Un-Google-able interests.....
 

Not everything is google-able, as I've come to find out.

Try to find out information on a Homelite T-10 lawn tractor, or a Cribben-Sexton gas stove, and you'll get nothing but nonsensical crap like Wiki-hows with no replies, or dead links, etc.

And no, this was not a call for you wiseasses to prove me wrong :D

But seriously, have you ever run into anything, interest or hobby wise, that you could just find NOTHING decent on, but that you really enjoy?

I have a small collection of nightlights and flashlights made by Electric Animals Inc. of New York in the late 40s. I have found virtually nothing about these on the WWW. Below "Posy" the mouse , "The Watchdog" nightlights and two "Posey" flashlights.
jr

Seems like info on those unique flashlights would be on the web. I bet alot of people would love to have those.
I have looked up things without info that should be historically significant. I expect new info on everything is being collected and posted 24/7? Wouldn't google and maybe other companies have staff working on that in different locations throughout the world 24/7?

I ran into this all the time trying to find information about odd low production 80s computer stuff. Its like the makers just vanished into a black hole.

It's really annoying when you try to research a topic again, and the only thing search turns up is a posting you made 3 years ago!

-J

Well, here's what I'm thinkin......

I figured that if we formed a section here on VK for just those sorts of things, that if we each started threads with as much info as we have on each subject, that Google would catch the threads and bring others seeking information right into those threads, thus creating our own central points for said information.

And, unlike many websites, we wouldn't close the old threads to posts. Thoughts?

Making information easier to find and possible to navigate was one of the original goals of the Internet. I think it's a great idea!

GREAT IDEA!:thmbsp:

Is there a way to make these posts more "discoverable" to a Google search? I just entered "Triplett 310" and did not find the posts that I made on the subject about 6 months ago, hoping that some new information might surface. Only when I entered the exact title "Triplett VOMs" did the thread show up near the top of the search. I just tried to change the title of the thread, but that did not seem possible.

The Triplett thread did attract one new member, who bothered to sign up and post. Is "guest" viewing of pictures, and perhaps limited posting possible on this site?
jr

My suggestion would be to put as many keywords as possible in the thread title.

Canadian made TV sets.

A recently bankrupted company (I shall not name it) vanished, without any
news item describing the actual bankruptcy, but plenty of ads for an auction
of the assets.

Some obscure classical musicians of maybe 50 years ago, known in their
time for fine recordings, are just gone.

I'll be thinking about more examples. Regards to all.

P.S.: Enter this in google, and you'll only find a post by me! If you don't
know what the jk1022 (or jk-1022) was, just ask me!

heathkit jk1022

Similar problems with things that may exist, but are hidden in a pile of extraneous stuff because the name consists of common words. For example, it took forever to come up with something on Chicagoland Airport (which became the office park across from where I work) - but there is some info.

A small indie film from the 60's or so that happened to have the same title (Divertimento) as a later bigger one made by a better known director - no reference can be found as far as I can tell.

I've always had a fascination with boobies, but I think that might be kinda common on the internet :p:

Even Nash Metropolitans. Try to find a board of this quality in relation to anything Nash, and you'll come up with a bunch of forums with crappy Windows 98-ish threaded post software.

The forum is now up, let's have some fun :D

Some instruction manuals older home video equipment are not easy to find.

For example I could not locate the instruction manual for my Pioneer CLD-59 Laserdisc player (this model number could be wrong as I'm not at home at the moment).

More ideas will come to me in time.

Tom C.

Certain makes of vintage bicycles come to mind, as well as some of the early open-hearth gas heaters I have. How about Duncan Hines (yes, like the cake mix) refrigerators? I know they were made, because I have one from the early to mid-50's, but there is absolutely no information on them anywhere on the web.

I'd like to see a photo of that fridge-new one on me! I know there were lots of General Mills branded small appliances.

I have a crisper drawer, porcelain coated, from a 30s Grunow refrigerator. Admiral got into the fridge business by buying the business from Stewart-Warner. International Harvester built plenty-IH collectors go for them. But (sorry, can't help myself) Duncan Hines takes the cake!

check out candlepowerforums.com
if its a flashlight and you strike out there its really obscure.

sounds like a great idea.i have some early computer trainer hardware i am looking for info on.i have had some of it from when i was a teen.
all i run into is folks who want to buy it.as soon as they find all i want is info and its not for sale they clam up.

I have a NOS early 1970s digital clock that I bought on eBay a while back.

I have yet to find any information on it. It's a very unusual design, being one of the first solid-state digital clocks. It was made in Japan by Electer, but a Google search turns up nothing.

I have a Timeco Model No. 1 repeat cycle timer I got last month and I can't find any info anywhere on the web on it.

My Odyssey motorhome had essentially nothing available online. That was one reason I replaced it with a 1974 GMC; those have an amazing community of owners/supporters (online and in real life).

The Mini-Grip Gravidee toy motorized space monorail sets I owned when I was a kid have almost no documentation out there.

That "Doohickey" I have-The Specific Products Model WWVC Receiver has precious little on it as do the Nems-Clarke Special Communications Receivers Model 1302As... I DO have an operators' manual for the Specific Products-But its for a presumed later version than what I have.

I thought I wouldn't have a problem finding info on the Webster-Chicago Model 165-1A record changer I've had in the closet for about a year. Boy, was I wrong. I haven't found a thing for this model.

One electronics magazine that seems NOT to have been piped to the net--is ELECTRONIC-TECHNICIAN DEALER. I still have a lot of them...but would REALLY like to see them put on-line, like R.E., Popular electronics, E.W. and the PF reporter have been.

I wonder if they got a copyright block on some of this stuff like Youtube has with the videos.

Go to American Radio History website and he has alot of Mags and other goodies on there.

http://www.americanradiohistory.com/

Try looking for info on a Semi Steel hand-cranked ratcheting drill press.

Try looking for information on old Utah Speakers, or better yet old Hammond clocks, (yes the same Hammond that later made the organs).

That magazine went through MANY name changes before ending up as ET/D. Many issues ARE available online at:

http://www.americanradiohistory.com/...g_Magazine.htm

A Sansui receiver parts cross-reference. I'm hoping to refit my 661 with a blue dial scale.

Electronic parts, yes, Sansui made a cross reference from their part number to an EIAJ number, or a JEDEC number for some diodes (1N60, etc). Cabinet parts, no. Sansui and only Sansui distributed their parts, unlike Pioneer, Technics (Matsushita/Panasonic) and Sony. JVC was another - in the early days of JVC/Nivico, you had to call in the part, they'd Telex it to Japan, and you waited for the slow boat to come in. Thankfully their TVs used NEC components, so a Japanese-made Sears would have the part, and available through Sears parts.

Most cosmetic items varied by continent - get a Worldwide service manual, and you'll find all of the differences for Asia, Australia, South America, Europe and US Forces Europe units. Some parts weren't available in the US - patent infringement initially kept the parts unavailable. Wafer rotary switches were one - Oak and Mallory had patents on the "bend" of a contact, and the Alps parts infringed on the patent, so if you needed say, a rotary speaker switch for a US marketed unit, you could order the part from AAFEEs in Europe and they'd sell and mail it to you, but Sansui left you hanging, making the part unavailable to the US market. We went through this with a couple of units.

I no longer have the Olive-green covered Sansui guide, but have still have my two Sony Semiconductor part number/substitution guides - the base '86 one and the '88 supplement. After the internet came into being, Sony quit publishing the guide.

Abe Books had one of the Sansui guides for an astronomical amount back around 2004/2005, when a buddy in the DC area picked up a storage unit with about 20 Sansui Amps and Receivers and was looking for one. I haven't seen or heard of one since. Maybe someone has scanned it and is offering a PDF - I dunno..

HFE has your service manual....

Blue dial scale? Simply replace the smoky polycarbonate plate (#29) with a clear one, and replace the fuse lamps (#70) with blue ones, or get the blue LED versions.

http://www.parts-express.com/led-fus...-pack--070-122

I know the 7010 is the European equivalent of the 661 and has a blue dial scale, but I'm thinking it would be tough to find one.

Edit: Seems I can just get a 5050 0r 6060 dial and cut off a meter window, good enough.

I've got numerous interests, and I always find something useful on either Google,
Bing, or Youtube. The main interest of videokarma.org is plentiful on Youtube.

As to classical music, try arkivmusic.com, or as a last resort, the
old Usenet group rec.music.classical.recordings, which is still active. For medieval genealogy the gold standard is still soc.genealogy.medieval.

Sometimes. I like roadside architecture and retail history and other kinds of things, and sometimes I Google places or things and there is nothing. More often than not, I find some interesting information.