[OT] Relics from your childhood that influenced you

[Paul Alciatore]

Oh, my younger brother and I both moan the day that my mother decided to clean out the stacks of comic books from our closets. We could both be rich men today if she had not done that.

I do have several of the model airplane engines that I used to fly my models with. Unfortunately none of the planes survived. Many went to model heaven with a load of fireworks loaded inside and soaked with fuel that was ignited for their last flight. It's a wonder that my friends and I did not burn the neighborhood down.

And looking up at a nearby shelf I can see a Heathkit Solid State Volt Ohm Meter, complete with a high voltage probe. I believe that is around 50 years old. I have used it over the years, many times when I needed to check the HV on a CRT or some other type of circuit. It has certainly influenced my life, more than once.


One really nice feature of this meter is the actual meter used. The scales are super readable.

Sadly, like others I only have memories but one thing that did influence me greatly was Superman comics when I was a very young kid and they not only helped me learn to read but also influenced my outlook on life.

[sarge41]

My reply to PStechPaul's original post is one that brings back memories. I was about 7 or 8 years old and my folks were on the way home from shopping in Evansville when they stopped at a country pub for a bite to eat. After eating, my brother and I slipped outside to play while Dad lingered over his beer. In the side yard was a playground and some toys. One thing caught my eye. it was a chain drive tricycle. I was used to trikes, but I fell in love with that thing. Something about that encounter which probably only lasted 30 minutes or so had more influence than you can imagine. I have spent my life working as a auto and truck mechanic and welder for a couple of years and about almost 50 years as a machinist. It all started with that chain drive trike. Go figure.
Sarge41

[Corbettprime]

Does anyone remember the shredded wheat boxes that had the outdoor tips and tricks? Hated the cereal, but ate it to get a new box. Can't remember if it was in Canada, or Texas, as I was six or seven years old.

[bborr01]

A Mattel power shop definitely made a lasting impression on me when I was a young lad. Also a trip to the Henry Ford museum made quite an impression. They had a miniature machine shop that was amazing.

[fixerup]

Me, my influence was the Science encyclopedia supplement or another encyclopedia I can't recall the title. Over our childhood years my parent bought us four encyclopedia sets, I love it. I spend many hours glancing through those pages. One of them had some detailed diy science project write ups, which I was really interested in. I was a bit of a loner and my parents didn't get involved with us to much, so I was on my own trying out these science projects, luckily I didn't kill myself .
One project was a telegraph key, using a tin can for the conductive contact switch, a nail with a wire coil and a 9 volt battery. I didn't have a 9 volt battery but I had a 120volt plug available right there on the wall and should work better I thought, more is always better. So I cobble this project together and plug in it in the wall. My very first key stroke on the tin can switch just produced a flash and the light went off in the room. I had welded the tin can switch to the nail and blown a fuse. I quickly hide everything in the closet and later that day told my Dad the light were not working. He just replace the lead fuse and didn't ask anything. I learned voltage potential,magnetic field, spot welding, protective fuse.....

The other diy was how to cut glass. Cool I thought, I got all the supplies glass cutter,straight edge, glass sheet and a candle, lets get to it. So I score the glass and then tap it with the glass cutter hammer and nothing happen. Oh, yes I remember they said to apply heat with the candle to get the cut started. So I applied the candle at the beginning of the score mark and nothing happen. Well I know better, I though, lets get my Dad propane torch that should be better than this little candle. I lit the torch and set the tip at the end of the score and BANG!!!! The glass sheet broke in hundreds of little squares. Managed to clean up everything before getting into trouble. I learned more power is not always the answer to fixing stuff, tempered glass doesn't cut like normal glass and I should be wearing safety glasses from now on.

These encyclopedia gave me some of the science knowledge, curiosity to learn and courage to try some diy projects on my test bench up to this day.
Love it, Thank you Mom and Dad for those encyclopedias.

[ftownroe]

In my case as an Army brat in Germany in the early 60's I traded a bunch of Hardy Boys mystery books for a used Gilbert chemistry set. It was small but the interest it generated along with a great science teacher and wonderfully supportive parents and German pharmacists set the direction that my life took.

[PStechPaul]

My father gave me the "Wonder Book of Electricity", which he had as a teen in the 1930s. I was fascinated by the high voltage sparks and various inventions that were cutting edge at the time, but are still pretty amazing. I lost the book around 1983 when I think I loaned it to a girlfriend who had been studying electronics. Around 2001 I searched for the book (before eBay) and found a copy in a book shop in England (where the book had been published). There was some difficulty with payments or shipping, but there was someone in England who was willing to buy the book and send it to me in return for some electronic parts I sent to him.

[Paul Alciatore]

Those illustrations are priceless. They probably taught more then a whole chapter and it was done in an instant or two.

My father gave me the "Wonder Book of Electricity", which he had as a teen in the 1930s. I was fascinated by the high voltage sparks and various inventions that were cutting edge at the time, but are still pretty amazing. I lost the book around 1983 when I think I loaned it to a girlfriend who had been studying electronics. Around 2001 I searched for the book (before eBay) and found a copy in a book shop in England (where the book had been published). There was some difficulty with payments or shipping, but there was someone in England who was willing to buy the book and send it to me in return for some electronic parts I sent to him.

[Paul Alciatore]

That does bring me back. I can still hear my mother saying, "No, I am not going to buy another box until you finish that one." I am sure your mother said the same thing.

It is not so much the cereal or the prize in or on the box. It is a life lesson on not wasting things. I have taken that with me for many years.

Looking back on it, I would also opine that those prizes in or on the boxes probably sold almost as much cereal as the added sugar in many of them. I think there is another good life lesson in that.

Does anyone remember the shredded wheat boxes that had the outdoor tips and tricks? Hated the cereal, but ate it to get a new box. Can't remember if it was in Canada, or Texas, as I was six or seven years old.

[Tim The Grim]

My maternal grandfather and great aunt worked at the Niagara Falls Nabisco plant that made Shredded Wheat and Triscuits. He was a Machinist and she worked in Packaging. If he worked a night shift, I would have Shredded Wheat for breakfast, still warm enough off the line to melt butter on it. My aunt would bring home still warm boxes of Triscuits in the afternoon.

My Dad had 3 steel cabinets in our basement. Tape, paint & glues in the left. Tools in the middle. Serious industrial chemicals in the right. I still have some stuff I remember from the 50s.

[larry_g]

Larry: I know several people believe it is a GM product, but look at a Mercury Frontenac. They were a Canadian Mercury made one year.
Sarge41

I looked and will stick with what I guessed. The two shadow lines on the Mercury do not match the OP's rig.

lg
no neat sig line

[darryl]

Two more things- the slingshot, and the yo-yo. The yo-yo got me my start in business. I didn't like the strings of the day, so I made my own. Then I started selling them at school. I was meeting a need- everybody with a yo-yo needed a new or better string, so I manufactured some and sold them.

The slingshot- our first ones used old inner tubes. They worked, but surgical tubing was much better. That led me to begin building launch devices for projectiles- which included paper airplanes, marbles, arrows, firecrackers, nails, and large staples. I also got to store water in blown up sections of tubing- which could be released by opening a valve. There was quite an education in all playing with latex tubing.

I'll add one more- gunpowder. I had a 10 lb keg of it sitting in my bedroom. I couldn't resist doing things with it. I learned about explosives.

Why stop now- another thing that influenced me was the baby carriage. You could always find an abandoned one, and they had wheels, axles, springs, and I learned about chassis and suspensions, and steering. My dad actually introduced me to ackerman steering when I was having some trouble with my carts- none of them ended up with proper steering, but at least I had the hardware to build some downhill 'racers'.

I don't know if this qualifies as a relic, but what about the hobby shop? Having a hobby shop in our cafe sure gave me a head start- I built lots of models, modified many of them, made my own slot cars. I was becoming an engineer of sorts.

I suppose anything I could get my hands on influenced me. If I could take something apart and see what made it tick, I was going to.