Definatly not Aussie IMO.

My reasoning for saying Aussie is because apparently the company promoting this is down under.

 

Remember Oil Cans? Remember the oil filler with a piercing blade to open the can?
Yeah, Joey, things have changed since then. I remember my dad hollering that the gas station over there has the nerve to charge 31¢ per gallon. We'd flip to see those days again. Well, I'd try to flip; but I'd probably hurt myself. I remember my first crystal radio and how cool that was to pick up radio signals without batteries. I hooked mine up to an amplifier so I could hear it without that ear bud. Or special head phones.

 

. I remember my first crystal radio and how cool that was to pick up radio signals without batteries. I hooked mine up to an amplifier so I could hear it without that ear bud. Or special head phones.

Me to, Mine had the Galena crystal and the "cats-wisker"

 

I remember my first crystal radio...

Today's youth: "What's a radio?"

 

And aren't crystals some sort of paraphernalia?

 

I remember my dad hollering that the gas station over there has the nerve to charge 31¢ per gallon.

The year would be ~1960. Equivalent inflation-adjusted price today: $3.46.

 

My first radio had an OA81 diode IIRC. My Dad strung an antenna wire from my bedroom window to a tree at the end of the garden, about 200ft away. This would have been c1965, I was 7. I was smitten. The rest, as they say, is history!

 

My first radio had an OA81 diode IIRC. My Dad strung an antenna wire from my bedroom window to a tree at the end of the garden, about 200ft away. This would have been c1965, I was 7. I was smitten. The rest, as they say, is history!

Must've been nice to have a dad.

I had to figure it out on my own.

 

Must've been nice to have a dad.

I had to figure it out on my own.

So did I. Dad was a brilliant mechanical engineer, could make anything, and machine tight tolerances 'by eye'. But he wouldn't touch anything to do with 'electrickery', avoided it like the plague! Putting that antenna up he did grudgingly only to stop me climbing the tree!

 

This would have been c1965, I was 7. I was smitten. The rest, as they say, is history!

I was 7 when I took my dad's brand new gas mower apart. Just had to know how it worked, what was inside that made it run. Dad was a little upset but he took the advantage to explain four stroke engines to me. I then put it back together. Learned a thing or two about torque. Also learned about oil and gaskets. Even learned how to make my own gasket out of a paper grocery bag. Remember paper bags?

Also, when 7 I had a reel to reel tape recorder - a child's toy. Of course it stopped working so I took it apart. Took the motor, the rotary switch and the battery box and made an air boat. I put a fan on the motor, propeller from a toy plane and figured out the wiring to that switch. I could run the motor in either direction. Back then I didn't understand dynamic braking but the way I wired it - there was OFF, ON (CCW) BRAKE ON (CW) and OFF. 5 positions if I recall. My understanding of electricity and the flow of current was like a garden hose and a drain. Water (power) had to come from somewhere and it had to return (drain) to somewhere. I don't recall how I figured out how to wire that switch, I just remember I did. Used to play with it in the bath tub.

Kids! They get into everything. My own son only wanted to play video games. Didn't want to go to school, didn't want to spend time with Pop, didn't want to learn life's lessons from someone experienced. Today I don't know where he is. He only calls when he needs money. Kids?! Yup! Kids!

BTW: I was 7 in 65 too.

 

I have a one question test for anyone who wants to be an engneer:

“Did you take things apart when you were a kid?”

If the answer is a “no”, or, more commonly, a puzzled look, they fail.

After taking all of my toys apart, I started in my sister’s toys, which got me in trouble.

Blowing things up is also common among future engineers.

 

Blowing things up is also common among future engineers.

Blowing things up was my specialty ... when I was 12, I plugged a flashlight's lightbulb directly into a 110VAC outlet in my house, and it turned into a beautiful spherical silver mirror! ... plugging the second one pushed my luck one step too far. And the thing blew in my face, blew a fuse, and blew my parent's patience for the day ...

 

Blowing things up was my specialty ... when I was 12, I plugged a flashlight's lightbulb directly into a 110VAC outlet in my house, and it turned into a beautiful spherical silver mirror! ... plugging the second one pushed my luck one step too far. And the thing blew in my face, blew a fuse, and blew my parent's patience for the day ...

I was into fire. Lots and lots of fire.

 

Blowing things up

Got a funny story for y'all.
When I was about 14 I came to have a car radio. Actually an 8-Track stereo. And I wanted to play it in my room. So I took dad's battery charger consisting of one of those selenium diodes and a big transformer. Thought it would work. Boy was I surprised by the noise. Half wave rectification hums a lot. So I put a cap across the output. Apparently not big enough Farad wise. Did nothing to squelch the hum. By the way, it was an electrolytic cap and I did follow polarity. So next test was to put it on the AC side of the transformer secondary. STILL had a horrible hum. So I put it across the 120VAC primary side. As soon as I plugged in *BANG*. I had no idea why. And it didn't take long for pop to pop in and ask what I was up to. I bet every time they heard something out of the ordinary where I was concerned it probably caused them to pucker up below the belt.

 

Oh, and yes, I experimented with home made explosives. Never hurt anyone so I guess dumb luck was on my side. But the stuff I made back then would have probably gotten me into prison. Today - I'd be a "Lifer".

 

I have a one question test for anyone who wants to be an engneer:

“Did you take things apart when you were a kid?”

If the answer is a “no”, or, more commonly, a puzzled look, they fail.

After taking all of my toys apart, I started in my sister’s toys, which got me in trouble.

Blowing things up is also common among future engineers.

Not only did I take my toys APART!! I also PUT THEM BACK TOGETHER so that I could still use them. I have had a great career being an engineer as well. My cousing also took his toys apart, and never put them back together. He went on to get a business degree and became a store mamager. Certainly my career was a lot more fun than his!!

 

I have a one question test for anyone who wants to be an engneer:

“Did you take things apart when you were a kid?”

If the answer is a “no”, or, more commonly, a puzzled look, they fail.

After taking all of my toys apart, I started in my sister’s toys, which got me in trouble.

Blowing things up is also common among future engineers.

Pretty much the same here. I used to take everything apart and put them back together. My dad generally took it in stride, but boy was he happy when I got to the point where after I put them back together they had at least a fair chance of working again. When I was about twelve or so he brought three Kohler 12 hp engines home that were going to be scrapped (usually done by putting a sledgehammer through their cast iron cases). He challenged me to see if I could get one of them running again. They were all different -- one had electric start, one had automatic compression release, and one had an alternator. I decided I wanted to build one that had all three features, which I discovered was not going to be easy because the differences were more incompatible than I had assumed. I didn't realize why until I got my dad to make Xerox copies of the maintenance manuals for me. It took me quite a bit of time, working on it off-and-on, but I finally got it working. Made a heck of a go-cart motor.

Back then, there was no shortage of things you could take apart and learn a lot about how things works. A lot less opportunity today since so many things have, at a their core, a blob of epoxy covering a piece of silicon. Plus, back then there was practical motivation to make and/or repair things because it was a lot cheaper than buying new or having someone else repair it. Today that's a lot less viable. Then there's the entertainment factor -- we did it because it was fun, but it also wasn't competing with nearly as many other 'fun' things that were available. Today, theirs 1000+ channels of crap instantly available and video games galore, not to mention the time and mind sink known as the Internet.

EDIT: Typos.

 

Take them apart - put them back together - working
Take them apart - build something else out of them - working
And I'm not an engineer.

 

And I'm not an engineer.

Niether was self-taught Michael Faraday.

 

I did much of my "take-apart-then-reassemble" back in grade school and junior high school. After that I had a lot less free time.