. Some stores are allowed to be open like food shopping but not restaurants or anything else commercial

[Jfkmk]

Originally Posted by KEliasz

I live not far from Paramus NJ and blue laws apply to all of Bergen County not just Paramus. Some stores are allowed to be open like food shopping but not restaurants or anything else commercial

Ah, didnt realize it was all of Bergen County. I do know it is quite strange driving by all the empty malls on a Sunday!

[Cyote61]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

Not only that but if you wanted a DRINK on Sunday you had to belong to the Elks, Eagles, Moose, American Legion, VFW, Yacht Club and a whole host of fraternal organizations. They were allowed to get around the "Blue Laws".

That's why I'm a lifer-Elk. 44 Years and counting.

[Scrapper]

Originally Posted by D W

How many out there built a "Crystal Radio" as a kid? Looking back, it was fairly simple to build them. Start with a small block of wood, and for a dollar you could get the rest of the parts from your local TV Repair Shop. Sometimes the repair shop would just give us old parts they had laying around. Neat little device. Built one for a scouting Merit Badge,

My brothers and I built them not for a merit badge but because we could. My Dad, being the local radio/tv repair man for the rural area, had everything needed. We didn't have to take the vacuum tubes to the drug store for testing as he built a Heathkit tube tester in '55. He donated the tube tester, capacitor tester, signal generator, and transistor tester all home-built from Heathkit to the local high school electronics department in 1975. All were still in working condition.

[Jfkmk]

Originally Posted by Scrapper

My brothers and I built them not for a merit badge but because we could. My Dad, being the local radio/tv repair man for the rural area, had everything needed. We didn't have to take the vacuum tubes to the drug store for testing as he built a Heathkit tube tester in '55. He donated the tube tester, capacitor tester, signal generator, and transistor tester all home-built from Heathkit to the local high school electronics department in 1975. All were still in working condition.

I built a lot of HealthKit items. Calculator, radio, metal detector, strobe light, etc. I still have and use a multi tester I built some time in the 70s. I had a lot of fun building these.

[oxcamper]

My first stereo in the late 60's was a Heathkit amp and a separate Heathkit FM tuner I built. I coupled that with a Pioneer turntable and a set of Cerwin Vega speakers and I was in business.

And recall back then, products from Japan (and perhaps most of overseas) had a tariff on them and cost about 20% more than American components.

[Scrapper]

Originally Posted by Jfkmk

I built a lot of HealthKit items. Calculator, radio, metal detector, strobe light, etc. I still have and use a multi tester I built some time in the 70s. I had a lot of fun building these.

Dad built the multi tester too, but kept it because it was such an indispensable tool, just like multimeters today.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by Scrapper

Dad built the multi tester too, but kept it because it was such an indispensable tool, just like multimeters today.

I still have mine too. Love it as it has an onboard voltage calibration standard.

Still have the original leather case too.

[rollscanardly]

We used to play "chestnuts". You gather up horse chestnuts, ( we'd ride our bikes for miles to get to someone's yard that had those trees, then ask permission to have some).

The idea was to somehow dry them out, either naturally or in mom's oven, get a hole down through the center, either with a drill or just pound a nail through and pull it back out.

Then tie a knot at the end of a piece of shoelace and slip the chestnut onto the lace so it dangled at the bottom.

One kid would hold the top of the lace, with the nut dangling at bottom, and the challenger would take his nut on a string and whip his nut at the hanging nut, trying to crack it in two.

They would alternate turns. The winner's nut would then be termed "a kinger". If that same nut broke more challengers nuts, say 8 more, it would now be a 9- kinger.

If a newcomer, with a first-time played nut broke the 9- kinger, it would automatically be a 9- kinger.

As "nutty" as this game sounds, it was a big deal for us "hayseed" kids. The efforts we'd go through to create a "tough nut" were insane...drying them to be rock hard, then shellacking them, etc.....most of which didn't work.

Plus, it was a yearly seasonal game, based on harvest time..the fall.

Fond memories...

Rich

[D W]

Originally Posted by rollscanardly

We used to play "chestnuts". You gather up horse chestnuts, ( we'd ride our bikes for miles to get to someone's yard that had those trees, then ask permission to have some).

The idea was to somehow dry them out, either naturally or in mom's oven, get a hole down through the center, either with a drill or just pound a nail through and pull it back out.

Then tie a knot at the end of a piece of shoelace and slip the chestnut onto the lace so it dangled at the bottom.

One kid would hold the top of the lace, with the nut dangling at bottom, and the challenger would take his nut on a string and whip his nut at the hanging nut, trying to crack it in two.

They would alternate turns. The winner's nut would then be termed "a kinger". If that same nut broke more challengers nuts, say 8 more, it would now be a 9- kinger.

If a newcomer, with a first-time played nut broke the 9- kinger, it would automatically be a 9- kinger.

As "nutty" as this game sounds, it was a big deal for us "hayseed" kids. The efforts we'd go through to create a "tough nut" were insane...drying them to be rock hard, then shellacking them, etc.....most of which didn't work.

Plus, it was a yearly seasonal game, based on harvest time..the fall.

Fond memories...

Rich

We just rounded up the chestnuts in burlap bags, took them home, X'd the top of them with our Kamp King pocket knives, then soaked them in salt water for a day. Dried them for another day, then had Mom roast them in the oven for us. By Xing the tops, the chestnuts would burst open in the oven and made them easy to peel the shell off. They were good eatin'. Only problem was after you ate about 5 or 6 of them you were thirsty enough to drink a well dry!

[rollscanardly]

Originally Posted by D W

We just rounded up the chestnuts in burlap bags, took them home, X'd the top of them with our Kamp King pocket knives, then soaked them in salt water for a day. Dried them for another day, then had Mom roast them in the oven for us. By Xing the tops, the chestnuts would burst open in the oven and made them easy to peel the shell off. They were good eatin'. Only problem was after you ate about 5 or 6 of them you were thirsty enough to drink a well dry!

We used horse chestnuts...big difference! You don't want to eat those!


Rich